Full Release - IRmep

U.S. Department of Justice 

Federal Bureau of Investigation 

Washington, D. C. 20535 

September 9,2009 

MR. GRANT F. SMITH 

IRMEP 

CALVERT STATION 

POST OFFICE BOX 32041 

WASHINGTON, DC 20007 

Dear Mr. Smith: 

FOIPA Request No.: 1135944- 000 

Subject: AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITIEE (1999 OR EARLIER) 

~ This acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information-Privacy Acts (FOIPA) request 

to the FBI. The FOIPA number listed above has been assigned to your request. 

o 

o 

o 

For an accurate search of our records, please provide the complete name, alias, date and 

place of birth for the subject of your request. Any other specific data you could provide 

such as prior addresses, or employment information would also be helpful. If your subject 

is deceased, please include date and proof of death. 

To make sure information about you is not released to someone else, we require your 

notarized signature or, in place of a notarized signature, a declaration pursuant 28 

U.S.C. § 1746. For your convenience, the reverse side of this letter contains a form 

which may be used for this purpose. 

If you want the FBI's Criminal Justice Information System (C..IIS) to perform a search for 

your arrest record, please follow the enclosed instructions in Attorney General Order 

556-73. You must submit fingerprint impressions so a comparison can be made with the 

records kept by CJIS. This is to make sure your information is not released to an 

unauthorized person. 

We are searching the indices to our Central Records System for the information you 

requested, and will inform you of the results as soon as possible. 

o 

Processing delays have been caused by the large number of requests received by the 

FBI. We will process your rcquest(s) as soon as possible. 

Your request has been assigned the number indicated above. Please use this number in all 

correspondence with us. Your patience is appreciated. 

Very truly yours, 

David M. Hardy 

Section Chief, 

Record/lnformation 

Dissemination Section 

Records Management Division

u.s. Department of Justice 

Federal Bureau of Investigation 

Washington, D.C. 20535 

MR. GRANT F. SMITH 

IRMEP 

CALVERT STATION 

POST OFFICE BOX 32041 

WASHINGTON, DC 20007 

September 7,2010 

Subject: FRANKLIN, LAWRENCE A. ET AL. 

FOIPA No. 1135944- 002 

Dear Mr. Smith: 

The enclosed documents were reviewed under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, 

United States Code, Section 552/552a. Deletions have been made to protect information which is exempt from disclosure, 

with the appropriate exemptions noted on the page next to the excision. In addition, a deleted page information sheet was 

inserted in the file to indicate where pages were withheld entirely. The exemptions used to withhold information are marked 

below and explained on the enclosed Form OPCA-16a: 

Section 552 

Section 552a 

D(b)(1) 

O(b)(7)(A) 

O(d)(5) 

O(b)(2) 

O(b)(7)(B) 

0(j)(2) 

D(b)(3) 

_ 

:8l(b)(7)(C) 

O(k)(1 ) 

D(b)(7)(D) 

D(k)(2) 

~(b)(7)(E) 

O(k)(3) 

O(b )(7)(F) 

D(k)(4) 

O(b)(4) 

D(b)(8) 

D(k)(5) 

D(b)(5) 

O(b)(9) 

o(k)(6) 

~(b)(6) 

O(k)(7) 

405 page(s) were reviewed and 405 page(s) are being released. 

D 

Document(s) were located which originated with, or contained information concerning other 

Government agency(ies) [OGA]. This information has been: 

o referred to the OGA for review and direct response to you. 

o referred to the OGA for consultation. The FBI will correspond with you regarding this 

information when the consultation is finished. 

I8l You have the right to appeal any denials in this release. Appeals should be directed in writing to the 

Director, Office of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice, 1425 New York Ave., NW, 

Suite 1'1050, Washington, D.C. 20530-0001. Your appeal must be received by OIP within sixty (60) 

days from the date of this letter in order to be considered timely. The envelope and the letter should be 

clearly marked "Freedom of Information Appeal." Please cite the FOIPA Number assigned to your 

request so that it may be easily identified. 

. 

o The enclosed material is from the main investigative file(s) in which the sUbject(s) of your request was 

the focus of the investigation. Our search located additional references, in files relating to other

individuals, or matters, which mayor may not be about your subject(s). Our experience has shown, 

when ident, references usually contain information similar to the information processed in the main 

file(s). Because of our significant backlog, we have given priority to processing only the main 

investigative file(s). If you want the references, you must submit a separate request for them in writing, 

and they will be reviewed at a later date, as time and resources permit. 

I8l See additional information which follows. 

Sincerely yours, 

David M. Hardy 

Section Chief 

Record/I nformation 

Dissemination Section 

Records Management Division 

Enclosure(s) 

Pursuant to Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 16.11 and/or 16.49, there is a 

fee of ten cents per page for duplication. No fees are assessed for the first 100 pages, upon receipt of these 

documents, please 'submit a check or money order payable to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the amount of 

$30.50 for released pages. To insure proper identification of your request, please return this letter or include the FOIPA 

number(s) with your payment. Failure to pay for this release within (30) days, will close any pending FBI FOIPA 

requests from you. Nonpayment will also cause an automatic denial of any future FOIPA requests. Please send 

payment to FBI, 170 Marcel Drive, Winchester, VA 22602-4843.

EXPLANATION OF EXEMPTIONS 

SUBSECTIONS OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 552 

(b)(l) 

foreign 

(b)(2) 

(b)(3) 

(b)(4) 

(b)(5) 

(b)(6) 

privacy; 

(A) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest ofnational defense or 

policy and (B) are in fact properly classified to such Executive order; 

related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices ofan agency; 

specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than section 552b ofthis title), provided that such statute(A) requires that the 

matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion onissue, or (B) establishes particular criteria for 

withholding or refers to particular types ofmatters to be withheld; 

trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential; 

inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation 

with the agency; 

personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure ofwhich would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion ofpersonal 

(b)(7) 

security 

records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement 

records or information (A) could be reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, ( B) would deprive a person 

ofa right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, ( C ) could be reasonably expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion ofpersonal 

privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity ofconfidential source, including a State, local, or foreign agency or 

authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case ofrecord or information compiled 

by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course ofa criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national 

intelligence investigation, information furnished by a confidential source, ( E ) would disclose techniques and procedures for law 

enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or 

prosecutions ifsuch 

expected to endanger the life or 

disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention ofthe law, or ( F ) could reasonably be 

physical safety ofany individual; 

(b)(8) 

(b)(9) 

contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use ofan agency responsible for 

the regulation or supervision offinancial institutions; or 

geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells. 

SUBSECTIONS OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, SECTION 552a 

(d)(5) 

(j)(2) 

(k)(l) 

(k)(2) 

identity 

information compiled in reasonable anticipation ofa civil action proceeding; 

material reporting investigative efforts pertaining to the enforcement ofcriminal law including efforts to prevent, control, or reduce 

crime or apprehend criminals; 

information which is currently and properly classified pursuant to an Executive order in the interest ofthe national defense or foreign 

policy, for example, information involving intelligence sources or methods; 

investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes, other than criminal, which did not result in loss ofa right, benefit or 

privilege under Federal programs, or which would identify a source who furnished information pursuant to a promise that his/her 

would be held in confidence; 

(k)(3) material maintained in connection with providing protective services to the President ofthe United States or any other individual 

pursuant to the authority ofTitle 18, United States Code, Section 3056; 

(k)(4) 

(k)(5) 

required by statute to be maintained and used solely as statistical records; 

investigatory material compiled solely for the purpose ofdetermining suitability, eligibility, or qualifications for Federal civilian 

employment or for access to classified information, the disclosure ofwhich would reveal the identity ofthe person who furnished 

information pursuant to a promise that his/her identity would be held in confidence; 

(k)(6) testing or examination material used to determine individual qualifications for appointment or promotion in Federal Government 

service the release ofwhich would compromise the testing or examination process; 

(k)(7) 

person 

material used to determine potential for promotion in the armed services, the disclosure ofwhich would reveal the identity ofthe 

who furnished the material pursuant to a promise that his/her identity would be held in confidence.

FBI/DOJ

~. ~ ~aShingtOnpos(¢Om: Mee\lngJcf"::::::~:

·.Page.2 of3 

groups and ofseeking to acquire nuclear weapons. While broad agreement exists within the 

administration favoring changes in Iran's Islamic government, officials differ on how to accomplish 

tnem. 

More than two years after the administration began drafting a national security presidential directive on 

Iran, the policy document remains unfinished. While the State Department favors increased dialogue and 

engagement with potential reformers inside Iran, prominent Pentagon civilians believe the policy should 

be more aggressive, including measures to destabilize the existing government in Tehran. 

The Iran-contra scandal erupted over, a decision by the Reagan administration to s,ell weapons to Iran in 

an effort to win the release ofU.S. hostages in Lebanon. The proceeds ofthe arms sales were illegally 

funneled to contra fighters opposing Nicaragua's leftisrSandinista government. 

Ghorbanifar was enlisted in the effort, helping to arrange the delivery by-Israel of508 TOW antitank 

missiles to Iran. The White House had drafted him as an intermediary despite warnings from the CIA 

that he was a cheat and had failed lie-detector tests. 

The intelligence agency had instructed its operatives not to do business with him. 

News ofthe Pentagon's contact with Ghorbanifar was first reported yesterday by Newsday, and 

Rumsfeld was asked about the story when he emerged with Bush from a meeting at the president's ranch 

in Crawford, Tex. 

Saying he had just been told ofthe Newsdayarticle by a senior aide. and by Rice, Rumsfeld 

acknowledged that "one or two" Pentagon officials "were approached by some people who had 

information about Iranians that wanted to provide information to the United States government." 

He said that a meeting took place "more than a year ago" and that the information received was 

circulated to various federal departments and agencies but did not lead to anything. 

"That is to say, as I ~nderstand it, there wasn't anything there that was ofsubstance or ofvalue that 

needed to be pursued further," he said. 

Asked ifthe Pentagon contact was intended to circumvent official U.S. exchanges with Iran, Rumsfeld 

replied: "Oh, absolutely not. I mean, everyone in the interagency process, I'm told, was apprised ofit, 

and it went nowhere. Itwas just _. this happens, ofcourse, frequently, that in -- people come in, offering 

suggestions or information or possible contacts, and sometimes they're pursued. Obviously, ifit looks as 

though something might be interesting, it's pursued. Ifit isn't, it isn't." 

' 

Standing by Rumsfeld's side, Bush was asked ifthe meeting was a good idea and ifhis administration 

wants a change in government. "We support the aspirations ofthose who desire freedom in Iran," the 

president said, then took a question on a different subject. 

According to the account given later by the senior Pentagon official, the contact in 2001 occurred after 

Iranian'officials passed word to the'administration that they had information that might be useful in the 

global war on terrorism. Two Pentagon officials met with the Iranians in several sessions over a threeday 

period in Italy. Ghorbanifar attended these meetings, "but he was not the individual who ,had 

apprQached the United States orthe on~ with the information,It the official said. 

What h~s role W3:S, however, the official did not know. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A36669-2003Aug8?language=printer 8/12/2003

:Page :3 013 . 

The official said the June meeting involved one ofthe two Pentagon representatives who had been 

present at the 2001 meeting, buthe declined to say which one. 

Staffwriter Dana Priest contributed to this report. 

© 2003 The Washington Post Company 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A36669-2003Aug8?language=--printer 8/12/2003

Page l'ofl 

Iraq War Planner Downplays Role 

Conservative Strategist Denies Running Stealth Intelligence Operation 

By Thomas E. Ricks 

Washi~gton Post Staff Writer 

Wednesday, October 22,2003; Page A27 

In normal times, the chiefofthe Pentagon's office for Middle Eastern policy toils in obscurity, a third-level functionary 

hardly noticed inside the building, let alone outside it. 

Not so Deputy Undersecretary William 1. uti. The day..to-day manager ofthe Defense Department's Irag policy, he 

has the highest profile ofanyone to eve old his post. 

A recent Google search uncovered 1,340 Internet hits mentioning him; many ofthem depicting him as a stealthy 

Svengali ofIraq policy, operating at the center ofa network connecting Vice President Cheney, former House speaker 

Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Undersecretary ofDefense for Policy Douglas J. Feith -- all people for whom Luti has 

worked in the past seven years. Some Web sites associated with fringe political player Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. attack 

him in lurid terms as an lIignoble liar" and "Satan." 

The critics are especially suspicious ofhis Office ofSpecial Plans, which was created last year. The purposely 

ambiguous title -- it was an office to work on policy for invading Iraq -- gave rise to speculation that Luti was running a 

shadowy intelligence operation intended to second-guess the CIA and provide the Pentagon with findings that 

supported its policies. The office has since been closed. 

IIrhe conspiracies out ofthis are quite stunning," Luti said in a recent interview in his crowded office in an 

unfashionable inner corridor ofthe Pentagon. "We are a consumer ~f intelligence rather than a provider." 

He insists that he is not as influential as some ofhis critics suspect. liTo paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors ofmy 

power are greatly exaggerated," he said. 

He has been attacked, he said, because "we work tough issues, we work controversial issues.." But he insisted he does 

not preside over a secret miniature version ofthe CIA. "For the umpteenth tiine," he said, showing a bit of 

exasperation, "we do policy work. II What that means, he said, is developing defense policy options and monitoring their 

implementation -- not collecting intelligence, planning wars or implementing policy. 

But he also seems to have attracted attention because ofhis zealous manner. "I know he's a lightning rod,".said Richard 

Shultz, Luti's doctoral thesis adviser at Tufts University. "That's partly because he is so passionate, and partly because 

he is so devoted to policies that have been divisive." 

Defense intelligence experts say Bruce Hardcastle, a senior Def~nse Intelligence Agency official for Middle Eastern 

~ffairs, began avoiding meeting with Luti after sharply disagreeing with him over the past 12 months about the 

imminence ofthe threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. 

"It'syery ?ifficult to inf0:m people who already know it all," said op.e Pentagon official familiar with the strained ,;I 

relationship between Lutl and Hardcastle. 

r 1 u 

"Basically, he [Luti] didn't like other.people's information ifit didn't agree with his opinion," a former DIA an~ls.t ~ 

~ . 00~ 

Hardcastle declined to copunent for thisarticle.' . ir IP 

~\vtl 

b6 

b7C

\ ' 

washitlgtonposlcom: IraqWar PlannOownPl~YS Role .... . 0 

Over~I:Luti said ofhis critics, they are· 'either confuse4, malicious, or both.'" - 

Page 2 of.3·, 

He added, "Policy people and intelligence analysts perform different functions, but what's important is that they work 

!ogether, not that they agree on everything." 

Those critical views are hardly universal. John Trigilio, a fomler DIA official who works with Luti on defense policy 

issues, described him as "a straight shooter, professional, honorable," and called the notion that he manipulated 

intelligence "ridiculous." Adm. William 1. Fallon, who commanded Luti when Luti was skipper ofthe USS Guam, 

remembers him as an extremely competent leader who did not skew data. 

"I've heard the allegation, and I've kind ofchuckled at it," said Fallon, who recently became commander ofthe Atlantic 

Fleet. "I never saw anything along those. lines." 

Luti's 26-year Navy career was an unusual mix ofsea duty and high-level Washington policy positions. After serving 

as a weapons officer for EA-6B Prowlers -- aircraft that jam enemy electronics -- he studied strategy and diplomacy at 

Tufts University. He went there for a master's degree, "but he was such a damned good student that we admitted him to 

the doctoral program," recalled Shultz, an authority on international politics and military operations. 

In the early 1990s, while deputy director ofthe chiefofnaval operations' executive panel, a civilian advisory group, 

Luti became interested in the views ofone member, strategy guru Albert Wohlstetter. A mentor to Deputy Defense 

Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, Defense Policy Board member Richard N. Perle and several other prominent 

conservative defense thinkers, Wohlstetter became Luti's entree into their world. 

From there, while still in the Navy, Luti became.a congressional fellow in the office ofthen-Speaker Gingrich. His time 

there, in part spent working on legislation related to arming and training Bosnian Muslims, again brought him into 

contact with interventionist conservatives. 

"We were talking with people like Perle and Wolfowitz about doing the right thing in Bosnia," recalled Randy 

Schuenemann, who then was a foreign policy aide on the Hill, and later, as a lobbyist for an organization that 

advocated toppling Hussein, worked with Luti on Iraq issues. 

Gingrich, who has stayed in touch with Luti through meetings ofthe Defense Policy Board, described his former 

employee as "very smart, very aggressive, slightly impatient, and ... with a very deep feeling that the world is more 

dangerous than many ofhis colleagues in the Pentagon, in the services, understand." 

Luti's last major Navy assignment was as captain ofthe USS Guam, an aging helicopter carrier with a crew of700. 

"Guam was one of!he oldest ships in the. fleet," recalled Fallon, but Luti kept it in "marvelous condition. 1I 

When the Bush administration came into office, Luti was asked to work for Cheney on Middle East-policy. A few 

months later, he retired from the Navy to take his current position. 

He was in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2001, and, with commercial traffic stopped, got back to the United States aboard an Air 

Force KC-135 refueling jet. On the way home, he recalled, the plane flew over New York City, escorted by F-16 

fighters, and the pilot lowered a wing so those aboard could get a full view ofthe smoke plume rising from the rubble 

ofthe World Trade Center. 

When the jet finally landed, he recalled, "we had this war on our hands.,11 Since then, he has had a total of 12 days off. 

C 2003 The Washington Post Company

washillgtOP.l;.ost.conl~ In Profile· . 

,v ~ 

washingtonpost.c.~m 

In'Profile 

Wednesday, October 22,2003; Page A27 

William J. Lut; 

Title: Deputy undersecretary ofdefense for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs. 

Age: 49. 

Education: Bachelor's degree in history, the Citadel; master's degree in national security and strategic studies, U.S. 

Naval War College; master's and doctorate in international relations, Tufts University. 

Career highlights: Served abm~rd the USS John F. Kennedy during the 1991 Persian Gulf War; congressiont;ll fellow, 

office ofHouse Speaker Newt Gil1grich (R"Ga.), 1996-97; commander, USS Guam, 1997-98; special adviser to Vice 

Pre~ident Cheney for national security affairs (Middle East), 2001. 

Pastime: Golf. ' 

ADVERTISER LINKS 

© 2003 The Washington Post Company 

Shipmates 

Old Comrades. Ships. Friends Family & Good memories 

OldOppos.us 

Essex Carrier Models 

Recreate the·ship you served on. Build an American aircraft carrier. 

http;/Iwww.modelshiDbuil~ing.Com.- .

. wa')~i~l&to~P'ostco~n: Iraq War Planp~owllPlayS Role 

waSbirigtonp9st.com 

. AI. L HJP"OnH1..TI m'1 CONrAINED 

HEREIN IS TJIYICLAS"-tED ..' . 

DATE 07-29-.2010~oi24 u~ baw/seb/ l~g 

Page·! of3 

Iraq War Planner Downplays Role 

Conservative Strategist Denies Running Stealth Intelligence Operation 

By Thomas B. Ricks 

Washington Post StaffWriter 

Wednesday, October 22, 2003; Page A27 

In normal times, the chiefofthe Pentagon's office for Middle I;astern policy toils in obscurity, a third-level functionary 

hardly noticed inside the building, let alone outside it. 

Not so Deputy Undersecretary William J. LutL The day-to-day manager ofthe Defense Department's Iraq policy, he 

has the highest profile ofanyone to ever hold his post. 

A recent Google search uncovered 1,340 Internet hits mentioning him, many ofthem depicting him as a stealthy 

Svengali ofIraq policy, operating at the center ofa network connecting Vice President Cheney, former House speaker 

Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Undersecretary ofDefense for Policy Douglas J.Feith-- all people for whom Luti has 

worked in the past seven years. Some Web sites associated with fringe political player Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. attack 

him in lurid terms as an "ignoble liar" and "Satan. 1I 

The critics are especially suspicious ofhis Office ofSpecial Plans, which was created last year. The purposely 

ambiguous title -- it was an office to work on policy for invading Iraq -- gave rise to speculation that Luti was running a 

shadowy intelligence operation intended to second-guess the CIA and provide the Pentagon with findings that 

supported its policies. The office has since been closed. 

liThe conspiracies out ofthis are quite stunning,II Lutisaid in a recent interview in his crowded office in an 

unfashionable inner corridor ofthe Pentagon. IIWe are a consumer ofintelligence rather than a provider." 

He insists that he is not as influential as some ofhis critics suspect. liTo paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors ofmy 

power are greatly exaggerated, II he said. 

He has been attacked, he said, because "we work tough issues, we work controversial issues.II But he insisted he does 

not pres.ide over a secret miniature version ofthe CIA. "For the umpteenth time," he said, showing a bit of 

exasperation,'''we do policy work. II What that means, he said, is developing defense policy options and monitoring ~heir 

implementation -- nofcollecting intelligence, planning wars or implementing policy. 

But he also seems to have attracted attention because ofhis zealous manner. "I know he's a liglitning rod," said Richard 

Shultz, Luti's doctoral thesis adviser at Tufts University .. "That's partly because·he is so passionate, and partly because 

" he is so devoted to policies that have been divisive." 

Defense intelligence experts say Bruce Hardcastle, a senior Defense Intelligence Agency official for Middle Eastern 

affairs, began avoiding meeting with Luti after sharply disagreeing with him over the past 12 months about the 

imminence ofthe threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. 

"It's very difficult to inform people who already know it all," said one Pentagon official familiar with the strained 

relations4ip between Luti and Hardcastle. 

"Basically, he [Luti] didn't likeother people's information ifit didn't agree with his opinion,1I a former DIA analyst 

agreed. 

Hardcastle declined to comment for this article. 

uw~ 

\. 4'S~~. • ~~"'S-'t-.\C.....b6 

wasliiDgtonpostcom: Iraq War Plann~ownplllYS Role, ' . 0 

ovttian, Luti said ofhis critics, they ~either conftlSed ll tnalicious, or both." 

Page2.of3 ' 

He added, "Policy people and intelligence analysts perform different iUnctions, but what's important is that they work 

together, not that they agree on everything." 

Those critical views are hardly universal. John Trigilio, a former DIA official who works with Luti on defense policy 

issues, described him as "a straight shooter, professional, honorable," and called the notion that he manipulated 

intelligence "ridiculous." Adm. William J. Fallon, who commanded Luti when Luti was skipper ofthe USSGuam, 

remembers him as an extremely competent leader who did not skew data. 

"I've heard the allegation, and I've kind ofchuckled at it," said Fallon, who recently became commander ofthe Atlantic 

Fleet. "I never saw anything along those lines." 

Luti's 26-year Navy career was an unusual mix ofsea duty and high-level Washington policy positions. After serving 

as a weapons officer for EA-6B Prowlers -- aircraft that jam enern,.y electronics -- he studied strategy and diplomacy at 

Tufts University. He went there for a master's degree, "but he was such a damned good'student that we admitted him to 

the doctoral program," recalled Shultz, an authority on international politics and military operations. 

In the early 1990s, while deputy director ofthe chiefofnaval operations' executive panel, a civilian advisory group, 

Luti became interested in the views ofone member, strategy guru Albert Wohlstetter. A mentor to Deputy Defense 

Secretiuy Paul D. Wolfowitz, Defense Policy Board member Richard N. Perle and several other prominent 

conservative defense thinkers, Woh~stetter became Luti's entree into, their world. 

From there, while still in the Navy, Luti became a congressional fellow in the office ofthen-Speaker Gingrich. His time 

there, in part spent working on legislation related to arming and training Bosnian Muslims, again brought him into 

contact with interventionist conservatives. 

"We were talking with people like Perle and.Wolfowitz about doing the right thing in Bosnia," recalled Randy 

Schuenemann, who then was a foreign policy aide on the Hill, and later, as a lobbyist for an organization t4at 

advocated toppling Hussein, worked with Luti on Iraq issues. 

Gingrich, who has stayed in touch with Luti through meetings ofthe Defense Policy Board, described his former 

employee as "very smart, very aggressive, slightly impatient, and ... with a very deep feeling that the world is more 

dangerous than many ofhis colleagues in the Pentagon, in the services, understand." 

I 

Luti's last major Navy assignment was as captain ofth~ USS Guam, an aging helicopter car.rier with a crew of700. 

"Guam was one ofth~ oldest ships in the fleet," recalled Fallon, but Luti kept it in "marvelous condition." 

When the Bush administration came into office, Luti was asked to work for Cheney on Middle East policy. A few 

months later, he retired from the Navy to take his curre!1t position. 

He was in Cairo on Sept. 11,2001, and, with commercial traffic stopped, got back to the United States aboard an Air 

Force KC-135 refueling jet. On the way home, he recalled, the plane flew over New York City, escorted by F-16 

fighters, and the pilot lowered a wing so those aboard could get a full view ofthe smoke plume rising from the rubble 

ofthe World Trade Center. 

When the jet finally landed, he recalled, "we had this war on our hands." Since then, he has had a total of12 gays off. 

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

w~hingttlnpost.com: In Profile· 

w8ahingtonpost.conl 

In Profile 

. ALl, INFmU'ihT'J,Cl:i C01:.l'I'AUIED , 

~IN IS Ul\iT;LAS 51FIED ' '" 

'CIn 07-

.1 

'_'_"~-~-_'.~,,,,...,,.,.,.,",. . _. __..._-_.... ,.,~., _..._.._......_.-:.;;::::.)i;,).."":_'_.. _.~.._.... ,,.,..-.,.._._- 

Q~. 

·~~~f' 

:--' ,,--;,'" "..t!.~ ...... 

'. - 

Mother Jones Magazine 

January/February 2004 

The Lie Factory 

Only weeks after9/11, the Bush administration set up a secret Pentagon unit to create the 

case for invading Iraq. Here is the inside story for how they pushed dlslnformation and 

bogus intelligence and led the nation to war. 

By Robert Dreyfuss and Jason Vest 

It's a crisp fall day in western Virginia, a hundred miles from Washington, D.C., and a breeze is 

rustling the red and gold leaves of the Shenandoah hills. On the weather-beaten wood porch of a 

ramshackle 90-year-old farmhouse, at the end of a winding dirt-and-gravel road, Lt. Colonel 

Karen Kwiatkowski is perched on a plastic chair, wearing shorts, a purple sweatshirt, and muddy 

sneakers. Two scrawny dogs and a lone cat are'on the prowl, and tne air is filled with swarms 

So far, she says, no investigators have come knocking. Not from the Central Intelligence Agency, 

which conducted an internal inquiry into intelligence on Iraq, not from the congressional 

inteiligence committees, not from the president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. All of those 

bodies.are ostensibly looking into the Bush administration's prewar Iraq intelligence, amid 

charges that the White House and the Pentagon exaggerated, distorted, or j~st plain lied about 

Iraq's links to AI Qaeda terrorists and its possession of nuclear, biological, and chemical 

weapons. In her hands, Kwiatkowski holds several pieces of the puzzle. Yet she, along with a 

score of other career officers recenUy retired or shuffled off to other jobs, has not been 

approached by anyone. 

Kwiatkowski, 43, a now-retired Air Force officer who served in the Pentagon's Near East and 

·South Asia (NESA) unit in the year before the invasion of Iraq, observed how the Pentagon's Iraq 

war-planning unit manufactured scare stories about Iraq's weapons and ties to' terrorists., "It 

wasn't intelligence-it was propaganda," she says. "They'd take a little bit of intelligence, cherrypick 

it" make it sound much more exciting, usually by taking it out of context, often by 

juxtaposition of two pieces of information that don't belong together." It was by turning such bogus 

intelligence into talking points for U.S. officials-including lSminous lines in speeches by President 

Bush and Vice President Cheney, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell'.s testimony at t~e 

U.N. Security Council last February-that the administration pushed Ainerican public opinion into 

supporting an unnecessary war. 

Until now, the story of how the Bush administration produced its wildly exaggerated estimates of 

the threat posed by Iraq has never been revealeCf in full. But, for the first time, a detailed 

investigation by Mother Jones, based on dozens of interviews-some on the record. some with 

officials who insisted on anonymity-exposes the workings of a secret Pentagon intelligence unit 

and of the Defense Department's war-planning task force, the"Office of Special Plans. It's the 

story of a close-knit team of ideologues who spent a decade or more hammering out plans for an 

attack on Iraq and who used the events of September 11, 2001" to set it into motion. 

SIX MONTHS AFTER THE END of major combat in Iraq, the United States had spent $300 

million trying to find banned weapons in Iraq, and President Bush was.seekiflg $600 million more 

to extend the search., Not found were Iraq's Scuds and other long-range missiles, thousands of 

barrels and tons of anthrax and botulism stock, sarin and VX nerve agents, mustard gas, 

biological and chemical munitions, mobile labs for producing biological weapons, and any and all 

evidence of a reconstituted nuclear-arms program, all of which had been repeatedly cited as 

justification for the war. Also missing was evidence of Iraqi collaboration with AI Qaeda. 

The reports, virtually all false, of Iraqi weapons and terrorism ties emanated from an apparatus 

that began to gestate almost as soon as the Bush administration took power. In.the very first 

meeting of the Bush national-security team, one day after President Bush took the oath of office 

in January 2001 , the issue of invading Iraq was raised. according to one of the participants in the 

meeting-and officials all the way down the line started to get the message, long before 9/11. 

Indeed, the Bush team at the Pentagon hadn't even been formally installed before Paul 

B~ 

· , 

,CQ 

Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of Defense, and Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary of Defense for 

policy, began putting together what would become the vanguard for regime change in Iraq. 

Both Wolfowitz and Feith have deep roots in the neoconservative.movement. One of the most 

influential Washington neoconservatives in the foreign-policy establishment during the . 

Republicans' wilderness years Qf the 1990s, Wolfowitz has long held that not taking Baghdad in 

1991 was a grievous mistake. He and others now prominent in the administration said so 

repeatedly over the past decade in a slew of letters and policy papers from neoconservative 

groups like the Project for the New American Century and the Committee for the Liberation of 

Iraq. Feith, a former aide to Richard Perle at the Pentagon in the 1980s and an activist in far-right 

Zionist circles, held the view that there was no difference between U.S. and Israeli security policy 

and that the best way to secure both countries' future was to solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem 

not by serving as a broker, but with the United States as a force for "regime change" in the 

region. 

Called in to help organize the Iraq war-planning team was a longtime Pentagon official, Harold 

Rhode, a specialist on Islam who speaks Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi.>Though Feith would 

not be officially confirmed until July 2001, career military and civilian officials in NESA began to 

watch his office with concern after Rhode set up shop in Feith's office in early January. Rhode, 

seen by many veteran staffers as an ideological gadfly, was officially assigned to the Pentagon's 

Office of Net Assessment. an in-house Pentagon think tank headed by fellow neocon Andrew 

Marshall. Rhode helped Feith lay down the law about the department's new anti-Iraq, and broadly 

anti-Arab, orientation. In one telling incident. Rhode accosted and harangued a visiting senior 

Arab diplomat, telling him that there would be no "bartering in the bazaar anymore.... You're going 

to have to sit up and pay atlention when we say so." 

Rhode refused to be interviewed for this story, saying cryptically, "Those who speak, pay." 

According to insiders, Rhode worked with Feith to purge career Defense'officials who weren't 

sufficiently enthusiastic about the muscular anti-Iraq crusade that Wolfowitz and Feith wanted. 

Rhode appeared to be "pulling people out of nooks and crannies of the Defense Intelligence 

Agency and other places to replace us with," says a former analyst. "They wanted nothing to do 

with the professional staff. And they wanted us the fuck out of there." 

The unofficial, off-si~e recruitment office for Feith and Rhode was the American Enterprise 

Institute,'a right-wing think tank whose 12th-floor conference room in Washington is named for 

the dean of neoconservative defense strategists, the late Albert Wohlstetter, an influential RAND' 

analyst and University of Chicago mathematician. Headquartered at AEI is Richard Perle, 

Wohlstetter's prize protege, the godfather of the AEI-Defense Department nexus of 

neoconservatives who was chairman of the Pentagon's influential Defense Policy Board. Rhode, 

along with Michael RUbin, a former AEI staffer who is also now at the Pentagon, was a ubiquitous 

presence at AEI conferences on Iraq over the past two years, and the two Pentagon officials 

seemed almost to be serving as stage managers for the AEI events, often sitting in the front row 

and speaking in stage Whispers to panelists and AEI officials. Just after September 11, 2001, 

Feith and Rhode recruited David Wurmser, the director of Middle East studies for AEI, to serve as 

a Pentagon consultant. 

Wurmser would be the founding participant of the unnamed, secret intelligence unit at the 

Pentagon, set up if1 Feith's office, which would be the nucleus of the Defense Department's Iraq 

disinformation campaign that was established within weeks of the attacks in New York and 

Washington. While the CIA and other intelligence agencies concentrated on Osama bin Laden's 

AI Qaeda as the culprit in the 9/11 att.acks, Wolfowitz and Feith obsessively focused on Iraq. It 

was a theory that was discredited, even ridiculed, among intelligence professionals. Daniel 

Benjamin, co-author of The Age of Sacred Terror, was director of counterterrorism at the National 

Security Council in the late 1990s. "In 1998, we went through every piece of intelligence we could 

find to see if there was a link between AI Oaeda and Iraq," he says. 'We came to the conclusion 

that our intelligence agencies had it right: -There was no noteworthy relationship between AI 

Qaeda and Iraq. I know that fora fact." Indeed, that was the consensus amqng virtually all antiterrorism 

specialists.

o 

In short, Wurmser, backed by Feith and Rhode, set out to prove(what didn't exist. 

IN AN ADMINISTRATION devoted to the notion of "Feith-based intelligence," Wurmser was ideal. 

For years, he'd been a shrill ideologue" part of the minority crusade during the 1990s that was 

beating the drums for war againstlraq. Along with, Perle and Feith, in 1996 Wurmser and his wife, 

Meyrav" wrote a provocative strategy paper for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called 

"A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm." It called on Israel to work with Jordan 

and Turkey to "contain, destabilize and·roll back" various states in the region, overthrow Saddam 

Hussein in Iraq, press Jordan to res'tore a scion of the Hashemite dynasty to the Iraqi throne, and, 

above all, launch military assaults against Lebanon and Syria as a "prelude to a redrawing ofthe 

map of the Middle East which would threaten Syria's territorial integrity." 

In 1997, Wurmserwrote a column in the Wall Street Journal called "Iraq Needs a Revolution" and 

the next year co-signed a letter with Perle calling for all-out U.S. support of the Iraqi National 

Congress (INC), an exile group led by Ahmad Chalabi, in promoting an insurgency in Iraq. At AEI, 

Wurmser wrote Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein, essentially a booklength 

version of "A Clean Break" that proposed an alliance between Jordan and the INC to 

redraw the map of the Middle East. Among the mentors cited by Wurmser in the book: Chalabi, 

Perle, and Feith. 

The purpose of the unnamed intelligence unit, often described as a Pentagon "cell," was to scour 

reports from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and other 

agencies to find nuggets of information linking Iraq, AI Oaeda, terrorism, and the existence of 

Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In a controversial press briefing in October 2002, a 

year after Wurmser's unit was established, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged 

that a primary purpose of the unit was to cull factoids, which were then used to disparage, 

undermine, and contradict the CIA's reporting, which was far more cautious and nuanced than 

Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith wanted. Rumsfeld particularly enjoyed harassing the CIA staffer 

who briefed him every morning, using the type of data produced by the intelligence unit. 'What I 

could do is say, 'Gee, what about this?'" Rumsfeld noted. "'Or what about that? Has somebody 

thought of this?'" Last June, when Feith was questioned on the same topic at a briefing, he 

acknowledged that the secret unit in fact looked at the connection between Iraq and terrorism, 

saying, "You can't rely on deterrence to deal with the problem of weapons of mass destruction in 

the hands of state sponsors of terrorism because [of] the possibility that those state sponsors 

might employ chemical weapons'or biological weapons by means of a terrorist organization 

proxy...." 

Though Feith, in that briefing, described Wurmser's unit as an innocent project, "a global 

exercise" that was not meant to put pressure on other intelligence agencies or create skewed 

intelligence to fit preconceived policy notions, many other sources assert that it did exactly that. 

That the White House and the'Pentagon put enormous pressure on the CIA to go along with its 

version of events has been widely reported, highlighted by visits to CIA headquarters by Vice 

President Cheney and Lewis Libby, his chief of staff. Led by Perle, the neocons seethed with 

contempt for the CIA. The CIA'S analysis, said Perle, "isn't worth the paper it's printed on." 

Standing in a crowded hallway during an AEI event, Perle added, "The CIA is status quo oriented. 

They don't want to take risks." 

That became the mantra of the shadow agency within an agency., 

Putting Wurmser in charge of the unit meant that it was being run by a pro-Iraq-war ideologue 

who'd spent years calling for a pre-emptive invasion of Baghdad and who was clearly 

predisposed to find what he wanted to see. Adding another layer of dubious quality to the 

endeavor was the man partnered with Wurmser, F. Michael Maloof•. Maloof, a former aide to 

Perle in the 1980s Pentagon, was twice stripped of his high-level security clearances-once in late 

2001 and again last spring, for various infractions. Maloof was also reportedly involved in a 

bizarre scheme to broker contacts between Iraqi officials and the Pentagon, channeled through 

Perle. in what one report called a "rogue [intelligence) operation" outside official CIA and Defense 

Intelligence Agency channels.

o 

As the momentum for war began to build in early 2002, Wolfowitz and Feith beefed up the 

intelligence unit and created an Iraq war-planning unit in the Pentagon's Near East and South 

Asia Affairs section, run by Deputy Undersecretary of Defense William Luti, under the rubric 

"Office of Special Plans,,"or OSP; the new unit's director was Abram N. Shulsky. By then, 

Wurmser had moved on to a post as senior adviser to Undersecretary of State John Bolton, yet 

another neocon, who was in charge of the State Department's disarmament, proliferation, and 

WMD office and was promoting the Iraq war strategy there. Shulsky's OSP, which incorporated 

the secret intelligence unit, took control, banishing veteran experts-including Joseph McMillan, 

James Russell, Larry Hanauer, and Marybeth McDevitt-who, despite years of service to NESA, 

either were shuffled off to other positions or retired. For the next year, Luti and Shulsky not only 

would oversee war plans but would act aggressively to shape the intelligence product received by 

the White House. 

Both Luti and Shulsky were neoconservatives who were ideological soulmates of Wolfowitz and 

Feith. But Luti was more than that. He'd come to the Pentagon direct,y from the office of Vice 

President Cheney. That gave Luti, a recently retired, decorated Navy captain whose career ran 

from combat aviation to command of a helicopter assault ship, extra clout. Along with his 

colleague Colonel William Bruner, Luti had done a stint as an aide to Newt Gingrich in 1996 and, 

like Perle and Wolfowitz, was an acolyte of Wohlstetter's. "He makes Ollie North look like a 

moderate," says a NESA veteran. 

Shulsky had been on the Washington scene since the mid-1970s. As a Senate intelligence 

committee staffer forSenator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, he began to work with early 

neoconservatives like Perle, who was then an aide to Senator Henry Jackson. Later, in the 

Reagan years, Shulsky followed Perle to the Pentagon as Perle's arms-control adviser. In the 

'90s, Shulsky co-authored a book on intelligence called Silent Warfare, with Gary Schmitt. 

Shulsky had served with Schmitt on Moynihan's staff and they had remained friends. Asked about 

the Pentagon's Iraq intelligence "cell," Schmitt-who is currently the executive director of the 

Project for the New American Century-says that he can't say much about it "because one of my 

best friends is running it.," 

According to U. Colonel KWiatkowski, Luti and Shulsky ran NESA and the Office of Special Plans 

with brutal efficiency, purging people they disagreed with and enforcing the party line. "It was 

organized like a machine," she says. "The people working on the neocon agenda had a narrow, 

well-defined political agenda. They had a sense of mission." At NESA, Shulsky, she says, began 

"hot-desking," or taking an office wherever he could find one, working with Feith and Luti, before 

formally taking the reins of the newly created OSP. Together, she says, Luti and Shulsky turned 

cherry-picked pieces of uncorroborated, anti-Iraq intelligence into talking points, on issues like 

Iraq's WMD and its links to AI Oaeda. Shulsky constantly updated these papers, drawing on the 

intelligence unit, and circulated them to Pentagon officials, including Rumsfeld, and to Vice 

President Cheney. "Of course, we never thought they'd go directly to the White House," she 

adds. 

Kwiatkowski recalls one meeting in which Luti, pressed to finish a report, told the staff, "I've got to 

get this over to 'Scooter' right away." She later found out that "Scooter" was none other than 

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff. According to KWiatkowski, Cheney 

had direct ties through.Luti into NESA/OSP, a connection that was highly unorthodox. 

"Never, ever, ever would a deputy undersecretary of Defense work directly on a project for the 

vice president," she says. "It was a little clue that we had an informal network into Vice President 

Cheney's office." 

Although Feith insists that the OSP did not seek to gather its own intelligence, Kwiatkowski and 

others sharply disagree. Staff working for Luti and Shulsky in NESA/OSP churned out 

propaganda-style intelligence, she says. As an example, she cited the work of a U.S. intelligence 

officer and Arabic specialist, Navy Lt. Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein, who was a special 

assistant to Luti. "His job was to peruse the Arabic-language media to find articles that would 

incriminate Saddam Hussein about terrorism, and he translated these.II Such raw intelligence is 

usually subject to a thorough vetting process, tracked, verified, and checked by intelligence

e 

o 

professionals. But not at OSP-the material that it produced found its way directly into speeches by 

Bush, Cheney, and other officials. 

According to Melvin Goodman, a former CIA official and an intelligence specialist at the National 

War College, the OSP officials routinely pushed lower-ranking staff around on intelligence 

matters. "People were being pUlled aside [and being told], We saw your last piece and it's not 

what we're looking for,'" he says. "It was pretty blatant." Two State Department intelligence 

officials, Greg Thielmann and Christian Westermann, have both charged that pressure was being 

put on them to shape intelligence to fit policy, in particular from Bolton's office. ''The AI Oaeda 

connection and nuclear weapons issue were the only two ways that you could link Iraq to an 

imminent security threat to the U.S.," Thielmann told the·New York Times. "And the 

administration was grossly distorting the intelligence on both things." 

BESIDES CHENEY, key members of the Pentagon's D~fense Policy Board, including Perle and 

ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, all Iraq hawks, had direct input into NESAlOSP. The offices of 

NESA were located on the Pentagon's fourth floor, seventh corridor of 0 Ring, and the Policy 

Board's offices were directly below, on the ttaird floor. During .the run-up to the Iraq-war, Gingrich 

often came up for closed-door meetings with luti, who in 1996 had served as a congressional 

fellow in Speaker of the House Gingrich's office. 

As OSP got rolling, Luti brought in Colonel Bruner, a former military aide to Gingrich, and, 

together, luti and Bruner opened the door to a vast flow of bogus intelligence fed to the Pentagon 

by Iraqi defectors associated with Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress group of exiles. Chalabi 

founded the'lraqi National Congress in 1992, with the help of a shadowy CIA-connected publicrelations 

firm called the Rendon Group, one of whose former employees, Francis Brooke, has 

been a top aide to Chalabi ever since. A scion of an aristocratic Iraqi family, Chalabi fled Baghdad 

at the age of 13, in 1958, when the corrupt Iraqi Hashemite monarchy was overthrown by a 

coalition of communists and the Iraqi military. In the late 1960s, Chalabi studied mathematics at 

the University of Chicago with Wohlstelter, who introduced him to Richard Perle more than a 

decade later. Long associated with the heart of the neoconservative movement, Chalabi founded 

Petra Bank in Jordan, Which grew to be Jordan's third-largest bank by the 1980s. But Chalabi 

was accused of bank fraud, embezzlement, and currency manipulation, and he barely escaped 

before Jordanian authorities could arrest him; in 1992, he was convicted and sentenced in 

absentia to more than 20 years of hard labor. After founding the INC, Chalabi's bungling" 

unreliability, and penchant for mismanaging funds caused the CIA to s0l.!r on him, but he never 

lost the support of Perle, Feith, Gingrich, and their allies; once, soon after 9/11, Perle invited 

Chalabi to address the Defense Policy Board. 

According to multiple sources, Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress sent a steady stream of 

misleading and often faked intelligence reports into U.S. inteUigence channels., That information 

would flow sometimes into NESA/OSP directly, sometimes through Defense Intelligence Agency 

debriefings of Iraqi defectors via the Defense Human Intelligence Service, and sometimes 

through the INC's own U.S.-funded Intelligence Collection Program, which was overseen by the 

Pentagon. The INC's intelligence "isn't reliable at all," according to Vincent Cannistraro, a former 

CIA chief of counterterrorism. 

"Much of it is propaganda. Much of it is telling the Defense Department what they want to hear, 

using alleged inform~nts and defectors who say what Chalabi wants them to say, [creating] 

cooked inform~tion that goes right into presidential and vice presidential speeches." 

Bruner, the aide to Luti and Gingrich's former staffer, ''was Chalabi'shandler," says Kwiatkowski. 

"He would arrange meetings with Chalabi and Chalabi's folks." she says, adding that the INC 

leader often brought people into the NESA/OSP offices for debriefings. Chalabi claims to have 

introduced only three actual defectors to the Pentagon, a figure Thielmann considers "awfully 

low." However, according to an investigation by the los Angeles Times. the three defectors 

provided by Chalabi turned up exactly zero useful intelligence. The first. an Iraqi engineer, 

claimed to have specific information about biological weapons, but his information didn't pan out; 

the second claimed to know about mobile labs, but that information, too, was worthless; and the 

third, who claimed to have data about Iraq's nuclear program, proved to be a fraud. Chalabi also

.. • • t 

G 

- 

claimed to have given the Pentagon information about Iraqi support for AI Oaeda. 'We gave the 

names of people who were doing the links," he told an interviewer from PBS'S Frontline. Those 

links, of course, have not been discovered. Thielmann told the same Frontline interviewer that the 

Office of Special Plans didn't apply strict intelligence~verification standards to "some of the 

information coming out of Chalabi and the INC that OSP and the Pentagon ran with~" 

In the war's aftermath, the Defense Intelligence Agency-which is not beholden to the 

neoconservative civilians at the Pentagon-leaked a report it prepared, concluding that few, if any, 

of the INC's informants provided worthwhile intelligence. 

SO FAR, DESPITE ALL of the investigations underway" there is little sign thatany of them are 

going to delve into the operations of the Luti-Shulsky Office of Special Plans and its secret 

intelligence unit. Because it operates in the Pentagon's policy shop, it is not officially part of the 

intelligence community, and so it is seemingly immune to congressional oversight. 

With each passing day, it is becoming excruciatingly clearer just how wrong U.S. ~ntelligence was 

in regard to Iraqi weapons and support for terrorism. The American teams of inspectors in the 

Iraq Survey Group, which has employed up to 1,400 people to scour the country and analyze the 

findings, have not been able to find a shred of evidence of anything other than dusty old plans 

and records of weapons apparently destroyed more than a decade ago. Countless examples of 

fruitless searches have been reported in the media. To cite one example: U.S. soldiers followed 

an intelligence report claiming that a complex built for Uday Hussein, Saddam's son, hid a 

weapons warehouse with poison-gas storage tanks. "Well," U.S. Army Major Ronald Hann Jr. t~ld 

the Los Angeles Times, "the warehouse was a carport. It still had two cars inside. And the tanks 

had propane for the kitchen." 

Countless other errors and exaggerations have become evident. The thousands of aluminum 

tubes supposedly imported by Iraq for uranium enrichment were fairly conclusively found to be 

designed to build noncontroversial rockets. The long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, allegedly 

built to deliver bioweapons, were small, rickety, experimental planes with wood frames. The 

mobile bioweapon labs turned out to have had other, ,civilian purposes. And the granddaddy of all 

falsehoods, the charge. that Iraq sought uranium in the West African country of Niger, was based 

on forged documents-documents that the CIA, the State Department, and other agencies knew 

were fake nearly a year before President Bush highlighted the issue in his State of the Union 

address in January 2003. 

"Either the system broke down," former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was sent by the CIA to 

visit Niger and whose findings helped show that the documents were forged, told Mother Jones, 

"or there was selective use of bits of information to justify a decision to go to war that had already 

been taken." 

Edward Luttwak, ~ neoconservative scholar and ~uthor, says flatly that the Bush administration 

lied about the intelligence it had because it was afraid to go to the American people and say that 

the war was simply about getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Instead, says Luttwak, the White House 

was groping for a rationale to satisfy the United Nations' criteria for war. "Cheney was forced into 

this fake posture of worrying about weapons of mass destruction," he says. "The ties to AI 

Qaeda? That's complete nonsense." 

In the Senate, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is pressing for the Intelligence Committee to 

extend its investigation to look into the specific role of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, but 

there is strong Republican resistance to the idea. 

In the House, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation calling for a commission 

to investigate the intelligence mess and has collected more than a hundred Democrats-but no 

RepUblicans-in support of it. "I think they need to be"looked at pretty carefully,II Waxman told 

Mother Jones when asked about the Office of Special Plans. "lid like to know whether the political 

people pushed the intelligence people to slant their conclusions." 

Congressman Waxman, meet Lt. Colonel Kwiatkowski.

-T' 

AI.L nJFOPH.~TION CONTAn-rED 0 

HEP.EHI IS TJ1JCI,P..Z5IFIED 

DAn 07-'29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg' 

Page 1of2: 

I" -. t1 • 

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A20 

LENGTH: 1448 words 

Document 8 of 8 

Copyright 2003 The Washington Post 

The Washington Post 

June 15, 2003 Sunday 

Final Edition 

HEADLINE: Pressure Builds for President to Declare Strategy on Iran 

BYLINE: Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Staff Writer 

BODY: 

Soon after George W. Bush took office In January 2001, his advisers began drafting a strategy fo'r dealing with Iran, a radical Islamic 

state long suspected by Washington of supporting International terrorism and pursuing weapons of mass· destruction. 

More than two years later, the national security presidential directive on Iran has gone through several competing drafts and has yet 

to be approved by Bush's senior advisers, according to well-placed sources. In the meantime, experts In and outside the government 

are focusing on Iran as the United States' next big foreign policy crisis, with some predicting that the country could acquire a nuclear 

weapon as early as 2006. 

Critics on the left and the right point to the unfinished directive as evidence the administration lacks a coherent strategy toward a 

country Bush described as a key member of the "axis of eVil," along with North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Ir~q. 

"Our policy toward Iran Is neither fish nor fowl, neither engagement nor regime change," said Flynt L. Leverett, a Bush adviser on 

the Middle East who left the National Security Council staff In March and Is now with the Brookings Institution. 

The Bush·admlnlstratlon has yet to formulate a true Iran policy, agreed Michael A. Ledeen, a Middle East expert with the American 

Enterprise Institute. With other neoconservative Intellectuals, Ledeen has founded the Coalition for Democracy In Iran, which Is 

looking for ways to foment a democratic revolution to sweep away the ~ullahs who came to power In 1979. 

Senior administration officials refused to talk about the status of the Bush polley directive on Iran, on the grounds that It Is 

classified, but they say they have had some success In mobilizing International opinion against Iran's nuclear weapons program. As 

eVidence, they cite recent threats by Russia to cut off nuclear assistance to Tehran and moves by the International Atomic Energy 

Agency to censure Iran for failing to report the processing of nuclear·materials. 

While the officials have stopped short of embracing a policy of "regime change" In Iran, U.S. officials from Bush down have talked 

about prOViding moral support to the "reform movement" In Iran In Its struggle against an uneleeted government. As defined by 

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the U.s. goal Is to speak directly to the Iranian·people "over the heads of their leaders to let them 

know that we agree with them.n 

The Internal and external debate about what to do about Iran.has been brought to a head by recent revelations suggesting the 

Iranian nuclear weapons program Is much further along than many suspected. Tomorrow, the IAEA Board of Governors In Vienna Is 

to discuss findings shOWing that Iran has a wide range of options for producing fissile material for a nuclear bomb, from using heavy 

water reactors to produce plutonium to experiments In uranium enrichment. 

U.S. officials have also accused Iran of harboring members of the al Qaeda terrorist network who escaped from Afghanistan after the 

fall of the Tallban In December 2001. Th~y say some al Qaeda supporters hiding In Iran appear to have known In advance about 

recent terrorist attacks In Saudi Arabia, although there Is no direct evidence of operational ties between the Iranian government and 

al Qaeda. 

The escalating Iranian nuclear threat and suspicions of Iranian ties to terrorists have sharpened long-standing divisions In the 

administration over how to deal with Tehran. In the past, the State Department has put the emphasis on opening a dialogue with 

r~forF!.llst elements In the .~ranla~ leadership while the Pentagon has been more Interested In looking for ways to destabilize the 

authoritarian Islamic government. 

'----

----:0-------_ 

1';' 

... ~-:" .;:.;. 

Pr~nt ~ . ,.0. 

I 

.'\;,7.. 

Page2of2 

I BU,reaucratlc tensions have reached the level where eac~ s!de has begun accusing the other of leaking unfavorable storiesto the 

•mpdla to block policy Initiatives. "The knives are out,1I said a Pentagon official, who criticized national security adviser Condoleezza 

Rice for failing to end the dispute by Issuing clear policy guidelines. 

Powell, meanwhile, Insisted to Journalists that there has been no change In policy on Iran, despite what he depicted as frenzied 

media speculation "about what this person In that department might think or that person In another department might thlnk." 

The Iran debate goes back to a failed attempt by the Clinton administration to open an "unconditional dialogue" with Tehran. Even 

though the Iranians rejected the U.s. offer of unconditional talks, some Bush administration officials led by the State Department's 

director for policy planning, Richard N•. Haass, favored making renewed overtures. 

The proposals for a dialogue with Iran were partly Inspired by the 1994 framework agree~ent With North Korea under which the 

North Korean government agreed to accept International controls over Its nuclear program In return for economlc,asslstance, 

Including the construction of a civilian nuclear reactor. But the State Department approach ran Into strong opposition from the 

Pentagon and Vice President Cheney's.office, and was shot down In Interagency meetings at the end of 2001. 

While there would be no "grand bargain" with th!! Iranian leadership, the Bush administration agre,ed to a more limited diplomatic 

dialogue, focusing on specific areas such as the war In Afghanistan or cooperation over Iraq. Several rounds of such talks took place 

In Geneva and Paris, with the Involvement of a special presidential envoy, Zalmay Khalllzad, but were suspended after the bombings 

In Saudi Arabia on May 12. 

The administration debate has been echoed by a much more public debate among Middle East analysts, nuclear proliferation 

experts, and leaders of the Iranian dlaspora. Congress has also weighed In with legislation sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R 

Kan.) that would funnel more than $ 50 million to Iranian pro-democracy Initiatives, Including prlyate California-based satellite 

television and radio stations set up by Iranian exiles. 

"We are not calling for a military attack on Iran," said Brownback, whose proposed IraI') Democracy Act has drawn bipartisan support 

but Is opposed by the leadership of the Foreign Relations Committee. The goal,he said, Is to support Iranian democracy activists, 

Including students Who took to the streets of Tehran again last week to protest the closure of opposition ne~spaper and the jailing of 

dissidents. 

Just how far the United States should go In supporting the protests Is the subject of heated argument Inside and outside the 

government, even among conservatives. Some argue Iran Is ripe for revolution. Others contend there Is little guarantee of radical 

change In Tehran In the three-year period some Independent proliferation experts estimate it will take before Iran could acquire 

nuclear weapons, and the United States should be thinking about other options, including preemptive action against suspected 

nuclear sites. 

"The Internal democratic forces In Iran are real and growing,. but they're not going to save us from having to think about what we • 

are going to do about theJranlan nuclear program and support for terrorlsm," said Reuel Marc Gerecht, a CIA case officer for Iran 

now with the American Enterprise Institute. 

Some analysts say that U.S. financial and propaganda support for the Iranian democracy movement could be counterproductive. lilt 

allows the hardliners to argue that there Is an external threat, and they must crack down In the name of national unlty," said Kaveh 

Ehsanl, an editor of the pro-reform journal Dialogue In Iran, now visiting the United States. ''There Is a kind of an unholy alliance 

between the Bush administration and the Iranian hardllners." 

• 

"We have tried appeasement, we have tried containment, and we h'ave tried engagement," countered S. Rob Sobhanl, a co-founder 

of the Coalition for Democracy In Iran and adjunct professor of government at Georgetown University. "All these policies have failed. 

What have we got to lose by empowerment?" 

The White House has avoided taking a position on the Brownback legislation and has restricted Its encouragement of democracy In 

Iran to verbal broadsides against the mullahs. In comments Thursday, Rice described Iran's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction 

as "not acceptable" and said that the United States "cannot tolerate circumstances In which at Qaeda operatives come In and out of 

Iran." She also accused Iran of stirring up trouble among ShIIte communities In southern Iraq. 

' 

"We have to stand with the aspirations of the Iranian people which have been clearly expressed," she told a meeting in los Angeles, 

as thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran In anti-government protests. 

LOAD-DATE: June 15, 2003

- -- 

~ ~.g:; 

;I ~ t"' 

HH 

02l~ 

~ "'l 

IHO 

t6~~ 

~~>-l 

on H 

.... 1:"'0 

olJoo2l 

~ 

ttI~n 

"'lHO 

m~~ 

of'l'llJoo 

Wt'H 

~ iii 

'=' 

~ fl . 

~ I 

- ...~ I 

~1~.JH~IU!fnr:iGtilf.~~I·lt"i;rrf'!~~!'n!t~,m!riii fHf~-nmrJliUt!U!t!!!fmUliijfU:fflII ,f411·: 

l!l trr I "I ID·(' 11 tllSIr. .Iel.!ltf I f ill;:' ·~i(.!i! K:Ji!,f:...f.sPI1-ltftffIlJ..-al t~ ..- -t;::,• ., 'I ., 

•.':. ~/' 'f.~~:'. ,~,..!.·'lJfJ'Ilt lrl ,ill'f~ ,'" ~frdf !ff.hlil'ii'!.l'~R·RK~ ..t, ',Ii, ~,' .~.=..: 

b' 

~ 

"-. 

:.[IUftD :-Uil~litiLqifl:linmm~~i~IHf~!i!fl'li~Kliljm!illmmn· ri, . 

t~ tfUl

" .1. . --- -.-.-.------- 

"=' Re~Ole Change In Iran'? One Man's Secret Plan. 

~, ., ~. 0 

/1\ 

h~tp;Jldelphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/03121Sfs2003121S241196.httnl 

·0 

UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

'Newsweek 

December 22, 2003 

Periscope 

ALL FBI INFO~~TION CONTAI~mD 

HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

Regime Change In Iran? One Man's Secret Plan. 

Iran's Cllalabi? Manucller Gizorbanij'ar says he talked secretly witll Pentagon officials 

ahoutplansfor regime cllallge in Iran 

By Mark Hosenball 

What was international man ofmystery Manucher Ghorbanifar up to when he met with top Pentagon 

experts on Iran? In a NEWSWEEK interview in Paris last month, Ghorbanifar, a former Iranian spy who 

helped launch the Iran-contra affair, says one ofthe things he discussed with Defense officials Harold 

Rhode and Larry Franklin at meetings in Rome in December 2001 (and in Paris last June with only 

Rh9de) was regime change in Iran. Ghorbanifar says there are Iranians capable oforganizing a peaceful 

revolution against the ruling theocracy. He says his contacts know where Saddam Hussein,hid $340 

million in cash. With American help, he says, this money could be retrieved and halfused to overthrow 

the ayatollahs. (The other halfwould be turned overto the United States.) Ghorbanifar says he told his 

U.S. interlocutors that ousting the mullahs would be a breakthrough in the war on terror because top 

Qaeda leade.rs, including Osama bin Laden, are in Iran. (ltyou wonlt be surprised ifyou find that Saddam 

Hussein is on one ofthe Iranian islands.It) Among other intel Ghorbanifar says he arid associates gave the 

Pentagon: a warning that terrorists in Iraq would a~ck hotels. He also says he had advance info about 

Iranian nukes and a terrorist plot in Canada. Financial gain was never his objective, he says: "We wanted 

to give them the money, not to take the money." 

lofl 

The Pentagon cut offcontact with Ghorbanifar, whom the CIA years ago labeled as a fabricator, after _ 

news about the talks broke last summer. But controversy about the Iranian still reverberates in 

Washington. Administration sources say that when White House officials OK'd what they believed was a 

Pentagon effort to gather info about Iranian terrorist activity in Afghanistan, they didn't know 

Ghorbanifar was involved. When senior officials learned in 2002 about Ghorbanifar--and that regime 

change was on his agenda-they decided further contacts were "not worth pursuing." But Ghorbanifar 

says he continued to communicate with Rhode, and sometimes Franklin, by phone and fax five or six 

times a week until shortly after the Paris meeting last summer. (The Pentagon says any such contacts 

were sporadic and not authorized by top officials.) In Congress, investigations into the Ghorbanifar story 

have sparked partisan tensions. Democrats'want to know ifthe Ghorbanifar contacts are evidence of 

"rogue" espionage by a secretive Pentagon unit that allegedly dealt with controversial Iraqi exile Ahmad 

Chalabi; Republicans want to know whether the CIA refused to meet with potential informants merely 

because the middleman-Ghorbanifar--was someone the agency distrusted. A. Defense official says any 

discussion that Ghorbanifar had w~th Pentagon experts about regime change was a "one-way 

conversation." 

~~~l~ 

6St~-d9b315-tJc- k 

f>:>"~ 

3130120041:31 PM

P. 

UNCLAsSIFIED 

o 

WASHINGTON JOURNAL C-SPAN 

7:45 AM JANU~RY 1,2004 

ALL INFOP.NATION C01JTAINED 


DATE 07-2~-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

. 

U.S. Intelligence in Iraq 

CONNIE BROD: Robert Dreyfuss is a contributing editor for Mother Jones and the 

January-February edition ofMother Jones has the 

hit cover story by him called, liThe Lie Factory.1I What is the lie factory? 

ROBERT DREYFUSS [Contributing Editor, Mother Jones]: Well, I called the lie factory. 

It's kind ofbroader than "that. There was lies, 

but also distortions and exaggerations. I'm referring to the unit inside the Pentagon that 

prepared intelligence reports and talking papers 

for senior U.S. officials in the period going up to the war with Iraq. 

Now, that the war is over and we know that we found exactly zero evidence ofties 

between Iraq anp. al Qaeda and zero evidence of 

tie~ between Iraq and weapons ofmass destruction, it's way past time that we went back 

and looked at how did they get this so wrong? 

The administration is already trying to change the subject, as you know, they're saying, 

well, it wasn't about weapons ofmass 

destruction, Saddam was a bad guy and the world is safer now. I guess I'm amazed that 

he's been able to get away with that so far, the 

President. 

BROD: You went all the way b~ck to the day after the President took office to begin this 

story about this office. What happened that 

day? 

DREYFUSS: Well, one day after the President was sworn in they had a meeting oftheir 

national security team. And one ofthe top items 

on the agenda ofthat meeting -- this was nine months before 9/11 was regime change in 

Iraq. And ofcourse there's a reason for that, 

many ofthe senior officials who took up places in the Bush administration have long 

been on record, some ofthem for as long as a 

decade going back to the first GulfWar that the United States had a responsibility to go 

in militarily and get rid ofSaddam Hussein. 

So there had been a drumbeat from afairly small but well organized group offormer U.S. 

officials, many ofthem intelligence people, 

and, ofcourse, the Iraqi exile groups that they were associated with to bring about regime 

change. And that meeting that you referred to 

UNCLASSIFIED-

o UNCIJASSIFIED o 

really was the first ofmany efforts to start to focus this administration on Iraq. And they 

started to putting into place the people in various 

parts ofthe Pentagon~ especially who would undertake tnat. And ofcourse it wasn't until 

after 9/11 that the political will suddenly 

materialized and they realized thatthey could sell this policy, first ofall to the President 

and then second ofall to the America~ people. 

BROD: Some ofthe figures who you talk about in here are very well known -- Newt 

Gingrich,.Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, but you 

also concentrate a lot on a gentleman who may not be as well known, Douglas Feith. 

Who is he? And what was his role in this office -. 

secret office set up? 

DREYFUSS: Well, Doug Feith works directly under Paul Wolfowitz as the person at the 

Pentagon in charge ofpolicy. He's a senior 

official at the Pentagon, a civilian, not a military person. And he and Wolfowitz both 

have long roots in the neo-conservative movement. 

Doug Feith's law firm, Feith and ZeU, which had been around for the years before the 

administration took power, has a big Israeli office . 

and a lot ofties to the right wing Israeli government, the settler movement in Israel, and 

so forth. And Feith was a leading advocate in the 

1990s for going to war in Iraq long before the Bush administration took office. 

So he was kind ofan ideblogue and it was his job to put.together the team that would 

undertake the actual war planning inside the 

Pentagon and not just war planning in a technical sense, but also the policy and 

propaganda aspects ofhow to justify that war. 

BROD: Now,_ you talk -- this office, was it physically an office? Could people go the~e? 

DREYFUSS: Well, it was physically an office. What happened was under Doug Feith 

there is a second office which is sort ofthe . 

regional planning components ofthe Pentagon, there's one for each part ofthe world, and 

the Near East and.South Asian affairs office, 

which is called NESA, was headed up by a man named Bill Lootey, who is a former 

N~wt Gingrich aide who is also a longtime 

neoconservative and a U.S. Navycap~ain, former captain. And:.Bill Lootey headed up the 

office called NESA. And that was because 

Iraq is located in Near East, or Middle East. That was the office that Feith used to build 

up and create as the Office ofSpecial Plans. 

They gave that name to it in 2002 because they didri't want to tip their hand that they 

were definitely planning a war, so they gave it a 

meaningless name, special plans. But it was really the office for Iraq plans. 

BROD: And how did the office work? 

2 

UNCLASSIFIED

\ UNCLASSIFIED o 

DREYFUSS: Well~ it started out actually as an intelligence group ofjust two or three 

people and it expanded to four or five people, but 

it started out right after 9/11 in 2001 when Doug Feith and a man named Harold Rhode, 

who 'is another Pentagon official and a 

neo~onservative Middle East expert who speaks many languages from the region. And 

some others started putting ,together a team to try 

to link Iraq to what happened on 9/11. As we all knoW now, there was no connection 

between Iraq and 9/11. But they brought in a man 

named David Wormser who was at the time the head ofMiddle East Policy at the 

American Enterprise Institute. 

Now, AEI, American Enterprise Institute is where people like-Newt Gingrich and 

Richard Perle and many other neoconservatives and 

other conservatives sort ofhang out and use as their exile foreign policy shop. Wormser 

was brought in along with a guy named Mike 

Maloof and they were the first two p~ople who set up this little intelligence unit in the 

Pentagon that eventually grew and expanded and 

started churning out all ofthe misleading and distorted apd exaggerated efforts -- pieces 

ofinformation that were then handed to the 

various U.S. officials to run the propaganda to justify the war. 

They wanted to go into Iraq for grand strategic reasons, but they couldn'tjust say that 

and get the public behind them and certainly not 

Congress behind them. So they had to create the idea that Iraq was an imminent threat 

and the only way to do that was to say that Iraq 

was tied to terrorists who were planning to strike us and that Iraq had weapons ofmass 

destruction that could strike us. 

So Wormser and Maloofand then some ofthe other people who were brought into this 

job under Bill Lootey, under a guy named Abe 

Shulsky"who was later brought in.to run the Office ofSpecial Pl~ns, not only started 

picking and choosing among all the intelligence 

that's available, you know, there are tens ofthousands ofbits ofintelligence that go into a 

con~lusion. Well, they discarded the ones they 

didn't like and they seized on the ones that justified the cause that they were trying to 

pursue. And they would write up talking points in 

papers and so forth, which were not real intelligence, in fact, none ofthese people were 

intelligence professionals; they were ideologues, 

they were people who had a mission. And there's no disputing this, in other words, you 

can disput~ whether the war was a good thing or 

a bad thing and you can dispute whether Bush is kind ofa dunce or a genius. But you 

can't dispute the fact that this office was made of 

people who were first ofall not intelligence professionals and who purged -- fired, 

transferred a number ofpeople who were intelligence 

professionals because they disagreed with the conclusions that these ideologues were 

coming to. 

3 

UNCLASSIFIED

\ 

o 

UNCLASSIFIED 

They brought into this office as it expanded into probably a couple ofdozen people with 

maybe 50 or 100 people who would pass in · 

and out ofit as contractors and helpers and supporters, they brought into people who 

were committed ideologically to the cause and 

who would come up with the conclusion they wanted. So all ofthe information that we 

later heard from people like Vice President 

Cheney and even the President about the aluminum tubes, about the uranium from Niger, 

about tlie unmanned aerial vehicles that could 

strike the United States, about thousands oftons ofterrible gasses and chemicals that 

were stored in Iraq, about its reconstituted nuclear 

program, about biological mobile labs, none ofthis existed. It was all a complete 

mythology. 

BROD: This is a complicated story and you have laid out the kind ofthe flow chart for 

this office in your piece and ifour camera could 

just go down you'll see some ofthe names ofthe people that youhave talked about. Our 

phone lines are also open. You can start dialing 

now ifyou're interested in talking with Mr. Dreyfuss. 

My question to you is: Who are your sources for this? 

DREYFUSS: Well, many ofthe people we talked to, we talked to on the record and they 

are quoted in there. I think the most 

courageous person ofall is Lieutenant Colonel Karen Ketkowsky who is now retired, but 

she served in the Office ofNESA, the Near 

East and South Asian affairs office for about a year and saw this up close. And she 

described to me in detail sitting on a wood porch in 

her farm now, she lives out in western Virginia. She described to me in detail how people 

she knew were purged and forced into - 

retirement in this office and how people were encouraged to come up with the kind of 

conclusions that the President and the Vice 

President seemed to want. She talked about how Vice President Cheney had his staff 

working directly with this Pentagon office, which is 

highly unusu~l. In otl!er words, this office was four levels down in the Pentagon. 

Normally its work would go to Bill Lootey, and then to 

Doug Feith, and then to Paul Wolfowitz, and then to Secretary ofDe(ense Rumsfeld. But, 

in fact, you had people like Newt Gingrich 

coming in constantly, people like Richard Perle and people like Vice President Cheney 

and his office, who were tasking this unit, saying 

what about this and what about that? And getting reports from, them. I mean it's highly 

unusual for the Vice President's office, which is 

not part ofthe Pentagon, as we know to have a direct working relationship with an office 

in the bowels ofthe Pentagon's civilian 

bureaucracy. 

4 

UNCLASSIFIED

'I 

rt 

I 

'\ 

\ UNCLASSIFIED o 

BROD: Let's get-to some phone calls for you, first off, Westwood, New Jersey, 

Republican. Good morning. 

CALLER: Connie, happy New Year to you and Robert. 

DREYFUSS: Thank you. 

CALLER: I'm very, very interested in your flow chart and I'm a veteran ofWorld War 

II. My parents taught me never to lie. And so lies 

are very important to. me. The big lie at the present time, I think, is that judges have the 

right to make laws and I think you should be 

more interested in that because that has more far-reaching effects on everything, 

including what you're talking about. The big lie is that, 

for example, in Roe v. Wade. 

BROD: Caller, I'm sorry, but this is really way offthe subject ofwhat we're talking 

about this morning. We're going to let you go and 

try to stay on topic this morning. Burlington, Massachusetts, Democrat. 

, 

CALLER: Hi, good morping, Robert Dreyfuss. 

DREYFUSS: Good morning. 

CALLER: Fantastic subject this morning. Very similar to really an awesome chapter in 

the AI Franken book about lies and how that was 

-- when that administration came in it seemed like they were really trying to warn them 

about terrorist activities and they were trying to 

ignore it and ignore it and put their own thing into place and I'm sorry I don't have the 

book in front ofme, but it's a fantastic chapter 

right next to which you're talking about and I think everybody should read it. 

BROD: Have you read it, Mr. Dreyfuss? 

DREYFUSS: I haven't read AI's book yet, but it's on my list ofNew Year's reading. 

BROD: Greenville, South Carolina. Republican. 

CALLER: Good morning, how are you? 

BROD: Great. 

CALLER: I think that his whole premise is ajoke. And I think that you're just trying to 

grasp with straws to put down President Bush 

who is doing a.greatjob by the way I might add. 

BROD: Grasping at straws, Mr. Dreyfuss? 

5 

UNCLASSIFIED

(/ 

\ 

o UNCLASSIFIED o 

DREYFUSS: That's a silly comment. The President may be doing a great job or not 

doing a great job. This is a story about whether' ... 

there were weapons ofmass destruction in Iraq, which was the main rationale for 

mobilizing our entire nation to go to war. And the 

things weren't there and I thi~ we're going to ask why and what happened and why was ,. 

the President so wrong? I mean Senator Bill 

Nelson from Florida said the other day that he was told in a closed briefing that Iraq had 

unmanned aerial vehicles that can carry 

chemical weapons and biological weapons to the East Coast ofthe United States. Things 

like this are simply not true. When we finally 

got there we found these rickety old Wright brothers looking planes that couldn't have 

gotten out ofBaghdad airport, which were not 

' 

really military by the way at all. 

So the kinds ofexaggerations and distortions that got into the President's speeches, he 

said that in Cincinnati in a modified way about 

these vehicles that could attack the United States are ludicrous. And I'm just stunned at 

the fact that even supporters ofthe President 

and Republicans in Congress just dismissed this and say, well, Iraq is better off, so why 

are we bothering even to talk about these 

weapons when that was hammered and hammered and hammered for months that Iraq 

was an urgent threat to the·United States. 

BROD: Besides writing for Mother Jones as a contributing editor, Mr. Dreyfuss is also a 

contributing editor for The Nation magazine 

and a contributing writer for The American Prospect and a frequent contributor to Rolling 

Stone. 

6 

UNCLASSIFIED

t 

--' ' 

_._-----..,-_._------ 

( The J.,ie FactofY 

e 

http://delphi.dia.ic.gov/admiDJEARf..,YBIPJ)!040106ls2(\0401062t 

o 

i65Z0.html 

, "•" ~:.,;' :J,~':( ~ :-~;~..~.~~~t·~~~:t:~V!1{af:~D~~ariill~iif~ftle~~1f~r~' 

- ·w .. ~ .... ...f"tt"",~_\:;'.1~~~J.,~,..-l""~=:=;) ... ,."............."~"'Z~~ .. \,,,II. ~ 


PIA HomeIWhat's New IProduetsJ)y T)3)el Products by Re8ionI~ I&1R. 

Mother Jones Magazine 

January/February 2004 

Pg.34 

The Lie Factory 

ALL FBI INFORMATION CbNTAINED 

HEREIN IS TlNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

Only weeks after 9/11, tile Busl, administration set up a secret Pelltagon unit to create 

ti,e casefor invading Iraq. Here is ti,e inside storyfor I,OW tlley puslied disinformation 

and bogus intelligellce and led ti,e nation to war. 

By Robert Dreyfuss and Jason Vest 

It's a crisp fall day in western Virginia, a hundred miles from Washington, D.C., and a breeze is rustling 

the red',and gold leaves ofthe Shenandoah hills. On the weather-beaten wood porch ofa ramshackle 

90-year-old farmhouse, at the end ofa winding dirt-and-gravel road, Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski is 

perched on a plastic chair, wearing shorts, a purple sweatshirt, and muddy sneakers. Two scrawny dogs 

and a lone cat are on the prowl, and tne air is filled with swarms 

So far, she says, no investigators have come knocking. Not from the Central Intelligence Agency, which 

conducted an internal inquiry into intelligence on Iraq, not from the congressional intelligence 

committees, not from the president's Foreign·Intelligence Advisory Board. All ofthose bodies are 

ostensibly looking into the Bush administration's prewar Iraq intelligence, amid charges that ~he White 

. House and the Pentagon exaggerated, distorted, or just plain lied about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda terrorists 

and its possession ofnuclear, biological, and chemical weapons., In her hands, Kwiatkowski holds 

several pieces ofthe puzzle. Yet she, along with a score ofother career officers recently retired or 

shuffled offto other jobs, has not been approached by anyone. . 

Kwiatkowski, 43, a pow-retired Air Force officer who served in the Pentagon's Near East and South Asia 

(NESA) unit in the year before the invasion ofIraq, observed how the Pentagon's Iraq war-planning unit 

manufactured scare stories about Iraq's weapons and ties to terrorists. "It wasn't intelligence-it was 

propaganda," she says. "They'd take a little bit ofinteIligence, cherry-pick it, make it sound much more 

exciting, usually by taking it out ofcontext, often by juxtaposition oftwo pieces ofinfonnation that don't 

belong together." It was by turning such bogus intelligence into talking points for U.S. officials-including 

ominous lines in speeches 1?Y President Bush and Vice President Cheney, along with Secretary ofState 

Colin Powell's testimony at the U:N. Security Council last February-that the administration pushed 

American public opinion into supporting an unnecessary war. - 

Until now, the story ofhow the Bush administration produced its wildly exaggerated estimates ofthe 

threat posed by Iraq has never been revealed in full. But, for the first time,a detailed investigation by 

Mother Jones, based on dozens ofinterviews-some on the record, some with officials who insisted on 

anonymity-exposes the workings ofa secret Pentagon intelligence unit and ofthe Defense Department's 

war-planning task force, the Office ofSpecial Plans. It's the story ofa close-knit team ofideologues who 

spent a decade or more hammering out plans for an attack on Iraq and who used the events ofSeptember 

11, 2001, to set it into motion. 

_SIX MQNTHS AFTER THE END ofmajor combat in Iraq, the United States had spent $300 million 

10f7 

313012004 1:31 PM - I

~ ---------_.._-_._-_._--_._-----_._---_..._---_.__._- 

_._._.__._--_.•_----_.._--_..._------ 

r 111e:Lie FactoI)' 

http://deiphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARL.,yBIRD/040106l.~OO40J06246S20.html 

.r ·0 0 

" trying to find banned weapons in Iraq, and President Bush was seeking $600 million more to extend the 

search. Not found were Iraq's Scuds and other long-range missiles, thousands ofbarrels and tons of 

anthrax and botulism stock, sarin and VX nerve agents, mustard gas, biological and chemical munitions, 

mobile labs for producing biological weapons, and any and all ~vidence ofa reconstituted nuclear-arms 

program, all ofwhich had been repeatedly cited as justification for the war. Also missing was evidence 

,ofIraqi collaboration with Al Qaeda. 

The reports, virtually all false, ofIraqi weapons and terrorism ties emanated from an apparatus that began 

to gestate almost as soon as the Bush administration took power. In the very first meeting ofthe Bush 

national-security team, one day after President Bush took the oath ofoffice in January 2001, the issue of 

invading Iraq was raised, according to one ofthe participants in the meeting-and officials all the way 

down the line started to get the message, long before 9/11. Indeed, the Bush team at the Pentagon hadn't 

even been formally installed before Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary ofDefense, and Douglas J. 

Feith, undersecretary ofDefense for policy; began putting together what would become the vanguard for 

regime change in Ira~. 

Both WolfoWitz and Feith have deep roots in the neoconservative movement. One ofthe most influential 

Washington neoconservatives in the foreign-policy establishment during the Republicans' wilderness 

years ofthe 1990s, Wolfowitz has long held that not taking Baghdad in 1991 was a grievous mistake. He 

and others now prominent in the administration said so repeatedly over the past decade in a slew of 

letters and policy papers from neoconservative groups like the Project for the New American Century . 

and the Committee for the Liberation ofIraq. Feith, a former aide to Richard Perle at the Pentagon in the 

1980s and an activist in far-right Zionist circles, held the view that there was no difference between U.S. 

and Israeli security policy and that the best way to secure both countries' future was to solve the 

Israeli-Palestinian problem not by serving as a broker, but with the United States as a force for "regime 

change" in the region. 

Called in to help organize the Iraq war-planning team was a longtime Pentagon official, Harold Rhode, a 

specialist on Islam who speaks Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi. Though Feith would not be officially 

confirmed until July 2001, career military and civilian officials in NESA began to watch his office with 

concern after Rhode set up shop in Feith's office in early January. Rhode, seen by many veteran staffers 

as an ideological gadfly, was officially assigned to the Pentagon's Office ofNet Assessment, an in-house 

Pentagon think tank headed by fellow neocon Andrew Marshall. Rhode helped Feith lay down the law 

about the department's new anti-Iraq, and broadly anti-Arab, orientation. In one telling incident, Rhode 

accosted and harangued a visiting senior Arab diplomat, telling him that there would be no "bartering in 

the bazaar anymore.... You're going to have to sit up and pay attention when we say so." 

Rhode refused to be interviewed for this story, saying cryptically, "Tho~e who speak, pay." 

According to insiders, Rhode worked with Feith to purge career Defense officials who weren't 

sufficiently enthusiastic. about the muscular anti-Iraq crusade that Wolfowitz and Feith wanted. Rhode 

appeared to be "pulling people out ofnooks and crannies ofthe Defense Intelligence Agency and other 

places to replace us with," says a fonner analyst. "They wanted nothing to do with the professional staff. 

And they wanted us the fuck out ofthere." 

The unofficial, off-site recruitment office for Feith and Rhode was the American Enterprise Institute, a 

right-wing think tank whose 12th-floor conference room in Washington is named for the dean of 

neoconservative defense strategists, the late Albert Wohlstetter, an influential RA~·analyst and 

University ofChicago mathematician. Headquartered at AEI is Richard Perle, Wohlstetter's prize 

protege, the godf~ther ofthe AEI-Defense Department nexus ofneoconservatives who was chairman of 

~ 

2of7 

.313012004 1:31 PM

~: The J.,ie Factory 

o 

http://delphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/040106ls20040I06246S20.html 

o 

the Pentagon's influential Defense Policy Board. Rhode, along with Michael Rubin, a former AEI staffer 

who is also now at the Pentagon, was a ubiquitous presence at AEI conferences on Iraq over the past two 

years, and the two Pentagon officials se~med almost to be serving as stage managers for the A.EI events, 

often sitting in the front row and speaking in stage whispers to panelists and AEI officials. Just after 

September 11,2001, Feith and Rhode recruited David Wurmser, the director ofMiddle East studies for 

AEI, to serve as a Pentagon consultant. 

Wurmser would be the founding participant ofthe unnamed, secret intelligence unit at the Pentagon, set 

up in Feith's office, which would be the nucleus ofthe Defense Department's Iraq disinfonnation 

campaign that was established within weeks ofthe attacks in New York and Washington. While the CIA 

and other intelligence agencies concentrated on Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda as the culprit in the 9/11 

attacks, Wolfowitz and Feith obsessively focused on Iraq. Itwas a theorY that was discredited, even 

ridiculed, among intelligence professionals. Daniel Benjamin, co-author ofThe Age ofSacred Terror, 

was director ofcounterterrorism at the National Security Council in the late 1990s. "In 1998, we went 

through every piece ofintelligence we could find to see ifthere was alink between Al Qaeda and Iraq," 

he says. "We came to the conclusion that our intelligence agencies had it right: There was no noteworthy 

relationship between Al Qaeda and Iraq. I know that for a fact!' Indeed, that was the consensus among 

virtually all anti-terrorism specialists. 

In sh~rt, 

Wurmser, backed by Feith and Rhode, set out to prove what didn't exist. 

IN AN ADMINISTRATION devoted to the notion of'·Feith-based intelligence," Wurmser was ideal. For 

years, he'd been a shrill ideologue, part ofthe minoritY crusade during the 1990s that was beating the 

drums for war against Iraq. Along with Perle and Feith, in 1996 Wurmser and his wife, Meyrav, wrote a 

provocative strategy paper for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called"A Clean Break: ANew 

Strategy for Securing the Realm." It called on Israel to work with Jordan and'Turkey to "contain, 

destabilize and roll back" various states in the region, overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq, press Jordan to 

restore a scion ofthe Hashemite dynasty to the Iraqi throne, and, above all, launch military assaults 

against Lebanon and Syria as a "prelude to a redrawing ofthe map ofthe Middle East which would 

threaten Syria's territorial integrity." 

In 1997, Wormser wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal called "Iraq Needs a Revolution" and the 

next year co-signed a letter with Perle calling for all-out U.S. support ofthe Iraqi National Congress 

(INC), an exile group led 'byAhmad Chalabi, in promoting an insUrgency in Iraq. At AEI, Wurmser 

wrote Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein, essentially a book-length version of 

"A Clean Break" that proposed "an alliance between Jordan and the INC to redraw the map ofthe Middle 

East. Among the mentors cited by Wurmser in the book: Chalabi, Perle, and Feith. 

The purpose ofthe unnamed intelligence unit, often described as a Pentagon "cell," was to scour reports 

from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and other agencies to find 

nuggets ofinformation linking Iraq, Al Qaeda, terrorism, and the existence ofIraqi we~pons ofmass 

destruction (WMD). In a controversial press briefing in 0ctober 2002, a year after Wurmser's unit was 

established, Secretary ofDefense Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged that a primary purpose ofthe unit was 

to cull factoids, which were then used to disparage, undermine, and contradict the CIA's reporting, which 

was far more cautious and nuanced than Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith wanted. Rumsfeld pa~icularly 

enjoyed harassing the CIA staffer who briefed him every morning, using the type of~ata produced by the 

intelligence unit. "What I could do is say, 'Gee, what about this?'" Rumsfeld noted. "'Or what about that? 

Has somebody thought ofthis?'" Last June, when Feith was questioned on the same topic at a briefing, he 

acknowledged that the secret unit in fact looked at the connection between Iraq and terrorism, saying, 

"You can't rely on deterrence to deal with the problem ofweapons ofmass destruction in the hands of 

30f7 

313012004 1:31 PM

o 

http://delphi.dia.ic.gov/admiIVEARl...YBrrmf040106/810040106246S20.html 

o 

s~te sponsors ofterrorism because [of] the possibility that those state sponsors might employ chemical 

weapons or biologicatweapons by means ofa terrorist organization proxy...." 

Though Feith, in that briefing, described Wunnser's unit as an innocent project, "a global exercise" that 

was not meant to put pressure-on other intelligence agencies orcreate skewed intelligence to fit 

preconceived policy notions, many other sources assert that it did exactly that. That the White House and 

the Pentagon put enonnous pressure on the CIA'to go along with its version ofevents has been widely 

reported, highlighted by visits to CIA headquarters by Vice President Cheney and Lewis Libby, his chief 

ofstaff. Led by Perle, the neocons seethed with contempt for the CIA. The CIA'S analysis, said Perle, 

"isn't worth the paper it's printed on." Standing in a crowde~ hallway during an AEI event, Perle added, 

liThe CIA is status quo oriented. They don't want to take risks.," 

That became the mantra ofthe shadow agency within an agency.. 

Putting Wurmser in charge ofthe unit meant that it was being run by a pro-Iraq-war ideologue who'd 

spent years calling for a pre-emptive invasion ofBaghdad and who was clearly predisposed to find what 

he wanted to see. Adding another layer ofdubious quality to the endeavor was the man partnered with 

Wurmser, F. Michael Maloof. Maloo~ a former aide to Perle in the 1980s Pentagon, was twice stripped 

ofhis high-level security clearances-once in late 2001 and again last spring, for various infractions. 

Maloofwas also reportedly involved in a bizarre schemeto broker contacts betweenJraqi officials and 

the Pentagon, channeled through Perle, in what one report called a "rogue [intelligence] operation" 

'outside officiai CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency channel~. 

As the momentum for war began to build in early 2002, Wolfowitz and Feith beefed up the intelligence 

unit and created an Iraq war-planning upit inthe Pentagon's Near East and South Asia Affairs section, 

run by Deputy Undersecretary ofDefense William Luti, under the rubric "Office ofSpecial Plans," or 

OSP; the new unit's director was Abram N. Shulsky. By then, Wunnser had moved on to a post as senior 

adviser to Undersecretary ofState John Bolton, yet another neocon, who was in charge ofthe State 

Department's disarmament, proliferation, and WMD office and was promoting the Iraq war strategy 

there. Shulsky's OSP, which incorporated the secret intelligence unit, took control, banishing veteran 

experts-including Joseph McMillan, James Russell, Larry Hanauer, and Marybeth McDevitt-who, despite 

years ofservice t9 NESA, either were shuffled offto other positions or retired. For the next year, Luti 

and Shulsky not only would oversee war plans but would act aggressively to shape the intelligence 

product rece~ved by the White House. 

Both Luti and Shulsky were neoconservatives who were ideological soulmates ofWolfowitz and Feith. 

But Luti was more than that. He'd come to the Pentagon directly from the office ofVice President 

Cheney. That gave Luti, a recently retired, decorated Navy captain whose career ran from combat 

aviation to command ofa helicopter assault ship, extra clout. Along with his colleague Colonel William 

Bruner, Luti had done a stint as an aide to Newt Gingrich in 1996 and, like Perle and Wolfowitz, was an 

acolyte ofWohlstetter's. "He makes Ollie North look like a moderate," says a NESA veteran. 

Shulsky had been on the Washington scene since the mid-1970s. As a Senate intelligence committee 

staffer for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, he began to work with ~arly neoconservatives like Perle, 

who was then an aide to· Senator Henry Jackson. Later, in the Reagan years, Shulsky followed Perle to 

the Pentagon as Perle's arms-control adviser. In the '90s, Shulsky co-authored a book .on intelligence 

called Silent Warfare, with Gary Schmitt. Shulsky had served with Schmitt on Moynihan's staffand they 

had remained friends. Asked about the Pentagon's Iraq intelligence "cell," Schmitt-who is currently the 

executive director ofthe Project for the New American Century-says that he can't say much about it 

"because one ofmy best friends is running it." 

4of? 

.3130120041:31 PM

(1 The Tie,Factory 

L. f"" 

http://delphi.dia.ic.gev/admfnlEARLYBIRD/040106/s200~0106246S20.html 

o 

According to Lt. Colonel Kwiatkowski, Luti and Shulsky ran NESA and the Offi~e ofSpecial Plans with 

brutal efficiency, purging people they disagreed with and enforcing t~e party li~e. "It was organized like 

a machine," she says. "The people working on the neocon agen~a had a narrow, well-defined political 

agenda. They had a sense ofmission." At NESA, Shulsky, she says, began "hot-desking," or taking an 

office wherever he could find one, working with Feith and Luti, before formally taking the reips ofthe 

newly created asp. Together, she says, Luti and Shulsky turned cherry-picked pieces ofuncorroborated, . 

anti-Iraq intelligence into talking points, on issues like Iraq's WMD and its links to Al Qaeda. Shulsky 

constantly updated these papers, drawing on the intelligence unit, and circulated them to Pentagon 

officials, including Rumsfeld, and to Vice President Cheney. "Ofcourse, we never thought they'd go 

directly to the White House," she adds. 

Kwiatkowski recalls one meeting in which Luti, pressed to finish a report, told the staff, "I've got to get. 

this over to 'Scooter' right away." She later found out that "Scooter" was none other than Lewis "Scooter" 

Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief ofstaff. According to Kwiatkowski, Cheney had direct ties through 

Luti into NESAlOSP, a connection that was highly unorthodox. 

"Never, ever, ever would a deputy undersecretary ofDefense work directly on a project for the vice 

pre.sident," she says. Illt was a little clue that we had an informal network into Vice President Cheney's 

office." 

Although Feith insists that the OSP did not seek to gather its own intelligence, Kwiatkowski and others 

sharply disagree. Staffworking for Luti and Shulsky in NESAlOSP churned out propaganda-style 

intelligence, she says. As an example, she cited the work ofa U.S. intel1~gence officer and Arabic 

specialist, Navy Lt. Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein, who W8;S a special assistant to Luti. "His job was 

to peruse the Arabic-language media to find articles that would incriminate Saddam Hussein about 

terrorism, and he translated these. II Such raw intelligence is usually subject to a thorough vetting process, 

tracked, verified, and checked by intelligence professionals. But not at aSP-the material that it produced 

found its way directly into speeches by Bush, Cheney, and other officials. 

According to Melvin Goodman, a former CIA official and an intelligence specialistat the National War 

College, the OSP officials routinely pushed lower-ranking staffaround on intelligence matters. "People 

were being pulled aside [and being told], 'We saw your last piece and it's not what we're looking for,t1t he 

says. "It was pretty blatant. II Two State Department intelligence officials, Greg Thielmann and Christian 

Westermann, have bot~ charged that pressure was being put on them to shape intelligence to fit policy, in 

particular from Bolton's office. tithe Al Qaeda connection and nuclear ~eapons issue were the only two ' 

ways that you could link Iraq to an imminent security threat to the U.S.," Thielmann told the New York 

Times. IIAnd th~ administration was grossly distorting the intelligence on both things. It 

BESIDES CHENEY, key members ofthe Pentagonls Defense Policy Board, i!1cluding Perle and 

ex-House SpeakerNewt Gingrich, all Iraq hawks, had 4ir~ct input into NESAlOSP. The offices ofNESA 

were located on the Pentagonls fourth floor, seventh corridor of0 Ring, and the Policy Board's offices 

were directly below, on the third floor. During the run-up to the ;Jraq war, Gingrich often came up for 

closed-door meetings with Luti, who in 1996 had served as a congressional fellow in Speaker ofthe 

House Gingrich's office., 

As OSP got rolling, Luti brought in Colonel Bruner, a former military aide to Gingrich, and, together, 

Luti an4 Bruner opened the door to a vast flow ofbogus intelligence fed to the Pentagon by Iraqi 

defectors associated with Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress group ofexiles. Chalabi founded the Iraqi 

National Congress in 1992, with the help ofa shadowy CIA-connected public-relations firm called the 

50f7 

313012004 I:31 PM

The,Lie Factory 

http://delphi.diaic.gov/a.dminlEARLYBIRD/0401061520040106246520.htmt 

Rendon Group, one ofwhose former employees, Francis Brooke, has been a top aide to Chalabi ever 

since. A scion ofan aristocratic Iraqi family, Chalabi fled Baghdad at the age of 13, in 1958, when the 

corrupt Iraqi Hashemite monarchy was overthrown by a coalition ofcommunists and the Iraqi military. 

In the late 1960s, Chalabi studied mathematics at the University ofChicago with Wohlstetter, who 

introduced him to Richard Perle more than a decade later. Long associated with the heart ofthe 

neoconservative movement, Chalabi founded Petra Bank in Jordan, which grew to be Jordan's 

third-largest bank by the 1980s. But Chalabi was accused ofbank fraud, embezzlement, and currency 

manipulation, and he barely escaped before Jordanian authorities could arrest him; in 1992, he was 

convicted and sentenced in absentia to more than 20 years ofhard labor. After founding the INC, 

Chalabi's bungling, unreliability, and penchant for mismanaging funds caused the CIA to sour on him, 

but he never lost the support ofPerle, Feith, Gingrich, and their allies; once, soon after 9/11, Perle 

invited Chalabi to address the Defense Policy Board. 

According to m!1ltiple sources, Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress sent a steady stream ofmisleading and 

often faked intelligence reports into U.S. intelligence channels. That information would flow sometimes 

into NESA/OSP directly, sometimes through Defense Intelligence Agency debriefings ofIraqi defectors 

via the Defense Human Intelligence Service, and sometimes through the INC's own U.S.-funded 

Intelligence Collection Program, which was overseen by the Pentagon. The INC's intelligence "isn't 

reliable at all," according to Vjncent Cannistraro, a former CIA chiefofcounterterrorism. 

"Much ofit is propaganda. Much ofit is telling the Defense Department what they want to hear, using 

alleged informants and defectors who say what Chalabi wants them to say, [creating] cooked information 

that goes right into presidential and vice presidential speeches." 

Bruner, the aide to Luti and Gingrich's former staffer, "was Chalabi's pandler," says Kwiatkowski. "He 

would arrange meetings with Chalabi and Chalabi's folks," she says, adding that the INC leader often 

prought people into the NESA/OSP offices for debriefings. Chalabi claims to have introduced only three 

actual defectors to the Pentagon, a figure Thielmann considers "awfully low." However, according to an 

investigation by the Los Angeles Times, the three defectors provided by Chalabi turned up exactly zero 

useful intelligence. The first, an Iraqi engineer, claimed to have specific informatio~ about biological 

weapons, but his information didn't pan out; the second claimed to know about mobile labs, but that 

information, too, was worthless; and the third, who claimed to have data about Iraq's nuclear program, 

proved to be a fraud. Chalabi also claimed to have given the Pen~gon information about Iraqi SliPport 

for AI Qaeda. "We ga~e the names ofpeople who were doing the links," he told an interview~r from 

PBS'S Frontline. Those links, ofcourse, have not been discovered. Thielmann told the same Frontline 

interviewer that the Office ofSpecial Plans didn't apply strict intelligence-verification standards to "some 

ofthe information coming out ofChalabi and the INC that OSP and the Pentagon ran with... 

In the war's aftermath, the Defense Intelligence Agency-which is not beholden to the neoconservative 

civilians at the Pentagon-leaked a report it prepared, concluding that few, ifany, ofthe INC's informants 

provided worthwhile intelligence. 

SO FAR, DESPITE ALL ofthe investigations underway, there is little sign that any ofthem are going to 

delve into the operatidns ofthe Luti-Shulsky Office ofSpecial Plans and its secret intelligence unit. 

Because it operates in the Pentagon's policy shop, it is not officially part ofthe intelligence community, 

and so it is seemingly immune to congressional oversight. 

With each passing day, it is becoming excruciatingly clearer just how wrong U.S .. intelligence was in 

regard to Iraqi weapons and support for terrorism. The American teams ofinspectors in the Iraq Survey 

Group, which ha_s employed ~p to 1,400 p~op~e to scour the country and analyze the findings, have not 

G 

60f7 

_313012004 1:31 PM

it. 

.... 

tr The }t.ie Faetoty 

" - 

http://delphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBlRD/040106/82004010624 

o 

been able to find a shred ofevidence ofanything other than dusty old plans and records ofweapons 

apparently destroyed more than a decade ago., Countless examples offruitless searches have been 

reported in the media. To cite one example: U.S. soldiers followed.an intelligence report claiming that a 

complex built for Uday Hussein, Saddam's son, hid a weapons warehouse with poison-gas storage tanks. 

"Well," U.S. Army Major Ronald Hann Jr. told the Los Angeles T~mes, "the warehouse was a carport. It 

still had two cars inside. And the tanks had propane for the kitchen." 

Countless other errors and exaggerations have become evident. The thousands ofaluminum tubes 

supposedly imported by Iraq for uranium enrichment were fairly conclusively found to be designed to 

build noncontroversial rockets. The long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, allegedly built to deliver 

bioweapons, were smal~, rickety, experimental planes with wood frames. The mobile bioweapon labs 

turned out to have had other, civilian purposes. And the granddaddy ofall falsehoods, the charge that 

Iraq sought uranium in the West African-country ofNiger, was based on forged documents-documents 

that the CIA, the State Department, and other agencies knew were fake nearly a year before President 

Bush highlighted the issue inhis State ofthe Union address in January 2003. 

"Either the system broke down," former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was sent by the CIA to visit 

, Niger and whose findings helped show that the documents were forged, told Mother Jones, "or there was 

selective use ofJJits ofinformation to justify a decision to go to war that had already been taken." 

Edward Luttwak, a neoconservative scholar and author, says flatly that the Bush administration lied 

about the intelligence it had because it was afraid to go to the American people and say that the war was 

simply about getting rid ofSaddam Hussein. Instead, says Luttwak, the White House was groping for a 

rationale to satisfy the United Nations' criteria for war. :'Cheney was forced into this fake posture of 

worrying about weapons ofmass destruction," he says. liThe ties to Al Qaeda? That's complete 

no.nsense." 

In the Senate, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is pressing for the Intelligence Committee to extend its 

investigation to look into the specific role ofthe Pentagon's Office ofSpecial Plans, but there is strong 

Republican resistance to the idea. 

In the House, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cali£) has introduced legislation calling for a commission to 

investigate the intelligence mess and has collected more than a hundred Democrats-but no 

Republicans-in support ofit. "I think they need to b~ looked at pretty carefully," Waxman told Mother 

Jones when asked -about the Office ofSpecial Plans. "I'd like to know whether the political people pushed 

the intelligence people to slant their conclusions." - 

Congressman Waxman, meet Lt. Cololl:el Kwiatkowski. 

7of7 

3130120041:31 PM

i_, ~ 

.~ 

-I; 

~1 I 

~-- 

IL 

ALL INFOR}~TION CONTAI~mD 

HEREIN IS VNCLASSIFIED 


The United States and Shi'ite 

Religious Factions in Post-Ba'thist Iraq 

Juan Cole 

In post-Saddam Husayn Iraq, Shi'ite militias rapidly established their authority 

in East Baghdadand other urban neighborhoods ofthe south. Among the various 

groups which emerged, the Sadr Movement stands out as militant and cohesive. 

The sectarian, anti-American Sadrists wish to impose a puritanical, Khomeinist 

vision on Iraq. Their political influence is potentially much greater than their 

numbers. Incorporating them into a democratic Iraq while ensuring that they do 

not come to dominate itposes a severe challenge to the US Administration. 

In planning the war on Iraq, the American Defense Department and intelligence 

organizations appear to have been unaware that millions of Iraqi Shi'ites had joined a 

militant and puritanical movement dedicated to the establishment of an Iran-style 

Islamic Republic in Iraq, even though these developments had been detailed in many 

Arabic-language books -and articles.. On February 18, 2003, Deputy Secretary ofDefense 

Paul Wolfowitz gave an interview on National Public Radio in which he maintained 

that "The Iraqis are . '0 • by and large quite secular.. They are overwhelmingly 

Shi'a which is different from the Wahabis of the peninsula, and they don't bring the 

sensitivity of having the holy cities of Islam being on their tenitory.~'1 Even more 

disturbingly, this quote shows that Wolfowitz did not realize thatreligious Iraqi Shi'ites 

are extremely sensitive about foreigners in their shrine cities such as Najafand Karbala, 

or that these cities are religious power centers of great symbolic potency. 

YS Defense Department leaders such as Secretary ofDefense Donald Rumsfeld 

and his deputies, Wolfowitz and Douglas F~ith, mistakenly thought that the middle 

and lower strata of the Ba'th bureaucracy, police, and army would survive the war, 

and that they could simply hand it over to secular expatriate figure Ahmad Chalabi 

and his Iraqi National Congress. Although from a Shi'ite background, Chalabi was 

largely unknown in Iraq and was wanted in Jordan on embezzlement charges. The 

CIA and the State Department broke with Chalabi late·in 2002 when he proved unable 

-Juan Cole is Professor ofModern Middle Eastern and South Asian History at the University of ~ichigan. 

He is editor of the International Journal of Middle Bast Studies, and author of numerous books and 

articles. His recent works include Modernity and the Millennium (New York: Columbia University Press. 

1998) and Sacred Space and Holy \Var.· The Politics, Culture and History ofShrite Islam (London: I.B. 

Tauris. 2002). . 

1. "Deputy SecretaryWolfowitz Interview with National Public Radio:' February 19,2003 at http:/ 

Iwww.washingtonfile.netl2003IFeblFeb21IEURS09.HTM. 

MIDDLEEASTJOURNAL*VOWME S7. NO.4,AUI"UMN2003 

II CoIeFlnaLp65 101&'2003. 4:00 PM -"'~~

IL 

544*MIDDLE EASTJOURNAL 

to account for about $2 million of the $4 million they had given his Iraqi National 

Congress. The major religious Shi'ite groups with which the Americans were negotiating 

were part ofChalabi's group and included-the Tehran-based Supreme Council 

for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the London branch of the al-Da'wa Party, and the 

J{hoei Foundation, of which only al-Da'wa had much popularity on the ground in 

Iraq. The US was ignorant of the Sadr Movement, the main indigenous Shi'ite force.. 

This ignorance was to cost the US great political capital in the first mont~s of the 

occupation. 

When the Ba'th fell on April 9, 2003, Shi'ite militias seemed suddenly to emerge 

and take control of many urban areas in the south of the country, as well as in the 

desperately poor slums ofEast Baghdad. The moral authority ofGrand Ayatollah Ali 

Sistani and his more quietist colleagues in Najaf had been known to the US, but it 

transpired that other ayatollahs and leaders had more political clout. The rank and file 

of Iraqi Shi'ites in the urban areas was far more radicalized by the last decade of 

Ba'th rule than anyone on the outside had realized. These developments alarmed 

Washington, given that some 60% to 65% ofIraqis are.Shi'ites, and this group would 

therefore predominate in a democratic Iraq. The religious groups constitute only one 

section ofthe Shi'ite population, perhaps a third or more, but they are well organized 

and armed. - 

My thesis here is that the Sadr Movement is at the moment the most important 

tendency among religious Shi'ites in post-Ba'thist Iraq, and that it is best seen as a 

sectarian phenomenon in the "sociology of religions" sense. It is· primarily a youth 

movement and its rank and file tend to be poor•. It is highly puritanical and xenophobic, 

andit is characterized by an exclusivism unusual in Iraqi Shi'ism. To any extent 

that it emerges as a leading social force in Iraq, it will prove polarizing and destabilizing. 

In spring and summer of2003 its leadership had decided not to challenge actively 

the coalition military. In contemporary theories of the sociology ofreligion, a "sect" 

is characteri~ed by a high degree of tension with mainstream society, employing a 

rhetoric of difference,antagonism, and separation. 2 The "~igh-tension" model ofthe 

sect predicts that it will attempt strongly to demarcate itself off from the mainstream 

of society. It will also cast out those members who are perceived to be too accommodating 

of non-sectarian norms. That.is, it demands high levels of loyalty and obedience 

in the pursuit ofexclusivism. 

IRAQI SHI'ISM IN HISTORY 

Under the Ottomans, a Sunni political elite flourished in what is now Iraq, with 

political ties to Istanbul. Shi'ism remained vigorous, however. In the eighteenth and 

nineteenth centuries, many tribespeople of the south converted to-the Shi'ite branch 

of Islam, under the influence ofmissionaries sent out from the shrine cities of Najaf 

and Karbala, where Shi'ite holy figures Imam 'Ali and Imam Husayn were int~rred. 

-2. Rodney Stark an~ William Sims Bainbridge, The Future ofReligion (Berkeley and Los Angeles: 

University ofCalifornia Press, 1985), pp. 19·34, 135. 

-+ 

1~4:00PM

• ",!, 

~ ..J f 1~-:crQru 

IL 

THE US AND SHI'ITE RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN IRAQ*545 

'Ali was the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, and Husayn was the 

prophet's grandson. This tribal conversion movem~nt appears to have been a protest 

ofthe weak, a way of using religion to resist the power of the Sunni Ottoman bureaucracy•. 

Over time, it created a Shi'ite majority in what was to become Iraq. This 

region also witnessed the victory among Shi'ites in the eighteenth and early nineteenth 

centuries ofthe Usuli ,school ofjurisprudence, which held that all lay believers 

must follow or "emulate" a learned Shi Cite jurisprudent with seminary training. They 

are to implement the rulings of this "object of emulation" (marja t 

al-taqlid) with 

regard to disputed points ofIslamic law. They can only follow a living jurisprudent or 

mujtahid, however, with regard to any new issues that arise after the old one's death. 

The Usuli school gave to Shi'ite clerics a leadership position much more powerful 

and central than typically was bestowed by Sunni Muslims on their clerics. 3 

The British conquered Mesopotamia during World'War' I, and created out of 

Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra provinces (Arabic wi/ayat) a colonial state they called 

Iraq, which became formally independent in 1932..They cobbled together a big Kur4ish 

community in the north, $ome Thrkmen tribespeople, Sunni townspeople of the cen 

'ter, and the Shi'ite tribes and settled urban and rural groups of the south, into a new 

state. The Shi'ite majority probably grew larger in the course of the 20th century, but 

Sunnis remained in control politically and economically, under the monarchy, then 

the officers-ruled republic of 1958-.968, and then the Ba'th (Arab nationalist) regime 

of 1968-2003. The.Ba'th massively persecuted the religious Shi'ites of the 

south. It especially feared the aI-Da'wa al-Islamiyya Party, founded around 1958, 

which aimed at establishing a'Shi'ite-dominated Islamic state. 4 The rise of the Islamic 

Republic of Iran in 1978-79 frightened the Ba'th , which launched a war against 

the Khomeinist state there, and simultaneously, cracked down hard on the radical 

Shi'ite clerics in Iraq such as Muhammad Baqiral-Sadr (d. 1980), who theorized an 

Islamic state.. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, "Sadr I," was executed alorig with many 

-+-. 

-3. For the historical background ofmodem Iraqi Shi'ism, see Pierre-Jean Luizard, Lafonnation de 

l'Irak contemporain [The Fonnation ofContemporary Iraq] (Paris: Editions du Centre national de la 

recherche scientifique, 1991); Yitzhak Nakash, The Shi'is 'ofIraq (Princeton: Princeton University 

Press, 1994); MeirLitvak, Shi'ite ScholarsofNineteenth Century Iraq (Cambridge: Cambridge University 

Press, 1998); Juan Cole,SacredSpace andHoly War: The Politics, Culture, andHistoryofShi'ite 

Islam (London: I. B.. Tauris, 2002), and Faleh Abdul-labar, ed., Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues 

(London: Saqi Books, 2(02). 

• 

4. Sal~ al-Khursan, Hiw al-Da'waal-Islamiyya: Haqa'iq wa watha'iq [The Islamic Da 'wa 

Party: Facts and !Jocwnents] (Damascus: al-Mu'assassa al-'Arabiyya li'I-Dirasat wa'I-Buhuth aJ 

Istratijiyya,1999); RUhaimi; '7he Da'wa Islamic Party:' in Abdul-Jabar, Ayatollahs, pp. 149-161; 

Keiko Sakai, "Modernityand tradition in the Islamic movements inIraq:'Amb Studies Quarterly, Vol. 

23, No.1 (Winter2001), pp. 37-52; MahanAbedin, "Dossier: Hezb aJ-Daawaal-Islamiyya: Islamic Call 

Party:' Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol. 5, No.6 (June 2003) at: http://www.meib.orglaniclesl 

0306Jraqd.htm; HannaBatatu,"Shi'iteOrganizations in Iraq: AI-Da'wahal-Islamiyah and al-Mujahidin:' 

In Juan R. I. Cole and Nikki R. Keddie,.eds., Shi'ism and Social Protest (New Haven: Yale University 

PreSs, 1986), pp. 179-200; Joyce N. Wiley, The Islamic Movement ofIraqi Shi'ites (Boulder, Co.: 

LynneRienner, 1992). 

--+- 

1~4mPM 

).'

\0 ,; " 

.~ 

IL. 

546*MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL 

other activists. 5 The al-Da'wa Party g~ve birth to splinter groups like the Suprem~ 

Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (founded by expatriates in Tehran in 1982) 

and the Sadr Movement, while remaining a separate party in its own right. In contrast, 

the mainstream Najaf clerical tradition in Iraq, exemplified by Abu al-Qasim al 

Khu'i (d. 1992), tended to be quietist and to reject Khomeini's theory that the clergy 

should rule (vilayat-e faqih).6 But unbeknownst to the outside world, many Iraq! 

Shi'ites, inspired by al-Sadr and his suc~essors, were being radicalized by the eP 

ample of Iran and by the brutality of the Ba'th persecution. 

THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF IRAQI SHrISM 

.-

•• 

IL 

THE US AND SHI'lTE RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN IRAQ* 541 

substantial numbers of followers of the Sadr Movement, and of the Supreme Council 

for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, about which more below. 

A little over a fifth of Iraqi Shi'ites therefore live in the big cities. Another 

important stratum lives in important towns in the south. These towns average populations 

between 100,000 and about 600,000 persons. They include al-Zubayr (l74,000), 

Samawah (128,000), Nasiriyya (560,000), 'Amara (351,000), Kut (400,000), 

Diwaniyia (443,000), Hillah (548,000), Kufa (119,000), Najaf (585,000), Karbala 

(572,000), and Baquba (295,000). Samarra' (207,000), a northern town with a Shi'ite 

quarter, can also be listed here. 9 These substantial towns accounted for nearly 4.5 

million residents in 2003, largely Shi'ites, and therefore for about a third of the Iraqi 

Shi'ite population. Many Shi'ites Jiving in them are merchants and shopkeepers, insofar 

as government employment Was often denied to them or seep as undesirable by 

them under the Ba'th. lo The towns differ among themselves in character. Najaf, KarbaIa 

and Samarra stand out in being shrine cities, where Imams are buried that Shi'ites 

consider rightful heirs and successors to the prophet Muhammad. They also have 

seminary establishments, training clerics. The clerics of Najaf in particular enjoy 

great prestige in Iraq and throughout the Shi'ite world, and in the twentieth century 

outside Iran the co.nvention has been tharthe most senior grand ayatollah in Najaf is 

the chief legal and religious authority for lay Shi'ites. 

Each town has a different religious and political orientation. The al-Da'wa Party 

,seems particularly strong in Nasiriyya. Baquba and Kut, in the east near Iran, are 

under the influence ofthe Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).u 

This group had its origins in the al-Da'wa Party but became a separate organization in 

1982. In 1984, Muhammad Baqir aI-Hakim came to head it" and he remained at the 

helm thereafter, until his assassination in the car bombing outside the Shrine of 'Ali in 

Najaf on August 29, 2003. 12 SeIRI was based .in Tehran for two decades .. Kufa, like. 

East Baghdad, is a stronghold of the Sadr Movement. Some other substantial towns 

are more tied to the tribes and the rural areas, and have seen recent large influxes of 

marsh Arabs and other political refugees from the countryside. These relatively newly 

settled townspeople are used to being armed, and so for them, the Anglo-American 

troops' a~tempts to confiscate their rifles have produced a great deal oftension. 

Another large proportion of Shi'ites lives in small towns and villages in the 

countryside. The rural Shi'ites are now a minority. They tend to be organized by tribe 

though few are any longer pastoral nomads, and to practice a folk Shi'ism at variance 

.-9. Population statistics are from Stefan Helder, "WorldGazetteer:'athnp:l!www.world-glll.etteer.com! 

frlfr_iq.htm; an imponant recent overviewofShi'itecurrents in Samma' is Hazim aI-Amin, IiSamarra' 

wa Ikhwatuha," ["Samarra' and its Sisters"] AI-Hayat, IS July 2003. 

10. Ma'd Fayyad, ~~Shahid 'ala Rihlatal-Khu'i ilaal- ~lraq." [Witness to the Journey ofaI-Khu'i to 

lraq"],AI-Sharq al-Awsat, April 28, 2003. - 

11. Juan Cole, "Mariage mal assoni entre les radicaux chiites irakiens et les Etats-Unis:' ["Mis~ 

matched Marriage Between Radical Shi'ites and the US"], Le Monde Diplomatique (July2(03). 

12. Mukhtar aI-Asadi, AI-Taqsir al-Kabir bayna ai-Salah wa al-Islah [Mere Passive Goodness 

Falls FarShort ojActiveRejorm](Beirut: Dar aI-Furat, 2001). 

-" 

CoIeFN1.p65 _ 547 1MWOO3" 4:00 PM 

Ii 

-I

'-..J I 1-----·:cQm 

·i 

IL 

548*MIDDLE EASTJOURNAL 

with the more scholastic and bookish Shi'ism of the seminary cities. They invest their 

tribal shaykhs with great authority, and often with some religious· charisma, as well 

(the shaykhs often claim to be Sayyids or Sharifs, i.e., descendants of the prophet.) 

On July 8,. a convention was held by Iraqi tribal leaders, representing the rural Shi'ite 

tribes of the center and south of Iraq called ''The'Bloc of Democratic Iraqi tribes." 

They 'aimed at ensuring they have a voice in the governance of Iraq. The convention 

chair, GhaIib al-Rikabi, insisted that Iraqis themselves draft the new constitution and 

demanded early elections for an Iraqi govemment. 13 

A subset of the rural Shi'ites is the so-called marsh Arabs, said to be about 

500,000 strong. They once dwelled in the swamps of southern Iraq, working as fishermen, 

hunters, farmers and smugglers. In the 1990s, the swamps were used by Iranbased 

paramilitary organizations of Iraqi expatriates to infiltrate into Iraq and strike 

at Ba'th targets, and the marsh Arabs themselves often resisted Ba'th rule. They were 

organized politically and militarily by the Iraqi Bizbu'llah, a radical group that fought 

a guerrilla war against the Iraqi·state. The Ba'th found it difficult to operate in the 

.marshes and therefore drained them. The marsh Arabs were forced to settle in poor 

southern towns such as Majar al-Kabir, or to go to small cities like Amar:a, where they 

largely subsisted in poverty, having lost their livelihoods. 

In the aftermath ofthe second GulfWar, 'Abd aI-Karim Mahmud al-Muhammadawi, 

a marsh Arab who had fought guerrilla actions against the Ba'th under the nom de guerre 

ofAbu Hatim, emerged as an important civic leader in Amara. He provided security with . 

the help of his tribal militia (presumably Hizbullah). Although an observant Shi'ite, he 

decries "religiousfanaticism" and urges tole~tion. In early July 2063, he was also insisting 

on the quick formation ofan indigenous Iraqi government and an early end to what he 

caIled American occupation. 14 The tragic clash between British troops and residents of 

Majar al-Kabir on June 23 and 24, in'which six British trQOps were killed, came about in 

large part because the British insisted on disanning the population. Arab tribesmen origi., 

nally from the marshes saw this step as a way of dishonoring them and rendering them 

defenseless. for people who had lost everything, being without arms to protect their 

families was afrightening prospect. IS Muhammadawi himself played an important role in 

calming tensions after the clash. 16 

Of all these groups, the urban religious Shi'ites are the most highly networked 

for political and crowd action. Najaf, the chief shrine city, provides much of the 

leadership and organization, whereas the slum dwellers ofEast Baghdad can easily be 

bused as foot soldiers to the center of Baghdad for rallies. Other urban populations 

-

.. .f"I. 

IL 

THE US AND SHI'ITE RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN IRAQ* 549 

have also demonstrated a potential for crowd action. Some 10,000 demonstrated in 

Basra against the US occupation in June. As many as 20,000 demonstrated in Nasiriyya 

in late April, and there have also been-demonstrations in Baquba. 

THE AFl'ERMATH OF THE 1991 UPRISING 

The religious movements of contemporary Iraqi Shi'ites today have important 

roots in the failed rebellion against the Ba'th of spring, 1991. 1 7. During the first Gulf 

War, President George H. W. Bush called up0D: the Iraqis to rise up and overthrow 

Saddam Husayn. When Saddam was forced to withdraw from Kuwait and seemed 

weakened, the people did just that. It is alleged that 17 of 19 provinces were lost to the 

Ba'th government in the popular uprisings ofMarch and April, 1991. In major Shi'ite 

population centers such as Basra, Nasiriyya, and Najaf, local Shi'ite religious figures 

emerged as popular political leaders supplanting Ba'th authority. The leaders were 

aware that the uprising could succeed Oldy ifit received US support. But the request 

for assistance by Grand Ayatollah Khu'i on March 11 was rejected by the US. The 

Ba'th military, ~eeing that the US had decided to remain neutral, massacred tens of 

thousands. It also rounded up the prominent clerics of Najaf and Karbala, seen as 

ringleaders of the southern revolt, and over 200 were executed or made to disappear. 

Others escaped into exile in Tehran or London. The property of many clerics was also 

expropriated by the regime. The major scholars who remained lived under virtual 

house arrest, their movements and statements closely watched by the Ba'th secret 

police. How many persons were killed and buried in mass graves may never be known, 

. but it certainly ran into the .tens of thousands._ Iraqi Shi'ites have for the most part 

never forgiven the US for its callous policy of standing by during these massacres. 

Najaf's seminary establishment -was gutted ~nd its student body shrank precipi- 

tously. The preeminent Grand Ayatollah in Najaf in the 1970s through his death in 

1992 at the ag~ of .93 was Iranian-born quietist Abu al-Qasim al-Khu'i. After his 

death, one of his sons, Taqi, garnered respect as an ayatollah in Najaf, but died under 

suspicious circumstances in an automobile accident in 1994. His remaining son, 'Abd 

ai-Majid al-Khu'i, had relocated to London, where Khu'i senior had in 1989 established 

the Khoei Foundation (that is how the family spells the name in English). 'Abd . 

ai-Majid, then only 40, Was too young to become the object of emulation for Iraqi 

Shi'ites, but he did become involved with Iraqi expatriates aiming.for the overthrow 

of Saddam. Husayn. 

The repression ofthe Shi'ite establishment was so severe in the aftermath ofthe 

crushed uprising that Najaf became a shadow of its former self, and its twentieth 

century position as a center of Shi'ite leadership and learning was threatened with 

oblivion. In 1900, Nakash estimates that there had been 8,000 seminary students in 

Najaf, but the shrine cities declined under the British Manda~e and the Sunni monar- 

-17. Keiko Sakai, "The 19911ntifadah in Iraq: Seen through Analyses ofthe Discourses ofIraqi 

Intellectuals:' in Keiko Sakai, ed.,Social frotests andNation-Building in the Middle East and C.entral 

Asia (Chiba, Japan: Institute ofDeveloping Economies, 2003), pp. 156·172. 

101&'2003, 4.:COPU 

·I~

. .'" 


chy, so that by 1957 there were only about 2,000 students there. There may have been 

a slight rebound during the "golden age" of intellectual activities in the shrine cities 

during the 19605 and 1970s. But after the Ba'th crushed the movement of the late 

1970s and began deporting lraqis of Iranian heritage, Najaf's student body shrank 

. once again, to only a few hundred. 18 In the 1990s the decline became even more 

steep. Clerics pulled back from teaching anything but the most basic classes in Shi'ite 

law and practice, lest their teachings be viewed by the secret police as seditious. 

~ Friday prayers were for the most part banned, and clerics often declined to hold them 

in public.. ~9 Qom, in Iran, emerged as the intellectual center of Shi'ism, as Najaf's 

campuses became a virtual ghost town. Najaf the city continued to flourish, as a 

provincial capital, growing to over 500,000 residents in the late 1990s from 134,000 

in 1965. Reversing the historical situation that had obtained for two or three centuries, 

"town" thus became substantially more'important than "gown." 

Even in the tense and repressed circumstances of the 1990s, religious leadership 

did emerge in the shrine cities. Grand'Ayatollahs 'Ali Sistani, 'Ali al-Gharawi, and 

Shaykh 'Ali Muhammad Burujirdi were among the m9re prominent, though Ayatollah 

Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr also began to become respected for his small symbolic 

acts ofdefiance against the regime. Sistani, who was born around 1930 in Mashhad, 

had come to Najaf in 1~52. He came to have the largest reputation outside 'Iraq, 

gradually succeeding to the position ~I-Khu 'i had enjoyed, ofchieflegal anq religious 

authority for many Shi'ites in Lebanon and elsewhere outside Iran and Iraq. He also 

garnered support from the older generation of Iraqi Shi'ites that had followed al 

Khu'i. His growing reputation worried the Ba'th regime, which in 1996 launched an 

unsuccessful assassination attempt against him, in which two employees of his office 

were killed and two others wounded. 20 He was not the only target, or the only postuprising 

leader to enjoy new prominence. In April of 1998, Grand Ayatollah Murtada 

.Burujirdi was shot down by an unknown assailant, who escaped. In June ofthe same 

year, gunmen sprayed Kalashnikov fire at the car of Grand Ayatollah Ali Oharawi, 

killing him and three others in the car. The regime attempted toimply that the deaths 

were the result ofinternecine fighting within the clerical establishment, and executed 

several minor Shi'ite clerics whom ,it accused of the assassinations.: n No one inside 

the Shi'ite community doubted that these were the actions of~a'th Party death squads. 

-+-. 

THE SADR MOVEMENT IN THE 1990s 

An up-and-coming figure in the 1990s was Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr.. His rival, 

Sistani, enjoyed the greatest reputation as a scholar and a jurist, especially outside 

-18. Nakash, The Shi'isofIraq, pp.256, 259;he gives only 150as the number ofNajafseminarians 

in the 19808; this seems low for that period; see a high~r numbercited in Footnote 19. 

19.MukhtarAsadi,Al.Sadral-Thani:al-shahidwa t l-shahid,al-zahirawa-rududal-ji'1[Sadrll:The 

Witnessandthe Martyr, the Phenomenon andthe Reaction], ([Iran]: Mu'assasat ai-Acraf, 1999), pp. 53-54; 

he says in the 19808 the number ofstudents fell to 700. See the preceding footnote for anotherestimate. 

20. Al-Ha)'at, Dec. 3, 1996, via BBC Summary ofWorld Broadcasts, Dec. 4, 1996. 

21. AI-Thawra, March 14, J999, via BBC Summary ofWorld Broadcasts, March 17,1999. 

10I8l2OO3. 4:00 PM 

Ir-

• oJ'\ 

IL 


Iraq. Sistani's cautiousness about getting involved in politics, however" appears to 

have made many local Iraqis impatient with him. The more militant younger generation 

of Iraqi Shi'ites turned to Muhammad Sadiq, a cousin of the martyred revolutionary 

Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, who was executed in 1980. Muhammad Sadiq was 

born March 23, 1943, into a prominent clerical family. He married the daughter of his 

paternal uncle, who bore to him four sons, Mustafa, Muqtada, Mu'ammal, and Murtada. 

The first three of these married daughters of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. lie also had 

two daughters. Educated in the seminary founded by Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, he 

received his certificates of independent legaJ reasoning (ijazat al-ijtihad) in 1977, 

when he was only 34. The diplomas were granted by Muhammad Baqir aI-Sadr and 

Abu al-Qasim al-Khu'i. He studied law with Ruhu'llah Khomeini (who labored in 

exile in Najaf 1964-1988). Muhammad Sadiq had a wide-ranging intellect. He not 

only excelled in the Islamic branches of knowledge, but also learned fluent English, 

and studied psychology and. history. AI-Asadi says that I!is history tutor,Dr., Fadil 

Husayn, considered him his best student and presented him with a rare copy of The 

Paris Commune (presumably the one authored by Karl Marx).22 This anecdote suggests 

the way in which leftist and Marxist influences circulated even in clerical circles 

in the shrine cities, a phenomenon that went back at least to the 1950s. Muhammad 

Sadiq wrote a Shi'ite commentary on the 1789 "Rights ofMan" issued by the French 

revolutionaries. 

Muhammad Sadiq was briefly imprisoned by the Ba'th in 1972 and again (with 

over two dozen others) in 1974. The second time, he was tortured, though he escaped 

the fate of five of his colleagues who were secretly executed. 23 On his release in 

1915, he turned to Shi'ite mysticism (al-'ir/an), and engaged in ascetic practices. His 

self-denial went to the extent that Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr advised him to be more 

moderate. 'bfan is a Shi'ite form of individ~alisticSufism, and although some cler-. 

ics have been attracted by it, it is unusual. for someone so centrally located in the 

,seminaries to pursue it (though Khomeini also had a keen interest in the works of 

medieval Sufis). Muhammad Sadiq studied the subject with a common wage-earner 

in Najaf, provoking astonishment. When pressed on the issue, he explained that close.. 

ness to God does not depend on knowledge, but rather on the goodness ofthe self, and 

he cited the prophetic saying, HGod has hidden his $aints among his servants!'24 He 

remained a mystic all his life, and the egalitarian ethical and spiritual outlook it 

fostered appears to have made him especially beloved by the poor and the co~mon 

people. 

Under the influence ofKhomeini and ofMuhammad Baqir ai-Hakim, Muhammad 

Sadiq came to believe in the necessity to establish an Islamic state. Indeed, he main-. 

.-+- 

-22. Al..Asadi, AI-Sadr al-Thani, pp. 28..29. 

23•. 'Adil Ra'uf, Muhammad Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr: marja'iyat ai-maydan: mashru'a al-. 

thaghayyiri wa-waqa'i' al-;ght;yal [Muhammad MuhammadSadiqal-Sadr: The ReligiousLeadership 

ofthe Arena: His Transformational Plan and the Facts ofthe Assassination.] (Damascus: Markaz al.. 

'Iraqi Ii'l-I'lam wa-al..Dirasat, 1999), p. 92; Phebe Marr, The Modem History ofIraq (Boulder, Co.: 

Westview Press, 1985), p. 237. . 

24. AI-Asadi, al·Sadr al-Thani, pp. 29·30. 

II 

·55' 

'~4:COPM 

1,1

'. ;..,. 

IL 


tained that Islamic law could not be fully implemented without such a state. In 1984, 

four years after the execution of his cousin, "Sadr r' (Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr), he 

began functioning as an object ofemulation for lay Shi'ites. He was imprisoned for a 

third time after the 1991 uprising, for having issued a strong statement in its support.2.S 

On his release, he threw himself into organizing the Shi'ite community, especially 

in populous East Baghdad. He established informal Shi'ite courts that would 

adjudicate issues among Shi'ites outside the secular Ba'thist legal system. He also 

gained wide influence among the settled tribes. Unlike most clerics, he worked with 

tribal leaders to find ways of addressing clan customs and law in the framework of 

Shi'ite jurisprudence. 26 

He took increasingly controversial stances as the 1990s progressed, forbidding 

membership in the ruling Ba'th Party and forbidding Iraqis to hold Friday prayers in 

the name ofthe secular authority, "The Leader-President" (i.e. Saddam Husayn). He 

forbade cooperation with the Mujahidin-e Khalq, an anti-Khomeinist Iranian guerrilla 

group that was given bases in Iraq by the Ba'th. He accepted Khomeini's theory 

of the guardians~ip of the jurisprudent, which required ultimate clerical control of 

society, and called upon his students and congregations tQ esta!>1ish a state like it in 

Iraq. He condemned-women for coming in public unveiled, saying that for even one 

hair of her head to show is religiously prohibited.2'7, He is also said to have ruled that 

even Christian women living in lVIuslim societies must veil.. 

He took hard line·stances against Israel anq the United States, maintaining that 

ifonly the Shi'ite clerics would unite; they could easily defeat Israel. A recording of 

his Friday sermon for December 25, 1998, reveals his congregants chanting, "No, no 

to falsehood; No, no to America; No, no to Israel; No, no to imperialism; No, no to 

arrogance; No, no to Satan!" He made war against the influence ofAmerican popular 

culture, and discouraged his followers from wearing clothing with American labels. 

He scolded one couple who had put their toddler in American clothes, saying words to 

the effect that "Why do you imitate the West, when they try to subject you to their 

monopoly!. Think!. Analyze!"~8 

Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr criticized Grand Ayatollah Sistani for locking the 

outer door ofhis office, thus barring casual visitors, after the assassinations ofGharawi 

and ~urujirdi. He said that ifthis were done as a sign ofmourning and as a protest, it 

was understandable, but if it was done out of fear, there was nothing to fear. He also 

developed a theory of the "silent jurisprudent" and the "speaking jurisprudent," saying 

that quietist Shi'ite leaders i,mplicitly uphelQ the oppressive status quo, and insisting 

that the only ethical course for an object of emulation was to speak out against 

tyranny., This h~lfsh condemnation of Sistani and other quietist clerics in· Najaf provoked 

a severe split in the Shi'ite population. He appointed as his successor Sayyid 

Kazim al-Ha'iri. An Iraqi cleric resident in Qom, Iran, and associated with the al-. 

--

· .... 

'jf~--~ 

JL 

THE US AND SHI'ITB RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN IRAQ* 553 

Da'wa Party, al-Ha'iri had also embraced Khomeini's theory of vilayat-efaqih or the 

rule of the clerical jurisprudent and had attempted to subordinate the Iranian branch 

ofal-Da'wa to the authority ofthe SupremeJurisprudent(Khomeini and then Khamenei) 

in Iran. 29 

Despite the Ba'th prohibition on the holding of Friday prayers, Muhammad 

S~diq insisted on trying to revive them, giving moving and defiant sermons at his 

mosque in Kufa on social issues that thrilled his congregations. He sent representatives 

(wukala') to mosques throughout Iraq, but especially in East Baghdad, who 

opened the mosques on Fridays and preached to crowds as large as 2,000, despite 

Ba'th opposition. His representatives were tightly networked and had the reputation 

ofbeing young, upright and highly competent. Unlike those of.other Objects of Emulation, 

his representatives were forbidden to represent anyone but him, an exclusivism 

that clashed with pluralistic Najaf traditionJO He considered holding Friday prayers 

to be an unambiguous duty, even though this was a minority position in Shi'ite legal 

thought, because they were a symbol of Islam at a time·and place where it was under 

attack. Crowds began chanting slogans at the prayers such as "Our frophet is 

Muhammad, our leader is Muhammad, our messiah is Muhammad," and "Our first is 

Muhammad, our middle is Muhammad, an4 our end is Muhammad." The middle 

term, their leader, was of course Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr himself. This adulation 

seems to have gone well beyond the typical veneration for an "object of emulation." 

In one of his last sermons, he compared.Saddam Husayn to the medieval Umayyad 

Caliph al-Mutawakkil, who is vilified by Shi'ites. for his persecution of them. 31 The 

Ba'th regime was extremely disturbed by these sentiments, and by Muhammad Sadiq's 

defiance in holding the Friday prayers and in establishing a dense network of activist 

mosques. One of his fatwas is said to have stipulated that it was not wrong to kill a 

, Ba'thist persecutor, and he met with some members of th~ paramilitary Badr Corps, 

based in Iran, which snuck across the border to strike at Ba'thist targets in lraq.32. 

AI-Hayat newspaper reported that Ba'th internal security warned Muhammad 

Sadiq about his defiance in early 1999, but was rebuffed. 33 On February 18, 1999, he 

was gunned down in his car with sons Mustafa and Mu'ammal as he was driving home 

from his office on the outskirts of Najaf. Southern Iraq erupted in demonstrations and 

riots, which were brutally put down. Over 100 were killed in Najaf, and 54 more in 

East. Baghdad, while demonstrations spread to provincial cities. The total.death toll 

was put at 200. 

After Muhammad Sadiq',sdeath, Iraqis were divided on to whom to pledge their 

religious allegiance. Some followed Sistani, while others turned to Muhammad Sadiq's 

appointed successor, Sayyid Kazim al-Ha'iri. 34 The latter, however, had the disadvan- 

-29.AI-Asadi,Al.Sadra.l-Thani, pp.ll ff.,94,99-100, 109, 221-222; Khursan,HizbaI.Da 4 wa,PP. 

411-420., 

.30. Ra'uf, Sadiq al·Sadr, pp. J42 ff., pp. 160-161. 

.31. AI-Asadi, Al-Sadrai-Thani., 57-63. 

.32.. Ra'uf, Sadiq al-Sadr, pp. 216-217• 

.3~. AI.Hayal, February 22, 1999 (Arabic text)• 

.34. AI-Hayat, March 9, 1999, BBC Summary ofWorld Broadcasts, March II, 1999. 

10t'&'20CX\ 4 ..00 PM 

1·1

· .,. ,-, 

..J(L--·~ 

IL 

.554*MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL 

-+-. 

tageofresiding in Qom and ofbeing somewhat distant from the daily realities in Iraq. 

The young Muqtada al-Sadr (born in the early to mid-1970s), on~ of Muhammad 

Sadiq's surviving sons, now went underground, using his father's networks to establish 

a tight, clandestine organization among the poor and repressed Shi'ites of Kufa 

and East Baghdad. He had not finished his studies and so was not a legitimate Object 

of EmulatioQ for the laity in his own right. But he won their hearts as a leader.. He 

retained the loyalty ofmany of his father's devotees and agents, and, unbeknownst to 

the outside world, established the most effective religious opposition movement in 

Iraq. His followers became k:nown as al-Sadriyyun, or the Sadrists, and their organization 

was Jama'at al-Sadr al-Thani, the Sadr II Movement. They were characterized 

by a Puritanism, militancy and intolerance that was very different from the genteel 

Najaf tradition. They held that only the legal rulings of Muhammad Sadiq alaSadr 

could be followed, rejecting any other religious authority. They insisted that the leadership 

of Iraqi Shi'ites be invested in Iraqis, a slam at Iranian-born Sistani.. The strict 

code of moral conduct to which they aspired, their opposition to movie theaters, the 

serving of alcohol, and the appearance of wQmen unveiled in public, on the other 

hand, simply reflected the social and religious milieu of Najaf itself.?S For the moment, 

they constituted a proscribed and clandestine movement, but political events 

would soon allow them to make claims on local power. . 

THE SI\DR MOVEMENT AFTER THE FALL OF THE BA'TH 

Muqtada al-Sadr, underground in Najaf, saw the fall ofthe Ba'th coming in the 

spring of 2003, and arranged for the extensive mosque network of the Sadr Movement 

to be reactivated as $oon as th~ government collapsed under the weight of the 

Anglo-American invasion. He was aided in this endeavor by the quietism ofhis rivals, 

who had acquiesced in the Ba'th prohibition on Friday prayers, and so had not been 

running mosques. Even before the Sadpam regime fell on April 9, Sadr Movement 

militias rose against the Ba'th and expelled its police and soldiers from al-Thawra 

(Saddam City), which they promptly renamed Sadr City. (Accounts differ as to whether 

this uprising began on April 7 or April 8.) The mosques were immediately reopened, 

at least for organizational purposes, by Sadr Movement preachers such as Shaykhs 

Muhammad alaFartusi and 'Ala' al-Mas'udi. On April 8, Sayyid Kazim al-Ha'iri, the 

appointee of Sadr II living in Qom, Iran, is~ued a fatwa calling on Iraq's Shi'ites to 

ignore the Americans and simply take control ofIraq themselves, fighting against the 

cultural corruption the US would bring with it. He also made Muqtada his representative 

in Iraq, more or iess giving him authority to do as he pleased in alaHa'iri's 

name. Muqtada sent money around, made appointments of followers to take over 

public institutions, and signed numerous decrees posted on walls throughout Iraq.36 

-.35. Fayyad, "Shahid.:' April 28. 2003• 

.36. Craig Smith, IIShiite Clerics Make Bid for Power:' New York TImes, April 26, 2003. 

CoIeFlnalp65 

II

• •'.j 

t t 

I' 

.-II .-

-, 

I ... 

IL 


troops from it in hopes of tricking them into harming the shrine and enraging the 

Shi'ite public. "The US military declin~d to fall for the trick. Eventually Saddam's 

forces became so exposed that they departed the shrine. The Sadr Movement militia 

immediately replaced them and claimed the weapons stockpi'e there. 40 

One ofal-Khu'i's companions, Ma'd Fayyad, an Iraqi journalist, described what 

happened next in an eyewitness account. 41 His account is largely corroborated by the 

narrative of Jabar Khani la'far, the deputy keeper of Imam 'Ali's shrine. 42 .Al-Khu'i 

decided that the easiest way to assert control over the shrine, wresting it from the Sadr 

Move~ent, was to rehabilitate the shrine keeper, Haydar Rafi'i Kalidar. The Kalidars 

had overseen the shrine for generations, and so al-Khu'i seems to have believed they 

would have legitimacy. But Kalidar had allowed himself to be co-opted by the Ba'th 

department of religious affairs, and had gained the reputation among many Najaf 

Shi'ites as a collaborator with Saddam Husayn as a result. The Sadr Movement, 

which mourned the martyrdom ofSadr II at the hands ofBa'th a~sassins, was particu-. 

lady bitter about prominent Shj"ites who they felt had secured their lives by collaborating. 

On April 9, al-Khu'i told Kalidar to start coming back to his office at the 

shrine, an attempt to install him there. Kalidar was there on April 10 wh~n al-Khu'i 

and his companions performed the rites of "visitation" or pilgnmage to the shrine.. 

Fayyad says that an angry crowd gathered in the square outside the shrine, 

chanting slogans in favor of Muqtada al-Sadr. -Determined to prevent 'Kalidar from 

becoming established at the shrine, they demanded that he be surrendered to them. 

They were also enraged that al-Khu'i was accompanied by Mahir al-Yasiri, an Iraqi 

Shi'ite. settled in Dearborn, Michigan, who was part of an expatriate group helping 

the US forces and who was wearing a.US flack jac~et. The encounter became a 

firefight when someone in al-Khu'i's party, perhaps al-Khu'i himself, fired,a pistol 

over the heads of the Sadr Movement mob. They replied with gunfire, and killing aI 

Yasiri. Eyewitness Ma'd Fayyad says that after an hour-long standoff, al-Khu'i and 

his party surrendered. He then maintains that al-Khu'i and others were bound and 

taken to Muqtada al-Sadr's house, but that the latterdeclined to admit them and that 

the word came back out that they should be kill~d in the squar~. Fayyad admits, 

however, that he had loosened his ropes and escaped before this point, so that he may 

have had this story second hand... Other accounts suggest a more spontaneous mob 

action, in which the crowd closed on al-Khu'i and Kalidar and stabbed them to death. 

If the Anglo-American Coalition had in fact entertained hope that al-Khu'i could 

exercise a moderating "influence in Najaf, the attempt died with him.· There seems 

little doubt that al-Khu'i fell to angry members of the Sadr Movement. 

/ 

-40. Fayyad, '·Shahid 'ala Rih/at al·Khu'; ila al.~lraq," [UWitness to the Journey of al..Khu'i to 

Iraq"], Al.Sharq al.Awsat, April 30, 2003. (Second Part ofa two-part story previously cited.) 

41. Ma'dFayyad, "Ightiyalal-7A';m al·Shi'i tAbdal-Majidal-Khu'ijiNajaf," [Assassination ofthe 

Shi 'iteLeader 'Abd al·Majidal..Khu'i in Najaf;' Al-Sharqal-Awsat,Aprilll, 2003. . 

42. Meg Laughlin and Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, "Shiite Killing Described:' Knight Ridder News 

Service, April 27, 2003. 

10I8l2OO3. 4:00 PM 

1·1

....... 

, 

'.' , • 

-.J I I 

• • -, 

, 

...._-_.....!~ 

----III!II~ 

rL 

THE US AND SHI'ITB RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN"IRAQ*557 

Crowds from the Jama'at al-Sadr al-Thani, inclpding 50 armed'men, now surrounded 

the houses of Grand Ayatollah 'Ali Sistani and his colleague Ayatollah 

Muhammad Sa'id ai-Hakim, both of whom had been rivals of Sadr II and both of 

whom he had criticized by name..They gave the two 48 hours to leave Najaf, demanding 

that the Iraqi Shi'ite leadership, be solely in the hands of Iraqis.~3 'Sistani had, 

however, already left his home and gone into hiding, which was one reason al-Khu'i 

had never been able to meet him. The mobs made a similar demand of other major 

clerics, including the Afghan ayatoll~h, Ishaq al-Fayyad. The crisis lasted until Monday, 

April 14, when city elders brought armed tribal elements loyal to them into the 

town to restore order. The Sadr Movement crowds were dispersed and a modicum of 

security was regained. 44 The US military forces were, throughout, careful not to 

intervene directly, because of the sensitivities ofShi'ites to the presence offoreigners 

at the shrine. Since the CIA had long cultivated the Iraqi tribes, and had spent millions 

to encourage them to rise against Saddam during the war, it is not impossible 

that the iribal take-over of the city was in part the Agency's doing. In the aftermath, 

the US forces appointed a Sunni ex-Ba'th officer who claimed to have turned against 

Saddam during-the war as the mayor of Najaf, and he kept order with his supporters 

until he was finally dismissed two months later for corroption and kidnapping. 

The battle for Najafwas inconclusive, though itis likely that Sistani retained his 

position mainly among the older inhabitants, while many of the youth gravitated to 

Muqtada. When for the ,first time Muqtada came out into the open and led Friday 

prayers at his father's old mosque in Kufa, on April 18, thousands attended. Sistani 

and. his senior colleagues remained much more circumspect about coming into public, 

for which Muqtada derided them. At his first Friday prayers sermon after the war, on 

April 18 in Kufa, Muqtada thanked God rather than the US "for religious freedom 

and for liberating us from-dictatorship." Thousands had flocked to hear him from 

among local laborers and farmers, suggesting the class base of his movement. He 

complained about the lack- of electricity and water, and implied that the US was 

deliberately withholding services. He also criticized then-SCIRI leader Muhammad 

Baqir aI-Hakim, saying, "Religious people who went'into exile should not have left. 

The country needed them." Since Muqtada's father died for his insistence on remain-. 

ing, one can understand his bitterness. The slam at aI-Hakim was more than rhetorical. 

Shaykh 'Ali al-Maliki, the leader of the paramilitary branch of the Sadr Movement, 

toldjoumalist Lara Marlowe that his forces had driven Badr Corps fighters out 

of East Baghdad on April 17. She concluded that the rumors that Shi'ite militias were 

fighting off "Ba'thists" and "Wahhabis" were a cover for. internecine battles among 

Shi'ite forces themselves.4 s 

-43. ··Jama'at Muqtada al·Sadrtuhasir Mandl al·Sistan;," [''The Muqtada ~-Sadr Movement Besieges 

the House ofAl-Sistani:·] Al.Sharqal·Awsat, April 14, 2003. 

44. 14TadakhkhulShuyukh Qaba'ilal·Furat," ["Intervention ofthe Shaykhs ofthe EuphratesTribes n ]. 

Al.ShalrJ al·Awsat, April IS, 2003. 

45. Lara Marlowe, report from Najar, The Scotsman, Apri119, 2003. 

t~4:COPU

·j I' I I_=~ 

IL 

558*MIDDLBBAST JOURNAL 

AL-THAWRA TOWNSHIP OR "SADR CITY" 

+. 

The more important political action took place in the poor quarters of East 

Baghdad or al~Thawra, now informally known as Sadr City, where the Sadr Movement 

became a "youth movement" par excellence. s46 Journalist Muhammad Husni 

reported firsthand on April 17 that Sadr Movement militias had filled the power 

vacuum created by the fall of the Ba'th Party, establishing patrols and engaging in 

firefights with infiltrators. They had also organized the return of looted goods, and 

were providing food aid (rom the mosques. He reported strong anti-American sentiments 

among the Friday prayers leaders at the Sadr mosques, who insisted that the US 

leave as soon as possible. The movement leaders told flusni that the enemy infiltrators 

were "Arab volunteers:' with the implication that they wereal-Qaeda or Sunni Arab 

·nationaIists. 4 7, We have aiready seen that Marlowe concluded they were actually fighting 

the Badr Corps. 

The following day, on Friday, April 18, the Sadr movement helped staged one 

of the largest demonstrations yet seen in post-war Iraq, with an estimated 20,000 

Baghdadis coming out for it. Sadr Movement supporter Shaykh Muhammad al-Fartusi 

and self-styled "head Qf security" gave a rousing sermon at the al-Hikmah mosque in 

al-Thawra, saying that the Shi'ites would not accept a brand of democracy "that 

allows Iraqis to say what they want but gives them no say in their destiny," adding, 

"this form of government would be worse than that of Saddam Husayn.~' fie urged 

believers to follow the decrees of the Najaf religious establishment (by which he 

meant Muqtada al-Sadr), and listed ~ four-point code ofconduct, stressing that music, 

imitation of Westerners, women going unveiled, and preferring tribal custom to Islamic 

law are aU forbidden. After Friday prayers (where the congregants received 

their instructions), crowds poured into the streets, demanding that the US depart from 

Iraq and insisting on an Islamic state. Placards read, "OetoutNow," and "No to Bush, 

no to Saddam, Yes to Islam!." The largely Shi'ite crowds were joined by Sunni Islamists. 

Asupporting large demonstration was held the same day in the holy shrine city of 

Karbala, spurred on by the sermon of Sadr Movement preacher Kazim al-'lbadi al 

Nasiri at the mosque attached to the shri~e of Imam Husayn, also demanding an 

immediate departure of US troops, saying "We reject this foreign occupation, which 

is a new imperialism."4& ' 

The religious rites of commemorative pilgrimage carried out by Shi'ites to 

Karbala that began over the weekend ofApril 19 and 20 did not, as some radicals had 

-46. A good overview is al·Amin, "Baghdad allati lam taral/' and by the same author, "Madina 

tahkumuha shabakat masajidal-Hawzaal-Natiqa," ["City Governed by the Networks ofthe Mosques 

oftheSpeaking Religious Authority:'A1.Bayal, July'12, 2003, both parts ofa6-part series on Muqtada 

and Iraqi Shi'ism. 

47. Muhammad Husni, "Rijal aJ-Din al-Shi'a yandafi'una Iimil'al·Firagh al·Si)·asi.fi al- 'Iraq," 

[Shi'iteClerics Rush in to Fill the Political Void in lraq"],AI.Quds ai-'Arabi, April 18, 2003. 

48. Hasan Hafiz, ~'Muzaharat Hashida," ["Mass Demonstrations"), AI·Quds ai-'Arabi, Apri119, 

2003; Mohamed Hasni, "iraq's Friday Prayers IssueWarnings to US:'Agence France-Presse, April 19, 

2003; "The Search Continues:' Monday Morning (Beimt),ApriI28, 2003. 

II 

10l812003. 4ioo PM 

·11

• \i 

IL 

THE US AND SHI'ITB RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN IRAQ*559 

hoped, tum into an anti-American political protest. The large crowds, in their hundreds of 

thousands, remained peaceful and apparently more interested in the pilgrimage itselfthan 

politics, though a small group occasionally chanted against the US occupation. Many 

followers of Sadr II stopped off at his tomb in Najaf to pay their re~pects.49 Shaykh 

Fartusi visited Najaf over that weekend to get instructions from Muqtada, and returned to 

Baghdad late Sunday,,after the curfew. He was stopped by Marines at a checkpoint, and 

they found a pistol in his car. They arrested him, apparently unaware of his importance. 

The next day, Monday April 21, the Sadr Movement mobilized and bused 5,000 protesters 

to the center ofBaghdad, who chanted for the release ofFartusi. The rallies ofthe previous 

Friday had been much less visible, because they took place in neighborhoods. This 

demonstration was the largest yet staged at the center of the city. It was repeated on 

Thesday, but then the Marines, finally aware oftheir mistake, released Fartusi. He maintained 

that he had been beaten and mistreated, saying thatthe US was "worse than Saddam!' 

.so The Sadr Movement continued to express strong anti-Western feelings, with gangs 

threatening and closing down liquor stores and cinemas, and enforcing the veil on women. 

Some Sadr Movement clerics nevertheless cooperated thereafter with US military community 

development effoi:ts, and they continued to have great sway in East Baghdad, 

supplying food and other aid paid for by Iranian sources. 51 

Muqtada has taken a rejectionist but non-violent stance toward the US presence 

and its ~fforts to establish a new Iraqi government. He was invited by Jay Garner, the 

first US civil administrator of the country, to participate in a leadership conference 

held at Nasiriyya on April 28, but refused. 52 He said, "I don't want the chair of the 

government because it will be controlled by the US and I don't want to be controlled 

by the US" Eyewitness journalist Nir Rosen reports that, "When asked ifthat meant 

he would want to attack the Americans, he snorted and replied with the colloquial 

Arabic equivalent of 'Why would I want to f**k myself1"'~3 The al-Da'wa Party also 

opposed that meeting, because it was being held by a former US General under Pentagon 

auspices. SelRI $ent a low-level delegation. Later, when Garner was replaced 

by civilJan L. Paul Bremer Ill, both SCIRI and al-Da'wa proved ultimaJely willing to 

join the new Governing Council that declared itselfon July 13 after negotiations with 

the US. Muqtada, however, refused, denouncing the plan at his June 14 Friday sermon 

at Kufa.$4 He later expressed severe reserva~ions that the Americans could establish 

a just government in Iraq, since they were opposed to a Shi'ite state. 

Muqtada called on May 2 for strict Islamic law to be applied to Iraq's Christians, 

as well, including the prohibition on bars and on allowing women to appear 

-49. Richard Uoyd Parry, "Pilgrimage represents Rebirth ofShia Faith:' The 1i'mes,April 21, 2003 

(reporting from Najaf). 

50. Nadiya Mahdid, "AI·Quwwat al-Amrikiyya tufrij 'an Rajul Din," ["American Forces Release 

Cleric PIJ, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, April 23 2003; same author., ''AI-Fartusir,Al-Sluzrq al-Awsat, 24 April 

2003; Craig S. Smith, "Shiite Clerics make Bid for Power:' New York limes, April 26, 2003. 

51. Anthony Shadid, "Troops Test Cooperation With Clerics:' Washington Post, May 23, 2003., 

52. Nadim Ladki, "Gamerto Meet Prominent Iraqis:' Reuters,· April 27,2003 (via Lexis Nexis). 

53. Nir Rosen, "Shiite Contender Eyes Iraq's Big Prize:' 'lime Magazine Online, May 3, 2003. 

54. AI-Zaman, June 16,2003. 

10t'812003. 4:00 PM 

II

· .~ 

; 

.~ 

'.-1 I t 

"if , 

l 

~- 

,.----,=~ 

IL 

560*MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL~ 

unveiled. 55 This ruling appears to be a restatement of one of his father's fatwas, but 

this time the al-Sadr family had the authority to make it stick in some parts of Iraq. In 

contrast, Grand Ayatollah Sistani issued a statement saying that the Najaf establishment 

had not called for forcible veiling. Muqtada also forbade Iraqi merchants to deal 

with Kuwaitis, and his mentor Ayatollah Kazim al-Ha'iri forbade Iraqis to seUland to 

Jews, calling for such Jewish buyers to be killed. 56 The Sadr Movement stranglehold 

on power in al-Thawra continued to be strengthened in May, June, and July. Sadrists 

established informal Shi'ite courts in mosques to deal with local disputes, including 

over burglary and murder. Sadr II had run such courts clandestinely, but now they 

were the de facto tribunals ofjustice in many neighborhoods. 

The al-Muhsin Mosque 'was a key Sadr Movement institution in East Baghad. 

Shaykh Kazim 'Ibadi al-Nasiri called in his sermon on May 9 there for vigilante 

reprisal killings of Ba'thists, referring to a fatwa of Ayatollah Kazim al-Ha'iri. 5 7, In 

his sermon from the same mosqu~ on May 16, Shaykh Muhammad Fartusi thundered, 

"The cinemas in AI-Saadun Street show indecent films. I warn them: ifin a week they 

do not change, we will act differently with them. We warn women and the go-betweens 

who take them to the Americans: If in a week from now they do not change their 

attitude, the murder ofthese women is sanctioned (by Islam). This warning also goes 

out to sellers.of alcohol, radios and televisions., The torching of cinemas w~uld be 

permitted," he said, if cinemas did not change their ways.58 In fact, many liquor 

shops, cinemas, and cosmetic shops·were closed by threats or in some instances tire 

bombings. 

DEMONSTRATIONS 

The Sadr Movement attempted to provoke numerous demonstrations in Baghdad 

and Basra, calling for a withdrawal ofAnglo-American troops, as a way of showing 

its popl:llar influence. On May 14, hundreds of Shi'ites demonstrated in downtown 

Baghdad for an Islamic government, saying that it should be Shi'ite because they had 

suffered most under Saddam. On May 15, Shaykh al-'Ibadi al-Nasiri preached a 

thunderous sermon to 30,000 congregants at the Imam Sadr Mosque in East Baghdad, 

accusing US troops of using night vision goggles to see through women's clothes and 

of passing out pornography to children in the form of candy wrappers. He all but 

called for terror attacks on US forces. Ironically, the US forces had provided special 

security to the mosque. His sermon appears to have alarmed Muqtada al-Sadr back in 

Najaf, and it was announced that it had not been approved and that henceforth the 

-.55. Mohamed Hasni, uSadr Calls for Iraqi Christians to Follow Islamic Law;' Middle East Online, 

May 2, 2003•. 

56. Ulraqi Fatwa Bans Trading with Kuwaitis;' Arab nmes (Kuwait), July 12, 2003; "Cleric Calls 

for Killing ofJews who Buy Land;' Reuter, June 28, 2003. 

57. James Drummond and Nicholas Pelham, "Shia Clerics Urge Faithful to Attack Returning 

Ba'athists;' Financial 7imes, May 10,2003. 

_58•."Shiite Leader in Baghdad Warns Women, Alcohol Sellers, Cinemas;' Agence France Presse, 

May 16,2003 (via Lexis Nexis). 

11 

1~4.'OOPM

. '" 

'j(I---~:~ 

•• IL 


Najaf religious establishment (i.e. Muqtada) would have to pre-approve such sermons. 

Muqtada has steadfastly refused to sanction violence against A~ericans. That 

weekend, Shi'ite clerics like Shaykh Fartusi began calling for a million man march 

on Monday, May 19, the Shi'ite commemoration of the death of the Prophet 

Muhammad, wh~ch they had been forbidden by the Ba'th to mark on a day different 

from the one honored by the Sunnis. bn May 19, Shi'ites conducted the commemorative 

procession to a mosque, and about 10,000 Sadrists turned the occasion into an 

anti-American rally, demanding an Iraqi government overseen by the Najaf ayatollahs 

and the departure of the Americans. s9 Given the difference between Fartusi's 

predictions and the actual turnout, arid given that even it depended on the holy day 

procession, this outcome can only be seen as a setback for the Sadr Movement. Most 

Iraqi Shi'ites clearly were still willing to give the US time., 

On Thursday, May 29, hundreds of Shi'ites, including 50 clerics, gathered in 

downtown Baghdad to chant against the US for using troops to make arrests of armed 

clerics in Najaf. They also chanted against Israel, and called the US "the number one 

source of terrorism.~'60 The same day, a Baghdad cinema near the demonstration was 

rocked by a grenade attack, after defying·demands from the Sadr movement "punishment 

committee" to close down. On June 3, hundreds of Sadr Movement Shi'ites 

demonstrated against the US in downtown Baghdad, protesting the brief detention of 

Shaykh Jasim Sa'adi on weapons charges. Among those protesting were members of 

the breakaway Fadilah Party, a faction of the Sadr Movement headed by Shaykh 

Muhammad Ya'qubi. 6l On Saturday, June 21, 2,500 Shi'ites demonstrated jn downtown 

Baghd~d at the behest of Sadr Movement preachers, demanding that the Najaf 

religious authorities establish and supervise the new Iraqi-government, and denouncing 

the Americans as occupiers. This protest came at a time when US civil administrator 

L. Paul Bremer seemed determined to relegate Iraqi leaders to a merely ~dvisory 

role. During his Friday Prayers sermon, Shaykh Kazim 'Ibadi al-Nasiri had told his 

10,000 congregants that they were engaged in a "clash of civilizations," and urged 

them to gather downtown during his Friday prayers sermon. They were joined by 

worshippers from Kazimiyya and Shuala. 62 

June saw three big demonstrations against the British authorities in Basra, on 

June 1(5,000), June 7 (2,000), and June 15 (10,000). The BBC online reported ofthe 

June 7 rally, "They were said to have rallied on the instructions of an organisation 

named after Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr . " ."63 Although ShiCite-unrest in 

-,59. "Shiites call for Iraqi government free offoreign influences:' Deutsche Press Agentur, 15 May 

2003; Warren Richey, "Reverberations from an I~q PrayerMeeting:' Christian Science Monitor, May, 

19, 2003; "Shiites o~nly mark Mohammed's birthday in Iraq as lawlessness still reigns;' A~ May 

19,2003. 

60. "Hundreds ofShiites hold anti-US rally in Baghdad:' Agence France Presse, May 29, 2003. 

61"Iraqis protest at arrest ofShiite dignitary," Agence France Presse, June 3,2003. 

62. Patrick1Yler,"'2,000 at Rally Demand Jslamic Supervision ofElections:' New York 'limes, June 

22, 2003; Anthony Shadid, "Iraqi Shiite Leader Uneasy With U.S. Role," Washington Post, June 23, 

2003. 

63. "Basra protest against British presence:' BBC New~ Online, June7,2003 at http://news.bbc.co.uk1 

Continued on Next Page 

581 1CWJ2OO3, ":00PM

,i 

lI'~ · • 

~I 

IL 

562*MIDDLBEAST JOURNAL 

Basra is often blamed on al-Hakim's Supreme Council for Isiamic Revolution in Iraq, 

the Sadr Movement is a considerable force in the city in its own right. 64 Still, the 

demands of the protesters were remarkably local, having to do with discontents about 

the way the British were running the city and with their appointees to the governing 

council. 

FACIIONAUSM 

Muqtada al-Sadr ma4e a trip to Iran for a week beginning June 7, meeting'with 

high Iranian authorities and with his mentor, Ayatollah Kazim al-Ha'iri. Given the 

subsequent tension that developed between the two, this meeting may not have gone 

well. The Iranians had supplied food and other aide to Sadr Movement clerics in East 

Baghdad, allowing them to gai.n popularity by providing services to the people. Muqtada 

may have been seeking further such aid. If so, the Iranians wanted a quid pro quo. 

They wanted the exclusivist and sectarian Sadr Movement to avoid any further internal 

Shi'ite clashes such as had broken out over al-Khu'i's arrival in Najaf in early 

April. Former Iranian president and head of the Expediency Council, 'Ali Akbar 

Hashemi Rafsanja~i, said "All Iraqi Shiite groups and fighters, especially those ofthe 

Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, should keep their unity and 

work for Iraq's interests by combatting internal and external conspiracies."6S 

Rafsanjani's pleading was not entirely successful. By late June, Muqtada was 

telling journalist Hazim aI-Amin that there was no coordination between him and the 

other Shi'ite leaders in Najaf, and that itwas the fault ofGrand Ayatollah Sistani and 

his colleagues, who were apolitical because they were not Iraqis. (This is a reference 

to his father's theory ofthe "al-Hawza al-Natiqa" or the "Speaking Religious Authority:' 

the mantle of which Muqtada now claims). AI-Amin also reported thatSistani 

and Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir aI-Hakim of SCIRI had grown closer, in hopes of 

uniting against the threat of the exclusivist and powerful Sadr Movement. Muqtada 

told him that he believes in the Khomeinist theory of the role ofthe jurisprudent, but 

-Continuedfrom Previous Page 

Ilhilworldlmiddle_east/2972308.stm ; "Iraqis protest against new British. roler in Basra :' Agence 

france Presse, June I, 2003; "Iraqis protest against British role in Basra:'Agence France Presse, June 

IS, 2003. 

64.. Andrzej Rybak, "Irak.Tageblicher: Basra holt Schwung JUr den Neubeginn," ["Iraq Diary: 

Basra gets Momentum for a New Beginning:' Financial 'limes Deutschland, AprilS, 2003 at http:// 

www.ftd.deJpw/inlIOS0940024444.html?nv=tn-rs. He says, "Viele unterstiitzen den jungen 

'Religionsgelehrten Muqtada al·Sadraus Nadschaf, der gegen die Priisenzder USA in Irak. '.• eintritt." 

[Many .Support the Young Religious Scholar Muqtada al·Sadr of Najaf, who Stands against the US 

Presence in Iraq:'] 

65. "Iran's Rafsanjani Appeals for UnityAmong Rival Iraqi ShiiteGroups:'Agence France-Presse, 

June 8,2003,. See also "Muqtada al·Sadr)'abhathfi Qumm lawdatal-Ha'iriila al-Najaf," ["Muqtada 

al-Sa~r discusses in Qom the Return ofal-Ha'iri to Najar'), AI-ZLzman, June 6, 2003.. 

1CW12oo3. 4:00 PM

.Q IL 

THE US AND SHI'ITE RELIGIOUS FACTIONS IN IRAQ*,563 

that the supreme jurisprudent of Iraq would be a different person than the supreme 

jurisprudent ofIran (among believers in the th~ory, a big debate has raged for over a 

decade over whether Iranian Supreme Jurisprudent 'Ali Khamenei's authority extends 

to aUShi'ites or is country-bound). Muqtada reaffirmed that he refused to cooperate 

with the American administratio!l, but also declined to oppose'it. 66 

June and July witnessed an- outbreak of fierce rivalry in Karbala between the 

Sadr Movement and followers of Grand Ayatollah Sistani over the right to preach in 

the mosque attached to the shrine of Imam Husayn, among the' more prestigious 

venues in the Shi'ite world. An agreement was initially reached to alternate each 

Friday, but then in e~rly July Muqtada issued a typically exclusivist decree that only 

Sadrist clerics had the right to lead prayers. On July 4, the two factions came to blows 

inside the shrine of the Imam, leaving the city polarized and tense. 6 1. In July, as well, 

the Sadr Movement and SCIRI quarreled over the shrine of Imam 'Ali in Najaf.. 

In early JulY,Muqtada, who is said to be on the brink of being an independent 

jurisprudent (mujtahid) and Object of-Emulation himself, also began being,critical of 

his supposed mentor, Ayatollah Kazi1!l al·Ha'iri, for refusing to come ba,ck to Najaf 

from Qom, and suggesting that he did not after aU recognize him as a superior. 68 For 

his part, according to the Iranian newspaper Baztab, al-Ha'iri began backing off his 

support for Muqtada, saying that offices dedicated to the memory ofSadr II should tie 

closed except in Najaf, and that the activities of the Muslims should henceforth be 

conducted under the shadow of. the quardian (Wafi) of the Muslims (i.e. al-Ha'iri 

himselt).69 IfBaztab is to be believed, AI-Ha'iri was positioning himself to succeed . 

to Sadr II and sideline Muqtada. He received some help, inadvertent or not, when on 

July 16 Shaykh Muhammad Ya'qubi finally declared himself an Object of Emulation, 

making formal the split of his al-Fadila group from the Muqtada loyalists.. His followers 

demonstrated again~t threats ~o him in Najaf, though the Muqtada group maintained 

that he had no local support and just brought in some'armed tribes~en to stage 

the demonstration. Ayatollah Kazim al-Ha'iri is said to have blessedYa'qubi's schism, 

saying he had the prerequisites for being an Object of Emulation. ' 

° 

The movement o( Muqtada al-Sadr seems likely to survive this minor schism, 

and it continued to show, great popular strength through late summer.. Sadrists appear 

to have been involved in riots against Marine patrols in Karbala in late July, resulting 

-66.' Hazim aI-Amin, "Arwiqatal-Hawzah fi at-Najaftadijj bi inqisamat:' [The Halls ofthe Hawzain 

Najaf are Riven with Divisions"] AI-HaYlJt, June 27,2003. " 

67. Hamza Hendawi, "Once Showcased as Example ofPeace, Holy Shiite City now Moving in 

Opposite Direction:' Associated Press, July 15,2003. 

68. AI-Amin, "Madina tahkumuha shabakat." 

69. "Awj-giri-yiTanish miyan-i Sadri-ha va Majlis-i A'la:' ["Tensions Peak Between the Sadrists 

adn SCIRI"] Baztab, July 13, 2003122 Tir 1384 at http://www.baztab.com( 

index.asp?ID=9120&Subject=News 

70. IIInshi'ab darSadriha," ["SplitAmong the Sadris"] Bazrab, July 16, 2003/25 "lir 13~4 at: http:/ 

Iwww.baztab.comlindex.asp?ID=9299&Subject=News; theYa'qubi schism, which began last spring, 

is also reported by a)-Amini ,cMadina," andjournalist Nir Rosen in Najafkindly sent me an unpublished 

report he had done on aI-Fadila. I am also grateful to Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer for 

sharing inSights from her 3-week trip to Najafand other Shiite sites in May-June, 2093. - 

1tlJ&'2OO3. 4:00 PM

" ~ 

I,L 


in one dead and nine wounded when the Marines replied to gunfire and shot into the 

crowd. In a Friday sermon in early August, Muqtada called on the IVJ;arines to be tried 

for murder in accordance with the sharia. Sadrists were definitely involved in major 

riots in Basra the weekend of Augus~ 9-10.. Followers of Muqtada have significant 

power in Basra, and are said to hold a third ofthe seats on the current city council. On 

August 15, Shi'ites in East Baghdad rioted against the United States because a military 

helicopter had blown a Shi'ite banner off a telecom tower. The banner invoked 

the promised one of Shi'ite.Islam, the Imam Mahdi, and appears to have been placed 

on the tower by Sadrists who believe he is· about to come back. Muqtada had announced 

that he would begin recruiting a militia called the "Mahdi Army," though he 

pledged it would be non-violent. Some 10,000 young men are ,said to have joined, 

and the banners put up in East Baghdad may have been in part celebrating the militia's 

formation. Muqtada continued to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq of 

American and British troops. 

When Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir aI-Hakim was killed along with nearly 100 

others in a huge truck bomb in Najaf on August 29, SCIRI leaders began demanding 

an immediate US military withdrawal, as well.'Because ofreligious sensitivities about 

close Marines patrols in Najaf, after the bombing the US civil administrator Paul 

Bremer winked at the emergence of armed par~militaries in Najaf, including Badr 

Corps fighters trained by the Revolutionary Guards in Iran and members ofMuqtada's· 

.Army of the Mahdi. The US military had been dead ,set against such paramilitaries 

appearing in public with arms, and indicated that it would not be tolerated for long. 

The bombing brought SCIRI and the Sadrists closer in their position on the Coalition 

military forces. It also removed an important rival to Muqtada, though Muhammad 

Baqir ai-Hakim never had the young al-Sadr's widespread popularity, in any case. 

Muqtada's enemies among the Sunnis accused him of blaming them for the bombing 

and of provoking Shiites to expropriate their religious sites., The Sadr movement 

remains significant in Iraqi street politics despite·its exclusion from the Americanappointed 

Interim Governing Council and the new cabinet appointed in early September. 

71 Observers on the ground rep9rt that the Sadr Movement controls the major 

mosques, Shi'ite community centers, hospitals and soup kitchens in East Baghdad, 

Kufa and Samarra', and has a strong presence in Najaf, Karbala and Basra, as well. Jt 

is highly networked, and its preachers have taken a strong rhetorical line against. what 

they view as an Anglo-American occupation. It is sectarian both in its demographic 

base (poor, urban and young) and its dedication to the themes of difference, antagonism 

and separation. Politically, jt must be seen as a movement of the populist Right, 

seeking to impose rellgious authority on the public, to. institute corporate techniques 

of control, to -reduce women to second class citizens, to exclude foreign influence, 

and to subordinate ihe minority Sunnis to Shi'ite religious leadership. 

-71.AcontinuingchronicleofShi'ite movements in contemporary Iraq, with citations, may be found 

at http://www.juancole.com; for these points, see theAugust and September2003 archives.} 

10J8r'2003. 4:00 PM 

Tr--

, .. ,~ 

A 

• 

-

IL 

S66*MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL 

the mosque attached to the shrine ofImam Husayn. They have separated their congregation 

from the one led by Sistani's appointee. Their antagonism to these other groups 

is in part rooted in their attempt to monopolize sacred space in Iraq. 

Can the Sadrists maintain their political momentum? Ifthe Defense Department 

scenario comes to fruition, and Iraq holds relatively free and fair elections~ in late 

2004 or early 2005, the Sadr Movement's political" power may be diluted in a new 

Iraqi parliament that. they cannot hope to· dominate. Assuming they agree to field 

~andidates, they could only hope to play in it the sort ofrole that the Lebanese Hizbullah 

does in the Lebanese parliament, where the radical party is often forced to cooperate 

with the Maronite Christians and other forces .. If, on the other hand, Iraq begins to 

collapse into insecurity and angry urban crowds seek an early exit ofCoalition forces, 

the Sadr Movement networks and militias will stand them in good stead in asserting 

power in East Baghdad and the south. It seems clear that the future of Iraq is intimately 

wrought up with the fortunes of the Sadr Movement. 

+. 

II 

568. 

+. 

Ir-

! 

,t'll 

1 

o 

42. Th,e. Iranian Hand 

UNCLASSIFIED 

o 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAII~D 

HEREIN IS UlJCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/!sg 

Michael Ledeen, Wall StreetJournal, 16 April2Q04, Page A14 

Much is being made about the irony of an Iranian envoy arriving in Iraq to 

help negotiate a solution to the U.S. standoffwith radical Shiite cleric Muqtada 

al-Sadr. How could,we al~owa charter member of President Bush's"Axis of Evil" 

~o negotiate a "peace" with the thuggish Sadr and his band offanatical militants? 

Indeed, the irony is as thick as Sadr's own beard. But the fact that Iran 

holds sway over him and otherShiite militants in Iraq should surprise no one. 

Despite. repeated denials by the State. Department, it is an open secret throughout 

the Middle East that Sadr has b~enreceiving support- if not precise orders - 

from the mullahs in Iran for some time now. 

That the. war.beingwaged by Shiite militants throughoutIraq is notjusta 

domestic "insurgency" has been documented by the, Italian Military Intelligence 

Sendce. (Sismi). In a report prepared before the current wave of violence, Sismi 

predicted "a simultaneous attack by Saddam loyalists" allover the country, along 

with a series ofShiite revolts. 

The Italians knew thatthese actions were not just par~of an Iraqi civil war, 

nor a response, to recent actions taken by the Coalition Provisional Authority 

against the forces ofSadr. According to Italian intelligence, the, actions were, used 

as a pretext by local leaders of the, factions tied to an Iran-based ayatQIlah, Kazem 

al-Haeri, who was "guided in his political and strategic choices by 

ultraconservative Iranian ayatollahs in order to unleash a long planned general 

revolt.II The. strategic. goal of this revolt, .says Sismi, was "the, establishment of an 

Islamic government of Khomeinist inspirati~n."The Italianintelligence agency 

noted that "thepresence of Iranian agents of influence and military insmtctors 

has b~enreported for s,ome. time.Ii Our own governm~ntwill not say as much 

publicly, but Dona\d'Rumsfeld and Gen. John Abizaid, the commanderof U.S. 

force.s in Iraq, have/recently spoken of "unhelpful actions" by Iran (and Syria). 

/ 

The Lonq.on-based Al-Hayat reported on April 6 that the Iraqi Governing 

Council was actiyely discussing lithe major Iranian role in the events that took 

place in the. Iraqi Shiite cities,'· noting that the Iranians,were. the predominant 

financiers ofSadr. Another London newspaper, Al Sharq Al-Awsat', quoted a 

recent Iranian intelligence defector that Iranian infiltration of Iraq started well 

before Operation IraqiFreedom. Hundreds of intelligence agents were sent into 

Iraq through the north. After thefall'of Saddam, greater numbers came across 

the uncontrolled border, masquerading as students, derics and journalists -- and·\ 

as religious pilgrims to the now-accessible holy cities ofNajaf and Karbala. ./\ r ~'-t tu~ 

UNCLASSIFIED 

G5R-w r-~G~ts:-~C 

&~mlḶ -

·ḃo· 

t 

/ 

e 

UNCLASSIFIEjD 

The editor of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Seyassah ~ecent1y ~ote a front-. 

page editorial saying ~atHezbollah and Hamas were workingwithSadr, 

"backed by th~ ruling religious fundamentalists inTehran and the. nationalist 

Baathists ill Damascus. 1I No classified information was required for that claim, 

sinceSadr himself has publicly proclaimed that his militia is the fighting arm of 

both Hezbollah and Harnas. Nonetpeless, the State Department still doesn't 

believe - or won't admit publicly - that there's a co~ection betweenSadr's 

uprising and Iran's mullahs. Just last week, State's dep~ty spokesman, Adam 

Ereli; told reporters that "We've seen reports of Iranian involvement, c9llusion, 

provocation, coordinaqon, etc., etc. But I think there's a dearth of hard facts to 

back these"things up.." 

o 

,I 

Iraq cannot be peaceful and secure. so long as Tehran sends its terrorist 

cadres across theborder.. Naturally, our troops will engage -- and kill-- any 

infiltrators they encounter. But we·can be sure that ~here will beothers to take 

th~ir place~ The only way to end Tehran's continual sponsorship of terror is to 

1;>ring about, the demise of the. present Iranian regime. And as it ;happel19i we 

have an excellent opportunity to achieve. this objective, without the direct use of 

military power against Iran. There is a critical mass of pro-democracy citizens 

there, who woulp1ike nothing more than to rid themselves of.their oppressors. 

They ne~d help;fbut they neither need nor desire to be liberated ~y force of arms. 

Above all, they want to hear our leaders state clearly and rep.eatedly -- as 

Ronald Reagan did with the "Evil EmRire" -- that regime change in,Iran is the 

goal of American policy. Thus far, they have heard conflicting statements and 

mealy-;mouthed half truths of the sort presented by Mr. EreH, along with 

astonishing procl~ations,such as the one by Deputy Secretary of State Richard 

UNCLASSIFIED

It 

e 

UNCLASSIFIED 

o 

. 

Armitage, in which he averred that Iran is Ita democracy.II (One wonders whether 

he will liken Muqtada aI-Sadr to Patrick Henry.) 

, Mr. Armitage notwithstanding, we can reach the'Iranian people by 

providing support to the several Farsi-language radio and TV stations in this 

country, all currently scrambling for funds to broadcast a couple of hours a day. 

We can encourage Brivate foundations and individuals to support the Iranian 

democracy movement. Thecurrent leadership of the AFL-CIO has regrettably 

abandoned that organization's traditional role of supporting free trade unions 

inside tyrannical countries, but there are some individual unions that'could do it. 

This sort of political campaign aimed at toppling the Iranian regime - 

allied to firm punitive. action wi~l).in Iraq against terrorists ofall stripes -- will 

make our task in Iraq manifestly less dangerous. Ultimately, security in.Iraq will 

come in large. measure from freedom and reform in Iran (as well as in Syria and 

Saudi Arabia). This is a truth thatwe should not hide from, nor be fearful to take 

on. 

Mr. Ledeen, resident scholar at the. American Enterprise Institute, is the 

author of tithe War Against the. Tert"or Masters" (St Martinis, 2003). 

, , 

UNCLASSIFIED 

,', 

0, ....

Priht Q 

~:~ 

ALL 

INFORMATION CONTAINED 

HERE IN IS UNC LASS I FIED /!!\. 

~ DATE 07-29-2010 BY 6032~baW/SabJlsg 

Page 1 ofl 

Print Window I crose yti!laow 


Copyright 2004 Natlonwl~e News pty Limited 

PNG Post-Courier 

April 19,2004 Monday 

SECTION: FLARE UP IN IRAQi Pg. 15 


HEADLINE: US policies to blame 

BODY: ~ 

TEHRAN: Iran yesterday said Americas iron-fisted policies and the lack of security undermined Iranian efforts to bring calm to Iraq. 

And that It would no longer co-operate with Washington In such efforts. 

Iran had sent a diplomatic delegation to Iraq In an effort to Improve security but Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefl 

said the team did not make the contacts It had hoped, and blamed the Americans. 

The latest setback to Iranian efforts came after an Iranian diplomat was killed in Baghdad on Thursday, causing Iran to distance 

Itself from mediation efforts to end a standoff between Iraqi mllitlas,loyal to anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and US forces. 

From the very beginning of the crisis, Iran tried to help ease tension but Washington s employment of an Iron-fist policy further 

complicated the situation" Mr Asefi said., 

He was referring to the Increasing use of force by the US military, which laid siege to FaliuJah last week after the killing and 

mutilation of four US civilians. 

Mr Asefl also said America s policies caused the failure of the mission of an Iranian diplomatic delegation to Iraq last week. 

He said Hossein Sadeghi, a top Iranian Foreign Ministry official, failed to meet with al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah All al-Husselnl ai- 

,Slstanl, Iraq s most powerful Shi Ite cleric. 

' 

We couldn t meet Sadr or Ayatollah Sistani becaus~ of lack of security, Mr Asefi said. 

LOAD-DATE: April 19, 2004

. 

. Att HI;FORHATION CONTAlNED '. 

~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED' 0' 

~ 07,29-2010 BY 60324UC baw/s~~ ~ 

, ~ 

~SOUBOB 

--- .~ ,By RichardLeiby 

". '. 

t, 

"Tb.eir 

corruption," 

corruption 

declares 

isour 

. a remarkably candid 

insider's assessment 

ofalleged kickbacks, patronage 

and other woes pJaguingthe 

U.5.-selected provisional 

govenunent in Iraq. 'The leaked 

memo haSforeign policywOnks 

playingaguessing game: Who is 

the importantIraqi officW 

desch1>edasa'1tappydnmk"? 

Who is theKurdish politician who 

seems to be actingoutapartin' 

11leGodfather"? . 

Penned byaPentagon adviser 

attached to the Coalition 

Provisional Authority, the chatty 

March memo offersa series of 

observationsand suggeStions after 

several months in Iraq as the· ' . 

author heads into non-goVernment 

life. "Despitethe progress evident 

in the streetsofBaghdad, much of 

whichhappens despite us rather 

than because of.us. Baghdadis have 

an uneasysense that theyare , 

heading toward civil war," the 

memo reports. Peopleare 

stoekPiliJ)gguns, the'author saYs, 

..and "CPAis ironicalJy driVingthe • 

• weapons..market: Iraqi police sell . 

their19st' U~S.-6Upplied Weapo~ on th~ black 

market; tJterare promptly resupplied."· • 

The~ was.thesubject ofa storYdistributed 

lastwee1Cby the AssociationofAlternative' 

Newsweeklies (aan.org): While the nameS of 

certainIraqifigUres andthe memo's"recipient 

were redacted, the missingname that Prompted 

the most speculation Was thai of the auth'or. Three 

~urces tell usPte ciitique was ~tten by Michael 

,Rubin, a thirty-somethingneOcon intellectual who 

• promptly became ascholar at the~kiSh 

American Enterprise Institute ~t re~to 

t~ By GARR~ TRUDEAU • • 

Speak, Memger 

......!!!II!I!II!.....---....... 

s 

TUESDAY, APRIL 2,1, 2,00+ 

Did Michael Rubin, left, 

write the warning about 

conditions In Baghdad? 

He isn't saying. 

Washington. 11lesky is'not falling" in. 

Iraq; he wrote early this month for 

National Review Oliline. 

In hisarticles and biography, Rubin' 

says he served as a CPA political officer for 

nine months and previouslyworked on 

Iraq and Iranissues while onDefense 

Secretary Donald ~feld's staH. N~tiona1 

Review Online desCribes Rubin as the only CPA 

politi,cal officerin Baghdad "who lived outside the 

American security bubble." 'The memo, ~ch ~ 

mentions continuingelectrical outagesand . 

"frequentexplosions, many ofwhich are not. 

reported inthe mainstream media," faults U.s. 

officials for their isolation from ordinary Iraqis. . 

Rubin wouldn'tconfinn or deny that he wrote 

• the memo. Lastweekhe told an AEI 

spokeswo~ he didn'twantto talk about it, ~d 

he didn'treturn our canyesterday. 

C3 

t ' 

.. 

. -. 

I

. ALL INFOR!1ATION'CONTAINED 

~. . H . hlEREIN IS UNCLASSI~ 

OqIme New.: our: IraqIs to be Sent I(Je?-- May 4, 199tATE 07-29-2010 EY~24 uc baw/sab/lsg 

~,,~ I ·1 I" .t I' 

~age 1of5 

ONLINE FOCUS 

BACK TO IRAQ? 

May 4, 1998 

T/~C New.~Hollr 

"'illl Jim Lehrer Trnllsc~iQt 

After bringing them to America, the u.s. government has decided that six Iraqis pose a security risk and 

must return home. However, the government won't say how theypresent a risk to national security; tlra! 

information is classified. 

JEFFREY KAYE: Imprisoned in a federal detention center south ofLos 

Angeles, six men·from Iraq face deportation. Although the United States 

brought them here, the goverpment now considers them national security 

risks. the case has attracted attention because its t:elian~e on c~assified 

evidence has prevented the six from rebutting accusations a ainst them. 

That, ~ccording to Rabih Aridi ofthe human rights p:: ~ ~{t~":. #~~~~~'% ~ 

group Amnesty International, violates basic ," "". ':~;~ :L 

standards ofjustice. ~ - 

"RABIH ARIDI: We believe they have been denied ~ ;, 

due process because they were not allowed to 

examine the evidence that was used against them. 

Nor were their lawyers. We are talking about a right that is clearly stated in 

the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights and that-is the right to a fair 

trial. 

JEFFREY KAYE: The INS, the immigration & Naturalization Service, 

maintains the men are not entitled to classified information. Paul Virtue is 

INS general counsel. 

A Constitutional question: h~s due process been 

provided or denied to these men? 

PAUL VIRTUE, INS: We believe that full due 

.~ process has been provided to the extent we're 

required to do so under the Constitution. 

JEFfREY KAYE: The plen say they bel~nged to 

U.S.~backed Iraqi opposition groups formed after the 

1991 GulfWar. In 1996, opposition members and thousands ofother 

refugees fled to the border \vith Turkey after the Iraqi army attacked rebel 

strongholds in Northe~ Iraq. The U.S. flew 6,500 Iraqi refugees to the U.S. 

.I~land ofGuam'in the PaCific. The evacuees included som~ 600 opposition ' 

• A RealAudio 

version of this 

segment is available. 

NEWSHOUR LINKS: 

April28, 1,998 

Amb. Butler discusses 

efforts to verify the 

destruction of Iraqi 

weapons. 

Apri/27,1998 

lm..qi exiles search for an 

alternative to Saddam 

Hussein. 

March 13, 1998 

A panel ofexperts debate 

whether it is time to lift 

,SJInctiC?na on Iraq.-. 

Online Forum 

Noam Chomsky and James. 

Wool~ debate U.S. 

- foreign polley. 

March 4, 1998 

An interview with U.N. 

Secretary General Kofi 

Annan. 

March 2, 1998 

An interview with Iraq's 

Ambassador to the U.N. 

NizatHamdoon.

Online NewsHour: Iraqis to be Sent ~e? - May 4, 1998 

~ members and their families., Thegovernment felt a moral obligation to 

• provide a haven, says fonner Defense DepartmentOfficial Zalmay 

Khlilzad, now with the policy research institute, Rand. 

o 

February 27, 1998 

Congressional vi~w~ .of the 

U.N_. deal with ltag. 

Page20f5 

ZALMAYKHLILZAD:. They had worked with us 

closely. They had put their lives at risk. And also it's 

possible that they would have been killed or jailed, 

and ifthey had gone all over the Middle East, I don't· 

II: ~ know who would have been able to provide them a 

1I2.'I!·~~}'~1 ;. . " safe haven, since the Turks were unwilling. 

"They had worke~ "'lith us closely. They had put their 

lives at risk.II 

• 


James Baker and William 

Perry discuss the deal's 

impact on U.S. foreign 

p-oI1cy. 


A' panel of experts examine 

the crisis from the Iraqi 

Rerspective. 


An exploration of.Rublic . 

JEFFREY KAYE: Evacuees stayed on Guam for five months while INS and §J!RPJUl for the use of force 

FBI agents investigated their applications for political asylum~ The vast in 'raq as compared to past 

majority ofrefugees were settled in America, but government investigators 

concluded that 25 didn't qualify for asylum. 

PAUL VIRTUE: The U.S. Government has had some concerns that because 

we had to evacuate people fairly quickly, without an opportunity to vet them 

overseas, as we mentioned, that people within the evacuee group might, in 

fact, have also been involved with the Iraq government and working on 

behalfofthe Iraqi government. 

JEFFREY KAYE: The 2.5 refugees were flown to 

California and placed in detention. After hearings, 

some eventually received asylum. Of.the six still 

detained in LA as security risks, two are doctors; 

three deserted the Iraqi military to join the 

opposition; and one fonner soldier, Safa Batat, 

says he was shot and bOlnbed by Saddam 

Hussein's troops, and poisoned by one ofhis agents. 

SAFA AL-BATAT: (speaking through interpreter) 

I've been fighting the Iraqi government since 1991. 

And the evidence Qfthat is apparent in my body- 

evidence, not words--traces ofthe bullets and 

shrapnel. An4 even now I suffer frolp the effect of 

Thallium, which is still present in my body._ 

Frustration from h'!ving classified evidence presented 

behind closed dOl;~S. 

-:J:~ •. ." ,....~;u. .,'..~~~(;::Aia . -'-., .,..;..~ ""'~JEI",FREYKAYE ~ .. .., : I' n ImmIgration . . court 

hearings held b~hind c!osed doors, the INS 

i)!~~~~~'~:=~~~}~'~~ 

.~. mr:i~~.Ji;'~~~~?1f~~ pl:esented claSSified eVld~nce and secret . 

~.,~ ~r.~iJ~J>~~~~)~~:~; t ~~ \Vltnesses. In March, the Judge ruled the men 

~ .;~~~~~:~f:ri:::~ .:!; "pose security risks to the United States." Her 

~)1j:~~'i~Vki1~($;f~ f~; ~~ public report cited inconsistencies in the men's 

~t\'=;:;:::=!~ !~1: sto~ies. A separate, 92-pa~e classified decision 

.J \,::.·.'~~t,;o·~~·~·,,,·.,;;':·'.;l·~rehe~ mostly on secret-evidence. The·men 

. testifie'd, but the' fact they couldn't respond to !he classified evidence agains~ 

conflicts. 


Regional commentators 

give local perspectives on 

the growing crisis with 

Iraq. 

January 14, 1998 

Iraq's U.N. Ambassador, 

Mizar Hamdoon, defends 

his country's actions. 


Amb. Butler discusses the 

latest disagreement With' 

Iraq. 

Online Forum: 

What's the be~t way to ~e~1 

with Iraq? 

November 13, 1997 

Newsmaker interview with 

Deputy PM Aziz who 

defends his country's 

expulsion of U.N. weapons 

inspectors. 


UN Ambassador Bill 

Richardson discusses the 

Security Council's vote to 

impose stricter sanctions 

on Iraq. 


pefense Sec. Cohen 

discusses the situation 

with Iraq. 

Browse the NewsHour's 

cov~:age ofthe Middle.

,.,.,. -r- 

oipine NewsHour:.Iraqis to be Senthe?•• May 4, 1998 

~ them fru~trated their lawyer, N~Ffenzen. 

NEILS·FRENZEN: If,sOlneone told us we suspect 

Mr. X ofbeing a foreign intelligence officer, or we 

suspect Mr. Y ofbeing a foreign intelligence agent, 

-we could respond to that perhaps by guessing. But 

nothing has been ruled ou't. We have simply had these- i- 

vague generalities ofnational security that have been ."~.... ..ra....aaIIlll 

directed in our direction, with no idea ofwhat the eviden~e is. And so our 

East and the United 

Nations. 

OUTSIDE LINK:S: 

The United Nations. 

- . 

Irag~ArabNet. 

case has been one ofguesswork... 'the use ofsecret eyidence in a situation 

where one's life Qepends on it, and where one's life depencJs on being able to respond to that secret 

evid~nce;there's no place for it in the American legal system. 

PAUL VIRTUE: I think we have to ptit1this in context. I think the use ofclassified 

infonnation in immigration court proceedings is very rare. We've usedli~ a couple of 

dozen tinles in the last two.years, during which immigration courts considered about 

four hun4red thousand cases, so we're talking a very minuscule percentage. 

Jl~FFREY KAVB: To get the classified evidenc~ in th.is case, the legal team brought 

fn R.. Jatnes Woolsey, the man on the left. As a former head ofthe CIA, Woolsey 

was privy to the nation'$ top secrets. rIe still holds a security clearance. In March, he came from 

Washington to meet with the Iraqis and to criticize the government he once served. 

R. James Woolsey: "This case at this point stands as really, I think a stain oli 

the honor of,the United States.II 

R. JAMES WOOLSEY~ This case at this poiptstands as really, I think a stain on the honor ofthe United 

States. 

JEFFREY KAYB: Woolsey signed on as the Iraqis' co-counsel, and filed a motion to obtain the classified 

evidence.. - 

R. JAMES WOOLSEY: I believe. whether it's me or someone else, that an attorney 

with security clearances, in order for fairness to be done, ought to be able to review 

this material on behalf ofthese men. Ifthe government doesn't,want to share the 

classified information \vith counsel who are cleared, it would be my very strong 

suspici~n it's because the governmenthas made some serious mistakes and has 

something to hide. - 

JEFFREY KAYB: Virtue says the INS has n~ intention ofproviding Woolsey with a classified document 

because his clients have no legal standing in this country. 

PAUL VIRTUE: These are people who are seeking admission to t4e United States..Essentially they're 

knocking at the door, asking for the United ~tates to protect them as refugees. The due process 

requirements are different for someone who has not been lawfj.tlly admitted to the United States. 

~'&~"~~~~~~::~.:l ~~?f.,s~~tJ~mR. JAME~ WOOLSEY: They were brought to Guam, a t~rrit9rial possession 

;.~: 3;~.:· ,~' ~,~. "n},~' ofthe United States, by the U.S. Government, and they were taken fro~ 

,~ r~\1.~' ,', • ~ , ~, Guam to California by the U.S~ Government. And $e INS is maintaining this 

.'.. legal position that they have not been admitted to the United States, so it 

~,;~~~:~~~~~:~.~:~~~~~~ won't have to grant them any procedur.al rights ofthe sort that an individual 

~,~~~~~ ...~~ does-·have ifhe's.been admitted bu! ~et:l ~~ i~ r~s~ ofbe~~g deported,: 

•• } "II! • II ;... - - ........ - - ...... 

Page 3 of5

OlJ1ine NewsHour: Iraqis to be Sent!he?-- May 4, J 998 0 Page 4 of5 

;\ JE~REY KAYE: The detainees say t!tey are victims ofmisunderstandings 

by INS investigators, as well as the,.factional in-fighting amo~g I~qi_s. D~. Adil Hadi Awac!h, Who joined 

tJIe oppositi~n in 1996, after deserting from a military hospital,says Saddam Hussein fostered a culitire of 

suspicion in order to undermine his foes. 

DR. ADIL HADI AWADH: We've been living among the~e accusations since a 

long time in Iraq. So it's a very ~xpected thing to be regarded as a traitor in Iraq 

simply because ofjust the revenge purposes. 

JEFFREY KAYE: The detainees say on Quam rivals unjustly fingered them. The 

.refugees included men once ousted from the opposition who denounced the 

detainees., according to MQhanuned Tuma, a deserter from the Iraqi army. 

MOHAMMED TUMf\: (speaking through interpreter) No doubt; they were trying to get back at those who 

expelled them from the opposition. And the responsible parties in Guam listened to them and~~didn't listen 

to us. And I don't know why. 

PAUL VIRTUE: I d011't believe that simply a disagreement or some problems between the factions would 

have led to this--would have led to people continuing to.be detained in this circumstance. 

JEFFREY KAYB: The decision was based on more substantive information? 

PAUL VIRTUE: I believe so, yes. 

~ ii' ';-$":" ~t~~~ · . . JEFFREY KAYE: But Virtue said he could not disclose that information. However, 

;~• '. ".. ~~ on~man with intimate knowledge ofthe Iraqi Qpposition says at least two ofthe 

~ ." mf~~~ detainees are who they claim to be. Warren Marik is a retired CIA case officer. In 

~tI

• • - 

f"~"""'~~"'" ..' 

.-' -- . - - - -. ,--;--------- 

i On}in,.e NewsHbur: Iraqis to be Senthe? -;- May '4, 1998 ~ 

I .~ agents o~ddam Hussein. They' are not agentS .of~dam Hussein. 

I 

JEFFREY KAYB:, Does that mean you can persoJially vouch for them? 

·Page SofS· 

AHMED CHALABI: 1 kJIO\V three ofthem personally., The three people who belong to thelNC, I mow 

them personally. 

A bleak future if th~ men are forced to return tQ Iraq. 

JEFFREY KAYE:. The detainees say ifforced backto I~q, they will be killed. 

MOHAMMpD AL-AMMARY.: (speaking through interpreter) Theverdict ofthe~·II'iI~.~ 

judge is a death ~entence. All that is left is for the verdict to be executed.in 

Baghdad. That's all that's left. 

JEFFREY KAYB: The INS says ifthe men are eventually deported, they could 

try to fin~ refuge in another country, besides Iraq. But in any event, both the 

government and .the Iraqis' lawYers expect a protracted legal battle over the use 

ofclassified evidence. 

.........-._------~----------------- 

honus IIQV.1JlOur index search forwn polilicahwap lette... eaays&dJalogu.s offcUlora 

~ 11.1C~vS~lO!!rJnde~ ,I ie~rchI forum Jpol!~ical wrap Ilette!S Iessays & dialoguesIoff.camera 

I 

I I 

1)- - 

ADM 

111e NewsHour is funded, in part, by: 

. ··~·' ~ 

... 

CiI 

-.·m 

• A ~.~ 

- I 

.. , - I 

.. ~' ~., t 

t' 

I! 

II 

Copyright © 2004 MacNeillLehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.

.~. 4 

~n.DteaJriirJg OfTehran 

http://deJphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/04033J1s20040331271511.html 

Q 

The Nation 

April 12, 2004 

Pg. 16 

ALL FBI INFOPMATION CONTAINED 



Still Dreaming OfTehran 

By Robert Dreyfuss and Laura Rozen 

The Bush Administration's hawks and their neoconservative allies atthe American Enterprise Institute 

(AEI) and The Weekly Standard are engaged in a high-risk and high-stakes effort to restore their fading 

power in Washington by pressing for a confrontation with Iran. It's no secret that the neocons' star has 

fallen since the war with Iraq. The intelligence scandal plaguing the White House and the ongoing crisis 

in Iraq itselfcan both be laid at their doorstep, and it's widely believed that President Bush's re-election 

team would deariy like to extricate the President from the Iraqi tar baby., 

But the neocons aren't giving up, and they are trying to pull the White House in even deeper. Not only are 

they undeterred by the chaos in Iraq, but they are pressing ahead to advance their regional strategy, one 

that calls for regime change in Iran, then Syria and Saudi Arabia. Says Chas Freeman, who served as US 

Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first GulfWar and a leading foe ofthe neocons, "It shows that 

they possess a level offanaticism, or depth ofconviction, that is truly awesome. There is no cognitive 

dissonance there." 

What makes the neocon strategy on Iran especially risky is that with Iraq teetering on the brink ofcivil 

war, neighboring Iran has significant clout inside Iraq, including ties to various Iraqi Shiite factions and a 

growing paramilitary and intelligence presence. IfIran chooses, it can help ease the daunting task that the 

United States faces in trying to put together a sovereign Iraqi government. But ifit seeks confrontation, it 

can help spark an anti-US revolt in southern Iraq, home to most ofIraq's Shiite majority. In that case., 

nearly all analysts agree, the American occupation could be overwhelmed. 

Leading the charge against Iran is AEI's Michael Ledeen, perhaps best known for setting in motion the 

US-Israeli arms deal with Iran in the mid-1980s that became known as Iran/contra. Supporting Ledeen's 

position are two other AEI fellows: Richard Perle, the ringleader ofthe neocons and a former member of 

the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, and David From, a Weekly Standard contributing editor and the 

former White House speechwriter who coined the phrase "axis ofevil." In their new book, An End to 

Evil, Perle and Frum call for a covert operation to "overthrow the terrorist mullahs ofIran." Speaking to 

retired US intelligence officers in McLean, Virginia, in January, Ledeen called Iran the "throbbing heart 

ofterrorism ll and urged the Bush Administration to support revolutionary change. "Tehran," he said, "is a 

city just waiting for us." 

Ledeen is viewed skeptically by many experts, including at the State Department and the Central 

Intelligence Agency. "Ledeen doesn't know anything about Iran," says Juan Cole, a professor at the 

University ofMichigan who is an expert on the Shiites ofIran and Iraq. "He doesn't speak Persian, and I 

believe he has never been there." But Ledeen does have connections in the Iranian exile community. For 

the past two years, he has maintained a relationship with Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian 

wheeler-dealer who worked closely with him in Iran/contra. Ledeen introduced Ghorbanifar to a key 

neoconservative official, Harold Rhode, a longtime Pentagon staffer who speaks Arabic, Farsi, Turkish 

10f3 

413012004 5:03 PM

e 

http://deJphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/04033I1s2004033127ISI1.html 

o 

and Hebrew and who until recently served in Iraq as a.liaison between the Defense Department and 

Ahmad Chalabi. Rhode and another Pentagonofficial, Larry Franklin, have been talking to Ghorbanifar 

about options for regime change in Tehran. "They were looking at getting introduced to alleged sources. 

inside Iran, who could give them some inside information on the struggles in Iran," said Vince 

Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief. Ghorbanifar, he said, was spinning tall tales about 

alleged (but unsubstantiated) transfers ofIraqi uranium to Iran's nuclear weapons program. 

Rhode and Franklin were critical players in the campaign for war against Iraq. In 2002 they helped 

organize the Pentagon's Office ofSpecial Plans, the Iraq war-planning unit whose intelligence staffers ar~ 

now under investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for allegedly manipulating 

evidence about Iraq's nonexistent weapons ofmass destruction and ties to terrorism. Both the OSP and 

the Rhode-Franklin effort on Iran were run out ofthe office ofDouglas Feith, the Under Secretary of 

. Defense for:Policy and a key neocon ally. Their initiative on Iran reportedly drew a sharp protest from 

the State Department. Newsday quoted a US official who said that the entire effort was designed to 

"antagonize Iran so that they get frustrated and then by their reactions harden US policy against them." 

There is widespread disagreement about both Iran's intentions in Iraq and the extent of i~ capability to 

cause mischief there. But there is a consensus that Iran can exercise significant power. Ithas close ties to 

the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose Badr Brigade paramilitary force ofabout 

10,000 was trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and to the forces ofMuqtada al-Sadr, a 30-year-old 

Shiite firebrand. "There are thousands ofIranian intelligence agents and operational agents inside Iraq 

today, and the border is completely op~n," says Amatzia Baram, an Israeli expert on Iraq. 

So far, analysts say, Iran has chosen to playa waiting game. Ken Katzman ofthe Congressional Research 

Service says that Iran "views its interest to play it low-key, to keep a low profile'and continue to promote 

a cohesive Shiite bloc in Iraq in order to be in a position to become dominant once the United States 

leaves." 

The "realists!' inside the Bush Administration, led by Secretary ofState Colin Powell and Coalition 

Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer in Iraq, are well aware that Iran could deal a fatal blow to the 

already faltering US efforts. Partly as a result, they've engaged in·a quiet dialogue with Tehran. 

According to the Financial Times, last May Iran offered a "road map" for normalizing US-Iranian 

relations. Since then, Powell and his allies have sent assistance after the devastating earthquake in 

southeast Iran, and offered to send a delegation led by Senator Elizabeth Dole. They've also supported 

efforts by Germany, France and Britain to work a deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. 

(Germany's intelligence service also brokered a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah, which 

is close to Iran.) But oflate, some ofthose conciliatory efforts have stalled. A planned Congressional 

staffdelegation to Tehran, the first since the rise ofAyatollah Khomeini's regime in 1979, was canceled 

by the Iranians, according to the office ofSenator Arlen Specter, whose staffwas to participate. And after 

the·initial harmony, signs are emerging ofa serious split between Washington and Europe over Iran's 

nuclear program, with echoes ofthe US-Europe split over Iraqi WMD. 

How the differing approaches--the neocons' war cries and the realists' more conciliatory strategy-·are 

viewed by Iran's leadership is anybody's guess. But there are at least several factors that might push the 

Iranian ruling elite in the direction ofthe confrontation the neocons want. First, the hard-line clergy are in 

the midst ofa crisis with the so-called reformists. In the past, the mullahs have used anti-US rhetoric, and 

even militant actions, to trump liberal and reformist rivals. Second, while Iran welcomes the rise of 

Shiite power in Iraq, it is at the same time uneasy about losing influence to the mullahs in Najafand 

Karbala. According to several experts on Shiism, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is now the leading 

Shiite cleric in the wod.d, whi

-l§tlu D~iRg OfTehran 

e 

http://delphi.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/0403311s20040331271S11.html 

o 

..t' 

has foiled US policy in Iraq by insisting on direct elections,.he has refusea to denounce the US 

occupation and may cooperate with a UN-brokered compromise for creating an Iraqi government. 

IISistani is a double-edged sword for Iran," says Juan Cole. And third, there is the Bush factor. Some 

neoconservative strategists argue that Iran will act decisively in order to prevent Bush from being 

re-elected. R~Ymond Tanter, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think 

tank, predicts, IIThey are going to launch a political-military campaign in an effort to defeat President 

Bush, because they believe that ifBush is re-elected, he will do to them what he did to Iraq." 

It's unclear that Iran would risk a confrontation with the United States in Iraq even ifthe mullahs do 

believe that they are next on Bush's invasion list. But the mullahs are famous for misunderstanding US 

politics, just as Americans have failed repeatedly to understand Iran's. 

In a way, the neocons' Iran project is very similar to the early phase ofthe~r Iraq one. It includes a steady 

drumbeat ofthreats and warnings, Washington lobbying, a media offensive and support for exile 

groups--in Iran's case a mishmash that combines supporters ofKhomeini's grandson; Reza Pahlavi, the 

son ofthe fallen Shah,and the Iranian monarchists; and the Mujaheddin e-Khalq (MEK), a 3,800-strong 

exile force based in Iraq. In one ofthe strangest events ever to occur at a Washington think tank, last 

September Khomeini's grandson--dressed in rough-hewn black and brown robes and crowned by a 

turban, with dark brooding eyes like his grandfather's--took the podium at AEI, introduced by Michael 

Ledeen, to call for US assistance to overthrow the Iranian government. He even welcomed an alliance 

with the Pahlavi monarchists. 

Many analysts view the prospects ofa Pahlavi-Khomeini-MEK alliance with exceeding skepticism. And 

they note that the neocons, having bungled Iraq, don't have a lot ofcredibility left on Middle East policy. 

But it,would be wrong to count them out. A former CIA officer, who took part in the debate over Iraq 

policy in the 1990s recalls how the neocons.ultimately prevailed. liThe neocons had this idea ofworking 

with the Iraqi opposition to arm and train them and to overthrow Saddam Husseili, and people like me 

said, 'That is really stupid,'" he says. "But you get people to think about it, you get the President engaged, 

then options expand and then when opportunities come along, you seize them. That's what they did. They 

got people to buy in. Before September 11, people told them, 'It's never going to happen.' Come 

September 12, the rules changed. tt An explosion in Iraq, and some Iranian mischiefthere, and the rules 

could change again. 

Robert Dreyfuss is a contributing editor o/The Nation. Laura Rozen is ajournalist who covers national 

security issuesfrom Washington. 

.30f3 413012004 5:03PM

NO. iSS 

ALL INFOP~TION CO~rrAINED 


o o 

l- _, ••• II' 

• DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc ba1IT/seb/1sg ..4 . 

~Vlr ''\tiMtdi'" q""~~~':~"I:d~"..:.d!,"~I4~"::':' .. :~..:to.Itt:'''::':'''.-a.:::''.::, •• .A.I.~':'::':: .. '!":.t:~JiIr:. ...,..·J.A,..1.\~~:a.""lbiiiiM~~diiJIl_""'. 

J:)OCtJMlDrl IDa an2142""S 

, DOCS'f1 - ~ 

LANtmAfD I DcaLISB 

VENDOK. 

J)%ALOCI 

»tmN»mz ..~C 

OR%CJDATJh 20010112' 

POBLISBR I acwr II. S'l'AltL1l'1'cm 

7:ELBNOI· 4' 

A'CTHOR I late, eli j •. 

DORa 30030.1. 

'I'ORa" 124.128 

cr..ua I 'D!raLMs:rnBD , 

'l'X'l'LB. 

Pew Good MoD - The sGuell !O2:' SY%'ian l:tberala. 

TOPL:DTSS. 

B11 a. Lake 1. tba State 1)epartll\e2).t a02:r.8p~t 

for 'tn'dte4 pre•• 

mt.a=at10Zla1. 

'l'BX'r1 

311 a. Iaak. 1•.tha Stat. Deputment co~resp~nclent fo): tJnited pl'eS8 

XDcenat.lou1. 

It ••emae! like a match mada in Deocon heaven. L... than ODe weeJc 

aftu t:h.e 'Dnitecl Statell aoouse4 syz:ia' of allowing' tenoJ:1sts to enter :tra; 

an4 Sadd•• Hussein'.~ b.enalmlen .to leave- it, ••1:£4 Gba4¥y informally 

UDve11ecl hi. l.efozm Jlazoty of Syxola. H. uae4 the ocsClulcm of. the American 

BDtazprla. tDatitute l ••aa0n4 co lase. weekly briefing on x~aq~ ~a 8~ie8 

tha .illllt:i.t:uee o=tgazUlle4 to ·ooinoide with the- wu--to go public- with hi. 

oppo8it1ozs .£fO:l:t8. Ghac!zy--who plans to azmcnmce a Syzoima gove=ment in 

exil. iD the aonWIS mcmthll·-asJc.ec1 thea panel o~ WaabiDgt= -hawks', from the 

auc1i8Da~, th8 ,quG.tion on 8VeryOl1e" m.1D41 'WhAt about zoeg1ma ~e foZ" 

Sp1a'· 

Ghacl:ry'. t!.m!.Dg va. poe!. ~ weak befor., Se=etazy of Defens. 

!)cmalcll.wufe1cl JW:l aeDt ~. W12.1te HoUse a "Roacl Map for BYz'ian_-~ a 

do_. lUValy pmitlve pol1ay opt1cm8 8pun:ec1 ))y the :PeDt:agoft.'. assessment. 

-that .a.m~1:'iean .olcti.e~. we~e enc!aDgerG4 :by SY%'ials open-J.:)o:4e: policy 

d1u"1rlg the wax". Thea -memoI. pxoposal., Tha Mew Reptml1a has lea=ed, 

inCludadoc:1dJ:ig Ul~ai:r:cZ'a£t cU:l:i.i: within Syrian tU~itoria1 waterSl, 

ua!ng prox1.. t.o ·unde!:mi216 Sy2iian ,intel-ligenc:a agata wide L~, 

inte%'diot1ng' :l:rwan fligbt. to Helllbollah p08itiOl18 .in LebanoD, &Dc! 

.enclinsr AIne!.CWlforGes ove~ the sYz':l.m boZ'cler in llhot p=,uit n or: .enio%' 

I~aq1 off~aia.1•• MeanWh11e, CongJ:8SSl waa aeveloping a set of new ,8nClcioft8 

agaiDat J)ama8ou.a that were tougher than the limited -J:)anl on weapons and 

othor item. ~ UDited States has al%8&4? pa88a4. COUld ~a be a better 

moment foZ' the SyziaD Ahmec1 Cbalabl to emeqe? 

-pufo,.-tunat:*ly, :!~g _ 

libU'al cIi••ic1eAt. with a base of 8UPPO~t 1D sy¥1a makes ·finc:1inS ,1ibG1:'al 

4l&J8ic1cmt. wlth a bas. of aup»o:tt in x:raq looJc .ally. The S?rian oPpo81ti= 

1- OY.ftl1a~lypopulated by fundamentalist••- And Syr1u l~aral. have 

Virtually DO public p:r:o~ile outslcle of ,Wash!.ll51ton. 

The .iml1arit1e. 

betw8eA GhaQry and ChalaJ)l; ·Qo..foundu of! the I2:aqt Matlcmal Cong1:8SJI, 

seem .t~iJd.nS. Ghad%y, like Chalab1, baa hac! his sbare of bad. clays in 

buSi!1e.8. Whi-1. Chalabi fled .1'o:t:dan·:I.D. 1981 afteJ: Petra Bank, Which he set 

"'PI oollap&Jec1 -amidst. a11egat:LoIJ:8 of :fi~a:la1 f~auc1" OhaQ:r:y. owne.d 

Hamubal _, Cof~.a 

' 

Co., a chain of Ama~laan Goffe. .hops that: wen1: })azikX'UPt 

in 1196. LiJca Chalabi, Ghadzoy walk•.and-· talks the languaseof :Libe~al 

damoc:Z'acy. Hi. pazotY',8 .website boa.sts paperl on refomins s?:ria'SI 

1 

• _I 

I 

!

'\ 

o 

NO. iSS PI3 

omm.pz-.a.t .OCNZi~y ••mcee, wb!cb U'••imtlU :lD acme :l:e~peGt. to 

%%'aq'l f~ Baath luty a~atWl, and on 8steb118hing ~epJ:eaentative 

sr~~•.TM ..foal Pa~ty of Syria haa even ckafte4 & modal 

ccmatlt\ltloD tMt: would .8:=iu no~ cm1y "81a zoight:8 of apeach, 

u.embly. life, aDd pzocpezty but allo lnOJ:le i4ea1!st:La goal', suah as a 

pol1utiOA-fZ'.. ttIl'ri=mnent, fa12: la]:)o~ practice.,. uel aesc... to health 

cu.. Gbacby allO aupport. peace with %8rael. "Why 40 ~ have to be 

e ••• with QUI' lSeighbcZ'?1I he uu, admitt.ing that he :baa ~een impt'a,uIK 

:by :t8:r..l'. UIIIO':&CSY' ADd viJ=ant. a1vil "oaiety on business visits to the 

countzy. CIbacIzy, aaccmJ..hingly enough, i. eYeD • merabu of the AmeZ'icaD 

%axaal ~:Lia At~a1r. Committe•• 

Oth~ anti-gOYUllUDt axila. bav." 

.taRed to amuga .. well. on Ap~il 24, 120 Syrian exiles of all 

" ideologiG&l .t~1p••, ranging' iZ'om c:ommUDiata to Alaw1te :bus:LDesuJmeD, 

sa:Lgned. an open lett.Z' in Al-Hayat, a leading ~ab new8pape~ puhl1shed. :I.D 

LcmdcD, to Baabu' Assaad, Gall1q cm.h11ll 1:0 allow exiled. dissident. to 

ntum to tu CQUUC2:Y. to aboli8h m11itaxy-t~. oo=ta, and to c!ismaJltle 

put of tU atat..'. s.c:n.u:ity ••:rIie... "'rhea Iraqi wazo p:a:ovad thea 8ocw:1ty 

.uvio.. aazmot defend the .tnd.eptmdanaa, aovU'e:L91'tyt ancl cUgD1ty 0:1: 

~i.,a 

~ 1.tt.~aa!4. 

~~. _I". limited. .:Lgna that ~.~o:a:met'. -.y ~ 

SZ'owiDg :boJ.daz within 8~ia u well. ':r:10zo 1:0 • ol"ackc!cwn in II\1d-2001 

agaiut. aivil .ooiety o:r:ganizat:Lcmll, Sy:aiaD8 ba4 bea ~oming!.mall gZ'oups 

. that opeD1y c:U..c:wlluad polit:1a., pJ:eviously a ~u. oo~eno•• Some of that. 

fum&Dt remaw. In &.%'&2:8 interview last mcmth with SyZ'ian ~afo=a:. in 

Damuwa, Haticma1 Iublia Ra41o'. JCa.t.8 Seelye found sevexal people tdll:l.ng 

to publicly .peale cut against the political zoep:a:ession pez:vadinSJ the 

ClO1mt::ry. 

But, 4e8pita tb1. miner thaw, J\meZ'iaaa. of:!1a!a111 axe deeply 

pessimistic that 8~ia acmtaizul t:ha type of leade the tm1tacS State. :I.. 

lookinS' fo~••We have done lloth1ng eo tJUltivat. Or enaow:age •• , 

cppoait:Lcm (to Sy~1.'8 :reg:Lme) e1theZ' abroac!oZ' 1zl the count:y, a ,ay. ODe 

pentas= o!fioial. AocozocSiJlg to 21raDk J\ndeX'SOD., the CD,'. fome Hea%' BaIt 

D:f.vi.:L= CIhi.f, the DD:Lted atat•• -thought: about GbaDging' gova=manta 1A 

%Z'aD., %J:aq, aDd Libya, wt in SY2='ia we d.ea:l.da4 that ~ of the opt:Lona 

wa~a more .t.I:~aat1ve than the inCN!l\1)ent.8.· Xn faot, seve:ral :Am8:riGaD 

off1a1a1. Jcnowled;eable ahou~ Syria lIay that Assad'.. moat liberal 

OPPOlUmt. haw DO J:ea1 pol:Lt:Lcal J)aakiDg. 'or Syzo1m l~eZ'al. to cZ'eate 

Itany meazUDgfuJ. poltt:Laal opposition 1,. ridiaulO\l', I say. a !OI'meZO 

AmuicaA ambassador to· Syria. After dec:ac:1es of being closely l:LDked. to 

Leb&nCZl, aay Am.ex'iclA official., many Sy~:l.a.D8 have coma to associate 

pxo-W••te= l:U:leal. with Leban••• Ch:I:;f.at;L8I18, who mq.y SY~UDa :blame foZ' 

oppressing **lim. !D LeJ)anou anc! for b.~ evpporta4 by :r.rael. 

aaaotDi.iq the 8~iaJl libeZ'al.' lack of • POWU" base, llumsteld.'. policy 

memo c1id not advoaat•••ekiDs' out. Sy:iaD exile. and. diSlideDt. for an 

OPP08:l.t1= lDO'VamaDt, a. the PeDtagOD did :I.D the Wa..t BaDJc aDd. Ciaza aft.xcba 

p~e.i4ent'. apaedh la.~ ~ Galling fo~ & newPaleatiDian lea4eZ'.bip. 

HOJ: did .'!Jft\.fll1c1' a plu aet a81~ l\JDc!.iq fo~ cSi••idtmt.. w:Lda Sy:a:ia, .a 

Jl'entagOll oiriliaDa advocate fOX' the intemal opponents of Iran'. W1:LDg' 

mullaha. , 

Ghacb:y :LlluatZ'at.. tha point. His oZ'gaDizat:LOD. i8 ODly now 

g8t.t!ng of! Ue g:round. ADcl a Syr:Lan who belong.. to em. of %8X'.el" ma:J.n 

lobby:I.Dg 9:a:ouP. i. DOt exactly a st%'ODS polit1cal candidate in a aount2:Y 

that :remain. 011. of the most: ~ab:Lc!1y anti-:l:8~ael in the zoegi=. At Ghadty 

himself admit., -'1'M S;v:c'ian8 are not ready foZ' someone who WaDt. to make 

peaoe with I.rae1.· 

A.,ad', moat. powerful opponct, admit. one en 

Jage 2

MAR~24'.2004 

2:2aPM 

P.4 

\ 

0, tDTaLUI:E.:EBD 

Th.e 

apo... fa:r:mezo Assistant Secretary of Hear Bastem .u:ail:. 

ecmaultmt with extaaiva ~wlec!gG of Syx"ia, ia the tbeoaJ:'atia M\Jlll:1.m 

B~ot.hu~. ''&8 cmly' oppos1t:1on J: know 01: 1n 'p:La i8 t~ MWl1im 

B~o~hood,· 

Iclwuel Walke. %Ddee4, aaco~cU.Z1g' to Youssef M. %brahim, a fOnl8Z Middle 

IUt Ipa1a11at at the caunail = raza:l.gn :ae1ati0D8, Aslsacl baa ·g:a:cwn so . 

f.~ful o! tU D'otheJ:h004'1I ah111¢Y to, 8P~ ~ad:Laa1 Xslam that he hag 

;begun uJciDg tpMohe. 4en1gratizlg nl!giou8 extremism.aa4. ohast:Lsing' 

:r.lam:L.t-iAfl1aC011d mec1iaal _....-- 

.ohoola fo:r: mixin£l science and. ::t.lam. 

B:r:otba:r:hoocl--wh:Lch AaaadI8 :eathe:r:, Hafel, banned.... 08 cough ah&rac:t82:8. 

III. 1112, 1:Ile1~ Sy2:ian b~antJh laUlltJhed a bloody :LDtifada,against tb.8 %'egtma 

that 1nolw!84 :r:ULC!OlIlly usuabatiDglQGmbo%'& of the nlill9' Alita. ·What'_ 

mo:r:., they chum out. a ataa4y atme of anti-, 18:r:ae1 and anti-U'-S. 

:r:hato:ria. JIveD wo:c••, Newsweek bae reported. that Ame:r:icaD aDd. German 

inv••t:Lgato:r:. kaaliava that: ~embe:r:. 

of the S~ian MIl.lim B%othe~boo4playad 

o:r:it::Loal rolu ill ,uppoJ:t:Lng anc! :reezuit:1ng the HambUX'S'~baBec1 lea4ers ot! 

the A1 aa.s& cell. that. CU't'ied cut th8 Septembezo 11 attaaka. 

roJ:' the . 

t:Lme be:LDg, Buh .ami ai .t=at:1cm hawJc8 W&ft1: eo !~1:heZ' :l.801at:. Aallaa mel 

thWlp~••aw:a him to ahange. '.t'hey b.liaw tbi. pr•••u.re will, lead mo1:e 

SyzoiAZl. di••idlme. 1:0·acme out o~ t~ woodwozk. seoretuy of state COlin 

lowell'. raCl*4t Yi.it to Damascue may uncie:r:i1co:r:e tb1. strategyl By 

infomilll b:Lm that the United States could tum the scr:ewa em. Sy:ia, 

lowell off.at! Aggad,. like Yui2: ~a!at: beF02:8 last. JUne'" ..peach, a final 

oppoZ'~UDity to ahcge. trl1fo~tuna.tely, i£ AsSac! 40.8. not aome U'oun4, 

wulUngton JhI¥ di8coveJ: :Lt aannot 'f:Lnd UyODe .it. likes to J:eplace him. 

.'.~ 

..,'".... ', 

. 

.... '., .. ~. , 

(COp~ight. :2003, 'I'M Hew Republ:Lo) 

_ tDTCLASSZJI%ID_

, .., -~-,,--"-.. -,...,..-"."..~ ..-."-.,,.-,----:-;---;- - ~. ----,-.-.-,.-.---:::---:-- 

MAR~24:2e04 ,2:21PM 

I" ... "'" ......... .. .~" .. 

\ 

~o~_mi 

J)OCSTI 

LMlGUAGB. 

vmmoI.i 

JtmNAMBI 

Olu:GnA'1'B I 

PtJBLISHR. 

PtlBHO,' 

'Ita3NO. 

AlJ'l'HOR.: . 

DOll. 

'l'OR.: 

CLASS. 

~'a 

TOJL%NBli 

can'i'1'7C23 

~ 

.DGL%8B 

DDS I < 

1f..~ ~:I.ma. 

1••":1.215 

)J.w.'wo~ic! 

•• -rHJI DSHDlCll'ml TIMB8 

2.••'111' 

210300' ._ 

mtCLU8:t1'%BD 

'u~.CIJwbP 

,a, . cemmunloat1on., - ..' Ina. 

~- .. ," 

QCCUPA~~' 

i'J:8Ii1i4iaDt u.s ,o~~, ·Ccmpas.-Id.ddta ·B~t· Wi~e 

~an'iaa 

BD'l'HDAY 

oc:CtJPA~OX 

:PJ:••!~t ad .~~, Compail."Nic:1ch•.But w~~. 

BD.'1'BDAY 

a.m. 18, 1'541 

HOMB1'OW!I 

S~ce 

W~~g~, 

D•.~. 

~~.IJ'1UU' 

~~ecl" f~' oh!lc1ru 

S~V-PoR~ 

'1'h~e .more ~lleniilig ~e ~p1), the bett.~. the pel'i~2:IW1C:8 

.MO'rTO 

The~.k¥'. ~.l1m£t· 

.. ~ ... 

~ Mrr'1'I' :r~u~. 

1l4C!iq in an. :r1. GO" 

:tNs:p.IiA'r~oar 

, 

tY""'~.-:a. . 

.... - ... ,. ... I -.... -... 

~ mtOz.u8:r:'XB· ...._ ... I .. ",..~~ _ ... JI ....~ 

- ,..., ..... 

»al~ _ .... ~~~ ~ 1 

~... - '- .. ..... - ~ - - - - -... ~ + - 

~- "'-"" - - ...... - ........ __ ... __ .......... ..... -. __ __

, 

, " 

------... 

.P~6 

.No'.·155' 

. ," 

Mali. ~t2l, ~ fatbaz' .of! caplt.Ai·:L~, a=.,~:L g'Z'QAt.-P!i~l. wha haye iG~t. 

• oma~ f= b'mlnity. ' . 

,... Va-. ~..... 

_TlST nai'- 

SUPPORiq ~. ~~n,'9'e in a\1a_i& aDd 'Clie pOeI' in W~h1llgt~" . 

,JW) DeI'll 

. ~ 

• 

Ca= ~t '!~:I.~ the .•ama m1~take.. 

tw;l.cse 

Pm- PUVJI8 

C:Lguette emote 

HoDY 

Cu, raatng ~ apOl:t c(ara 

LumRY:":DlrDnm 

, 

'b.o~; yo~ lW~ticuS' 

~1tDnc'Oll'WD1'B 

Petru. 11.~,. capp~aino 

rAWR%'l'I :JUI8~ 

AUX' :B~u.x .~. 

~~%PR ~IO'I 

':tUl _. Y 

cummrCJ I~.· 

G!02:S':Lo~.~. 

'1!Vn6G~ 

............ ~ ..~ ,., '''A·'' "',. : 

." 

1Satu. .i:~Jlsr'G· 

CA!l :at GAR..vA1 

1"2 Ne2:cadea 

·DCHe~.1I 

~ 

BOOKS: A'1J Bl:D8ml 

ul!J:ualc .Jaaa, BlaCJlc. H~t~ ~y ~':'H1ng Chu 

LU'1' WOR!)S 

ac:a~t"li~ 

mwtt .live.· 

ClRAl'HIC i %lluat?~~tiOD, 110, '~OH 

_.. _-... ................ _...).~. 

- 

_.- 

-...- ~-~~'!..~- ~- ......- -- ........

, . 

MAR. 24. 2004 

2:22PM 

o 

NO.1~ t'. ( 

l 

• 

. . ,., "~. ,.-. 

- --

, i 

i 

f 

I \; 

I 

.;:0. 

..-~ .n.~ Uriit~d StateS and '8hi'ite 

R~ligious Fa~tipns.in Post-Ba'thi~tIraq 

.'" 

Juan Cole 

.I 

; 

! 

I,};. 

.j~ 

I 

... 

I i 

, t 

! ... 

t 

~ 

I .' 

t iO.... 

j 

• I 

.:btl 

f 

''No 

fthe 

,.:~ 

,~ 

f.!. 

N' r f 

} 

ṭ 

I 

"~" 

r 

-, - 

:'1~ Po.~t-s"addam llusayn Iraq, Sm'l,e mqiti?z$ r..apidly e!tablished theirauthori.ty 

,i~ Eas(Baghdt¢andother urban neighb.or1)oo(Jsa/thesouth. Among the. various 

Ill"" .... ,. '\. ......- 

'Hgroups which emerged, the Sadr Movement staritlS'out-as militantandcohesive• 

:?The'sectarian, anti-American Salirists wislz,td u;,pose apuritanical, Khoniein.'ist 

':~~~if,n oli Iraq. :Their P?iitico..(influ~~~is potentially much gre~te~ th4n their' 

,.';21wuiers.lncorporaiing them'into ademocratic Iraq while ensuringt1UJt they do 

'Y:~iconi~ todoinidate it'posis.tQ severe chailenge to the US Administration. 

... t' ;~. .. - ·1 • " • : I -. .. 'f.... ~.,'" 

vh:(; . " .~ '. • 

~E~t~~in,.~~ w~ ~~.. ~q~~t!l~·.A~~ri~;~fense 

Dep~~n~. ~d'in!elligeJl~ 

orgaq~~9~~ ap~a(tp-~~V~~! ~n~~~~!Jia~~JJ.~o!ls ofIraqi~~~:ite~ ha(Uoir~ a" 

militant"and' "iJritanicaI 'movemenf~Cieajcaiea~ to' the.eStablishment"of·an mm-st Ie 

Isl~~;R~' ~~1i&~iii iia~~~~~veri ~ih~J8)1~di~~d~v~io"iii~~ts bad been detaiieJ in fu~ . 

~bi~ianPualle'books~a,~6'le~ioh~rir~#~ 

~'tf"f'r'¥_.g g.,. ", 

!~&~i2003':'De~ U Sec~(t . oftit. 

4'....: .. "'~......,. ,,"·.... ~.,I' ~ ~~.. ~.-.. ~.... ,...~ !.....P ty -. ~ 

fense Paul Wolfowitz:' ~e aiiJiiieiView on:.Nanoiiai PUblic.RadiO in which he main- 

'.....~...~ •••.,t.... . , • ~ ;,,' .., ';. ." ::y..~~. -,' ..-":-"'~tU....il ' '. • • - • /_ 

~~~.»i~t ''!I1e.Iia~i~,~":~ ~~by.~~',~~guJ~~,s~jJ!~.~ey ~ ~~~be~rigl~ 

SI]!;~!,1}fchIS dlffe~n! fro~ the W8hapls :9ft#!~,pe~n~ula, and they,dc;m't bnng the 

se,nsi(~ii of h.aving' ~e· hoJy ~ities of.Isl~·¥ing.9,n .their te¢tofy~'1 Even more 

di~rniIY:'this quote sh~w~ thatWOlfoWiJ;qid hot realize.that religious Iraqi Shi'ites 

• are~tl;mely sensitive about foreigners in the~shrine cities such as Najafand Karbala, 

Ju: uJ s:"", "'f .. ... ... ~~ , "'''. ~ ,. .. • ~ 

0f~ ~a!...thc!s~ citi~s are,religious power ~nters ofgreat symbolic potenC?y.· 

~.~:~.•}lS pefense. Dep~e.!1t leaders such as ~ecretaJ:Y 

ofDefense Dona!d Rumsfel~ 

aR!!Jus. ~~pu~es, W~lfo~tz ~d·Douglas F~itbt mistalCeq!y thought that ~e rnUJdle 

and lower strata of.the:Bafth bureauCla9'. wHee, and army w0!11d .smyive the war, 

and'that they.c'ould·simply~~hand it over to secular expatriate-figure i\hmad'ChaJabl 

and hIS Iraqi NatiQ~~

I 

I 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED 

, 1"'""'----; ~__DA:_-,,! 7-29-l:.010 B 60324 uc Vab/lSg 

,selrch Wit~in Results: I I ~ 

~ HEREIN IS TlNCLASSIFIED 

Docuinent Results . 0 TE 0 '") Y ~ 

Page"! of2 

Edit Search I New Search 

- 'fdnt I DoWnload. 

View: J.jSt I Full < ~ Document 2 of 4 ~ > 

:..w Tag for Print & Download 

r 


i3l!Ii&Il 

Copyright 2003 U.P.1. 

United Press International 

April 8, 2003 Tuesday 

HEAOLJ;NE: Senator asks $50M to aid Iran dissidents 

-' 

BVLINE: By MARK BENJAMIN AND ELI LAKE 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, AprilS (UPI) 

BODY: 

A leading member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to introduce legislation Wednesday authorizing $50 

million a year to aid democratic activists inside Iran seeking a peaceful end to that country's regime. . 

A copy of an amendment to be offered by Sen. Sam Brownback, R,:,Kansas, obtained by ~nited Press International, says, 

lilt shall be the policy of the United States to support efforts to achieve democratic reform inside I~ari, including support 

for the thousands of protesteJ1> who have expressed a desire for the government to, hold a referendum vote that could 

permit Iran to move toward a secular, democratic government that resp.ects human ,rights and dC?es not seek to possess 

weapons of mass destruction.n 

The senator plans to attach the legislation to a bill authorizing next year's foreign assistance budget for the State 

Department. .' • 

Andy Fisher, a spokesman for Senate Foreign Relations Com'mittee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said Lugar suppo~ 

efforts to establish a friendly democracy in Iran. It is unclear if Lugar supports the.proposal. 

"There is an opportunity in,Iran to make some differences and take advantage of dramatic demographic shifts hi the 

country," Fisher said. 

A spokeswoman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee told UPI her organization supports the amendment. 

The move comes at a critical moment in U.S. relations with the Islamic world. President Bush in his 2002 State of the 

Union address identified Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, as- part of an "axis of evil!' 

As the United States moves to mop up r~sistance in Baghdad, the Bush administration is hoping to confront ~he twin 

challenges of Installing a new government there ~nd convlnclng,the Islamic wo~rld the invasion of Iraq does not signal a 

new e'ra of American occupation In the region. . 

I:-ast month, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld threatened to treat Iranian proxies that moved. Into Iraq as ~nemy 

corr-bataQts in pperati~n, Iraqi Freedom. ,On March 24, U.S. intelligence issued a report detailing minutes of the Islamic 

RepUblic's National Security Council where the leaderShip of the country decided on a strategy to send in irregular 

fighting units to five large Iraqi cities. 

In Iranian local elections earlier this year, few Persians took to the polls, with voter turnout in the single'digits. Iranian 

stude'nts, union workers and intellectuals have intermittently over the past year taken to the streets in the capital and 

large cities demanding a political referendum on the current regime. 

While Iranians are allowed to vote for the president, they may not elect the country's supreme leader who'oversees 

Iran's militC!ry and'security services and appoints religious clerics as judges for the courts. 

Under Brownback's proposed legislation, the State ,Department would allocate $~O million annually to an Iran 

Democra~foundati9tl. T~ p_u.rpose of the fo~ndati~n ~s t~ support "pr~·democracy broadcasting to Iran,II such as the 

satellite television and radio stations b~sed irf~os Angeles'that many Iranians watch and~listen to already;~suppor:t: 

training for the"If~uiian;;Americ~ncommunity to,reach out to:Iranian dissidents; and fund h~m~n rights ~,I}~ ~iVii soc!eo/

- I'".. .' 

Do~Q.m~nt Results. 

g{o~P.$ ~orking'i11s{de Ir:an. 

'0 

The proposal Is very sfmTiar to'ideas pro'posed iast'June by Pen.tagon staffers In the~Bush 

review discus~lons.·But c:onsensus was never reache,d ins.i~e the QQvernment. 

administration's Iran policy' 

The amend~ent does not c~1I for regime change'per..se, but It.does state, "Del1locratic change within Iran ~ould . 

contribute greatly to Increasing the stability of the entire region and would serve as a beacon to·the p'eople of Iraq and 

Saudi Arabia to als~ seek der'!'l0cratic reform from within." . . 

This language hi the amendr:nent is very sim!lar to the'Iraq Liberation Act, ~hi.ch Congress, pa~sed in 1998. That 

legislation first enshrined regime change as' an .open policy goal for. the UniteCi States in Iraq.· Sen. Brownback was an 

early supporter and a~thor of the legislation. ~ . . 

LOAD-DATE: April 9, 2003 

Vlew:-.L§.t .I. Full < Rrev Document 2 of 4 !l!tltt. > 

Edit Search f New Search 

.' ~ I pownload 

About lexisNexis I Terms and Condjtions I PrivaCy policY 

.Co~yright 2~04 Lexis~exls, acllvision"of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved• 

...... _.......- ............. - 

. 

.... _.,.. ..... _oT _ 

- .,,- ... -- .~ - ... -- - ---~ ,.- -........-. -

C?S News., C~labi Tipped Iran To Cf1f Break IJune 1, 2004 21 :39:57 0 

Page 1 of2 

.. Ghalabl Tipped Iran To C'o1le Break ALL INFORHATION CONTAHIED 

' . .t_ . " HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

. June 1, 2004 DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

(CBS/AP) CBS News has learned new 

details involving the Iran espionage 

~ U.S. Intel Passed To Iran? allegations against Ahmad Chalabi, the 

Iraqi exile leader who was one touted 

as a possible president to lead Iraq in 

thepost-Saddam transition. 

" 

On May 20, Iraqi police backed by 

American soldiers raided the Baghdad 

home and offices of Chalabi. Chalabi is 

a controversial figure who provided the 

Bush administration with prewar 

intelligence on supposed weapons of 

mass destruction in Iraq - including the 

(Photo: CBSJAP) 

now-discredited information about 

mobile labs whose true use is still a 

matter of debate. 

After the raid, 60 Minutes 

Correspondent Lesley Stahl reported 

that the U.S. had evidence Chalabi has 

been passing highly-classified U.S. 

intelligence to Iran. 

Ahmad Chalabi displays a family 

photo he says was smashed during 

the May 20 raid on his 

home. (Photo: AP) 

CBS News has since leamed that 

Chalabi recently told an Iranian 

intelligence official the U.S. has 

cracked Iranian codes, allowing it to 

read communications on everything 

from Iran's sponsorship of terrorists to 

its covert operations inside Iraq 

CBS has also been told FBI agents are 

questioning Defense Department 

officials about who gave such top 

secret U.S. information to Chalabi in 

the first place. 

U.S. troops outside Chalabi's home 

during May 20 raid. (Photo: AP) 

Stories: 

• The Latest 

Interactives: 

• Hostages Held 

- Fallen Heroes 

• WMD Fallout 

- Daily Photos 

Attacks Map: 

-The Postwar Insurgency 

Videos: 

Chalabi is still active and visible on the 

scene in Iraq where he is a member of 

the handpicked Iraqi Governing 

Council. 

Over the Memorial Day weekel)d, 

Chalabi was reportedly involved in 

negotiations to maintain a falter cease 

fire in the city of Kufa-between U.S. 

military and radical Shiite cleric 

Muqtada al-Sadr. Chalabi and other 

Shiite leaders met with al-Sadr 

,representatives and declared there was 

"a momentum for peace." 

But Chalabi's star has definitely fallen 

in U.S. eyes. Despite his seat on the 

Iraqi Governing Council. it seems the 

Bush. administration is going out of its 

way to ensure that the man who made 

a career lobbying.to get rid of former 

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has 

no American-backed political future in 

Iraq. 

Other tense situations in recent months 

between the Bush administration and 

Chalabi include: 

("Iv 

')LI'Qr~Cl1 

0;~'\l>r- ~Slt;,-Alee;c~. 

_.

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

~BSNews IChalabi Tipped Iran To ~ BreakIJune 1, 2004 21 :39:57 

oVideo Archive • AmeWlt officials have complained 

(_ 

privately that Chalabi was interfering 

11 r with an inquiry into money skimmed 

.~~~;~~~ Down Saddam from the U.N. oil-for-food program. 

• Chalabi has recently accused the 

U.S.-led coalition of not going far 

enough to give Iraqis sovereignty. He 

also fiercely resisted U.S. military commanders' recent decision to soften rules 

blocking former members of Saddam's ruling party from government jobs. 

Chalabi still has strong supporters in Washington, and the Pentagon 

continued to pay for intelligence provided by his organization until recently. 

Danielle Pletka,'a vice president at the conservative American Enterprise 

Institute. after the May 20 raid that she believed the raid was likely "political 

manipulation in order to disable somebody who has been a thorn in the side 

of the CPA." 

'We need the United Nations right now, and Chalabi is the prime mover 

behind the investigation in the oil-for-food program/, Pletka said. 

o 

P~ge2 of2

iiiii 

-~ 

/1 

Print 

ALL INFORHATION CONTAII~D 


DATE 07-29-2010 B¥ 6~ uc baw/sab/lsg Page 1 of2 

Print Window I C1~se W~ndow 

Document 41 of S4 

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company 

The New York Times 

June 2, 2004 Wednesday 

late Edition - Final 

SECTION: Section A; Column 3; Foreign Desk; THE REACH OF WAR: :THE OFFENSE; Pg. 1 


I:IEADUNE: Chalabi Reportedly Told Iran That U.S. Had Code 

BYLINE: By JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 1 

BODY: 

Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi leader and former ally of the Bush administration, disclosed to an Iranian official that the United States 

had broken the secret communications code of Iran's Intelligence service, betraying one of Washington's most valuable sources of . 

Information about Iran, according to United States Intel,ligence officials. 

The general charge that Mr. Chalabi provided Iran with critical American intelligence secrets was Widely reported last month after 

the Bush administration cut off financial aid to Mr. Chalabl's organization, the Iraqi National Congress, and American and Iraqi 

security forces raided his Baghdad headquarters. 

The Bush administration, citing national security concerns, asked The New York Times and other news organizations not to publish 

details of the case. The Times agreed to hold off publication of some specific Information that top Intelligence officials said would 

compromise a vital, continuing Intelligence operation. The administration Withdrew Its request on Tuesday, saying Information about 

the code-breaking was starting to appear in news accounts• 

.Mr. Chalabi and his aides have said he knew of no secret Information related to Iran' and therefore could not have communicated 

any Intel1lgence to Tehran. ~ 

American officials said that about six weeks ago, Mr. Chalabl told the Baghdad statton chief ofIran's Ministry of Intelligence and ® 

Security that the United States was reading the communications traffic of the Iranian spy service, one of the most sophisticated InD~A V ~ 

the Middle East. 

Pi"\~ 

According to American officials, the Iranian official In Baghdad, possibly not believing Mr•. Chalabl's account, sent a cable to Tehran 

detailing his conversation with Mr. Chalabi, using the broken code. That encrypted cable, Intercepted and read by the United States, 

tipped off American officials to the fact that Mr. Chalabi had betrayed the code-breaking operation, the American officials said. 

American officials reported that in the cable to Tehran, the Iranian official recounted how Mr. Chalabi had said that one of "them ll - 

a reference to an American .-, had revealed the code-breaking operation, the officials said. The Iranian reported that Mr. Chalabi 

said the American was drunk. 

The Iranians sent what American Intelligence regarded as a test message, which mentioned a cache of weapons Inside Iraq, 

belieVing that if the code had been broken, United States military forces would be qUickly dispatched to the specified site. But there 

was no such action. 

' 

The account of Mr. Chalabi's actions has been confirmed by several senior American officials, who said the leak contributed to the 

White House decision to break with him. 

It could not be learned exactly how the United States broke the code. But Intelligence sources said that In the past, the United 

States has broken Into the embassies of foreign governments, Including those of Iran, to steal Information, Including codes. 

The F.B.I. has opened' an espionage Investigation seeking to determine exactly what information Mr. Chalabi turned over to the 

Iranians as well as who told Mr. Chalabi that the Iranian code had been broken, government officials said. The Inquiry, stili In an 

early'phase, Is focused. o~ a verY. small number of people who were close to Mr. Chalabi and also had access to the highly restricted 

inf~rmatlon about the Iran code. . . _ 6S\t,,\\lf-~

Print 

t 

o 

o 

Page 2 of2 

Sdme of the people the F.B.I. expects to Interview are civilians at the Pentagon who were among Mr. Chalabi's strongest supporters 

anCi served as his main point of contact with the government, the officials said. So far, no one has been accused of any wrongdoing. 

, 

In a television Interview on May 23, Mr. Chalabi said on CNN's "Late Edition" that he met In Tehran In December with the Iranian 

supreme leader, Ayatollah All Khamenel, and the Iranian president, Mohammad Khataml. He also said he had met with Iran's 

minister of information. 

Mr. Chalabi attacked the C.I.A. and the director of central Intelligence, George J. Tenet, saying the agency was behind what Mr. 

Chalabi asserted was an effort to smear him. 

"I have never passed any classified Information to Iran or have done anything •• participated In any scheme of Intelligence against 

the United States," Mr. Chalabi said on "Fox News Sunday." IIThis charge Is false. I have never seen a U.S •. classified document, 

and I have never seen •• had a U.S. classified briefing." 

Mr. Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said, "We meet people from the Iranian Embassy In Baghdad regularly," but 

said that was to be expected of Iraqi officials like himself. 

Some defenders of Mr. Chalabi In the United States say American officials had encouraged him In his dealings with Iran, urging him 

to open an office In Tehran In hopes of improving relations between Iran and Washington. Those defen·ders also say they'do not 

believe that his relationship with Iran Involved any exchange of Intelligence. 

Mr. Chalabi's allies in Washington also saw the Bush administration's decision to sever Its ties with Mr. Chalabl and his group as a 

cynical effort Instigated,by the C.I.A. and longtime Chalabi critics at the State Department. They believe those agencies want to 

blame him for mistaken estimates and incorrect Information about Iraq before the war, like whether Iraq possessed weapons of 

mass destruction. 

One of those who has defended Mr. Chalabi is Richard N. Perle, the former chairman of the Defense Polley Board. ''The C.I.A. has 

disliked him passionately for a long time and has mounted a campaign against him with some considerable success," Mr. Perle said 

Tuesday. "rve seen no evidence of Improper behavior on his part. No evidence whatsoever." 

Mr. Perle said he thought the C.I.A. had turned against Mr. Chalabi because he refused to be the agency's "puppet." Mr. Chalabi 

"has a mind of his own'" Mr. Perle said. 

American Intelligence officials said the F.B.I. investlgatlon Into the Intelligence leak to Iran did not extend to any charges that Mr. 

Chalabi provided the United States with Incorrect Information, or any allegations of corruption. . 

American officials said· the leak about the Iranian codes was a serious loss because the Iranian Intelligence service's highly encrypted 

cable traffic was a crucial source of information, supplying Washington with information about Iranian operations Inside Iraq, where 

Tehran's agents have become increasingly active. It also helped the United States keep track of Iranian Intelligence operations 

around the world. 

Until last month, the Iraqi National Congress had a lucrative contract with the Defense Intelligence Agency to provide Information 

about Iraq. Before the United States Invasion last year, the group arranged for Iraqi defectors to prOVide the Pentagon with 

Information about Saddam Hussein's government, particularly evidence purporting to show that Baghdad had active programs to 

develop weapons of mass destruction. Today, the American Intelligence community believes that much of the Information passed by 

the defectors was either wrong or fabricated. 

URL: 

LOAD-DATE: June 2,2004

War and Piece: June 2004 Archives ~L INFOrotA.TION CONTAUJED ~ 

! l"" Hr IS UNCLASSIFIED 0 

: '-- 0'1-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/ 

l:1une 02, 2004 

Page 1ofl 

Can we expect to see Richard Perle start to def~nd Chalabi's leaks ofthe most sensitive US intelligence to the Iranian . 

terror masters?·Ledeen? Harold Rhode? Michael·Rubin? I hear Larry Franklil) isn't defending Chalabi any more. 

There are only two defenses I can see: it's not true (seems the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of, it's true). Or, it's 

okay that Chalabi did it. 

Or, there's a third. How about, WE WERE WRONG. We were fQ.QJs, and dupes. But none. of these people seem to have the 

moral capacity to admit they were wrong. What kind of blindness,. what kind of pathological arrogance, prevents these 

people from ever admitting they are wrong? 

MORE: A friend says Chalabi supporters may also use the defense, ChaJabl was framed by Iranians who wanted him to 

be politically neutralized In Iraq. [As if he even needed to b,e neutralized by outside forces!] That the two Iranians who 

were detected in an intercept to be discussing what Chalabi ~upposedly gave them ~o~ld have been trying to frame him. 

I find this deeply unconvincing. [Remember how each shred of bogus intel about ties between al Qaeda and Saddam 

. 

these very same neocons clung to as the holy grail? This Is that In reverse]. 

A question. Is Chalabi simply believed to have conversationally told'an Iranian source that the US had broken XYZ 

communications code? Or is he actually believed to have had physical access to some sort. of code breaking technology 

itself? Why does this matter? Because the. number of US officials who might have known the formerls certainly greater 

than the latter. Even a civilian Pentagon official known to be very close to Chalabi and who believes himself a huge 

expert on Iran and the Middle East might have heard the_latter and"passed it on to Chalabi. 

Posted by Laura at 10:56 AM

War and.Piece 1+.L1 INFORMATION CONTAINED 4 Page 1 ~f31 

~·~;·==-=·========~~~~~~~F~ 

~ ~1~ UI ~~-~u~o ~1 ou~~~ ac ~awjs~~ 

Warand Pi ec~l~n_e1_4-,--,:-2_0_04_"-----.-;;... 

-'.' '6_~~_~'~"~_=__.~__~_~_~'=~~~~~~ 

ABOUT WAR 

AN-D' PIECE 

War and Piece is written 

by Laura Rozen, a 

journalist who report~ 

on national security and 

foreig n policy issues 

from Washington, D.C. 

(Mo,re) 

J1m.~itI~:h!OO!tt~I 2002 torture mgmo the 

Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel prepared at 

Jdhft ~el5bftfl1tfe9Nbite!f~eS9~~.D. 

Cdmtb~d\Q~its!2r14R!t~q1dttbcgenmmt.tb.edf 

JtJbVkecOeiibetrluat1b:emepart~lsawnlaW~e~~at 

th@ff~Jet~$b€SWhbJ.~.sscfiltbf;)ewash;ngtoa 

&.H got ahold of it and P-9sted it'here.{note: .pdf 

IirN$iW~~l!mst~n,~me~iM;tffiltia.la'tq~if 

Qm~~tB~I.~e\~teJa~S~~~slte~~uGhraib began 

alerting.senior US military officers in November 2003 to 

Mtiaa~EtheHWld9trerJ~J!§IttIaSEmsmaf1ilmit)Of 

mU~~§~iabSJtr~tS~¢ttfl.nGtl~rbegahe 

Reunion after the 

Sarajevo Siege. 

Photograph by Roger 

Richards, 1996. 

SEARCH 

Search this site: 

RECENT 

ARTICLES 

"Chalabi Sm~ckdown,-" 

The AmeriCan Prospect 

Online" May 201, 2004. 

."y'e at L~ttle Feith,"_The 

American Prospect, May 

18, 2004. 

alet:l1itsg samlbaQJ1f9an;Utary officers in November 2003 to 

the abuse!, This contradicts what senior military 

cJ'nWirJjlli~ h9V~cs§\tH4k~~~dldnot learn of the 

abuse until January. 

June 13, 2004 

Posted by Laura at 05_: 2? ~~ 

Here's a~ interesting February 2001.~ on the 

J'iltit90J.'3;n!OO4es to INC intelligence chiefAras 

Kareem. 

Here's an interesting February 2001 ~ on the. 

pJA~Lig8,f~~~1hg tie~~~l~~IIgWNle ~Q~ger 

K~\Dn. 

Notice ttl~ aa¥e Q{ ~evBPIlf6rll{Rg 

11th. 

6$~J~~ber 

administration will revamp U.S. Iraq 

policy, Pentagon officials began meeting 

IntbisetafaJb~ittntbtalhiqf~OPEttatiBoslfor 

aetlni~a 0fn~mJiSJfa$lt:trG~uPs 

pcHfnWJAsntaberi~Natibe9a6ongetlrig... 

this week. with the chief of operations for 

t~rBfu~PeRarsfTr8q'i"imiQfaX~al-'6ups 

krfOWni

ALL 

INFOIU·1ATION CONTAINED 

,"d"'- ~:'B Y NOd AEI b ~ K . k ki HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED. 

SlaI1 mg y our R an y v'>D. Wlat ows DATE 07-29-2010 BY 0'1 uc bawlseb/1sg 

LewRoakwell.aol:ll 

Home I About I Cqlumnists I 810g I Subscribe I Donate 

---- ------ 

Page 1of3 

Standing By Your NRO and AEI 

by Karen K,viatko,vski 

by Karen Kwiatkowski 

GeSAVETHIS C!IS2JEMAIL THIS

Stlliidmg By Your NRO·lind AEI by On Kwiatkowski 0 

-Page 2 of3 

When Jon Stewart at the-Comedy. Chapnel cQffi!ll~~ts on-the Gi~t M~ss-0':'P9t~ia, 

he's not kidding. Somehow, I see a sweaty Michael Rubin ~ack in the kitchen .. 

wiping his hands on ~is stained apron. No, Mighael, the damned spot won't come 

out. Trust me. 

Rubin's NRO tirade thematically centers on the presumed "Kwiatkowski-LaRouchegrand-conspiracy-to-pick-on-neoconservatives-and-make- 

them-look-like-really 

foolish-blunderers-by-getting-us-int9-an-u~ecessary-war~killing-more-than-750 

American-soldiers- and-suggesting-the horror!-that-some-neoconservatives-~re..; 

even-war-criminals.II His article is in key ways factually incorrect, wrong, and in 

some ways, a little bit stupid. But-smears usually are, aren't they? 

Some key mistakes include the old AEI charge that I have something to'do with 

LaRo~che, that I didn't know where the asp offices were loca~ed, that I left the 

Pentagon because I felt others had gotten promotions and I didn't, that I said L!!!!y.. 

Franklin used his wheelchair-bound wife as a cover·for galliyanting atounaihe_ 

worm: on secret missions,.analliat rliave a fringe ideology, among others. 'For the 

t'ecord, no on LaRouche, yes on the.location ofthe asp spaces, no on the promotion 

question (I never even stayed long enough to meet my first 0-6 board), no on Larry 

Franklin and his wife and secret missions, and I'm not sure on the nfringe171eology." 

Rubin never really explains what fringe id~ology he's talking about. 

I can only say with a high confidence that it isn'tthe same fringe ideology embraced 

by the National Review and the American Enterprise"Institute these days. 

When Mfcha~l Rubin says he knows something about sOplethil1g, it seems he really 

doesn't know much. The little he knows appears not to be supported by either facts 

or evidence, and is somewhat hope-based: Whether he is advising the Pentagon on 

Iraq and Iran, or,trying to smear me, Rubin gets it wrong, again and again. 

Like Tammy Wynette's h~roine, he's going onfaith,in and love for the neocon 

agenda, and loyalty to his neocon friends. Faith and love and loyalty are wonderful 

things, but Micha~l, dear, it's hard sometimes, isn't-it? All ~atabuse, and people 

giving you a har4 time, saying you made bad choices, all those reasons to leave but 

you just can't do" it. I think Tammy says it best: 

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman 

Givin' all your love to just on~ man 

You'll have bad times and he'll have good times 

Doin' things that,you don't understand 

J3ut ifyou love him, you'll forgive him 

Even though he's hard to understand 

And ifyou love him, oh be proud ofhim 

'Cause after all he's just a man 

Karen Kwiatkowski [send her mail] is a retired USAF 

lieutenant colonel, who spent herfinalfour and a halfyears 

i~ u.niform working at [he 'Pentqgon. She now lives with her 

May 19, 2004

SHlhdingBy Yo~r NRO and AEI by ran Kwiatkowski 0 

Page 3 of3 

freedom-iovingfamily in the Shenandoah Valley, and writes_ a bi-w~ekly column on 

defense issues with a libertarian perspective for militaryweek:.com. 

Copyright 0 2004 LewRockwell.com 

Karen Kwiatkowski Archives 

Back to LewRockwell.com Home·Page

~ -- .- ...... ~ - 

~ 

-- 

--- ,....-~.,.. 

?ods (Jerusalem) Force, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC - Pasdaran~ Intelligence Agencies Page 1of4 

FA~ I I~telligence'l WoQAgencies IIran 11I11 IndJrI Search IJoinFAS 

t .' 

't 



Qods (Jerusalem) Force DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

Iranian Revolutio~aryGuard Corps (IRGC - Pas4arane 

Inqilab) 

While the Constitution ofIran entrusts the military with guarding Iran's territorial 

integrity and political independence,. it gives the Revolutionary Guard [pasdaran] the 

responsibility of guardi~gthe Revolution itself. Established under a decree issued by 

Khomeini on May 5, 1979, the Pasdaran was intended to guard the Revolution and to 

assist the ruling clerics in the day-to-day enforcement ofthe government's Islamic codes 

and morality. The Revolution also needed to rely on a force ofits own rather than 

borrowing the previous regime's tainted units. 

By 1986 the Pasdaran consisted of350,000 personnel organized in battalion-size units 

that operated either independently or with units ofthe regular anned forces. In 1986 the 

Pasdaran acquired small naval and air elements. By 1996 the ground and naval forces 

were reported to number 100,000 and 20,000, respectively. 

Domestic Operations 

The Pasdaran has maintained an intelligence branch to monitor the regime's domestic 

adversaries and to participate in their arrests and trials. Khomeiili implied Pasdaran 

involvement in intelligence when he congratulated the Pasdaran on the arrest ofIranian 

communist Tudeh leaders. The Baseej (volunteers) come under the control ofthe 

ReYolutionary Guards. In 1995, up to 900,000 baseej were moQilized. The Baseej 

allegedly also monitor the activities ofcitizens, and harass or arrest women whose 

clothing does not cover the hair and all ofthe 1Jody except hands and face, or those who 

wear makeup. During the year ending in June 1995, they reportedly "notified 907,246 

people,verbally and issued 370,079 written notices against 'social corruption' and 

arrested 86,190 people, and also broke up 542 'corrupt gangs', arresting their 2,618 

members, -and seized 86,591 indecent videocassette_~ alld pQ9tqgraphs. 

http://fas.orglirp/world/iranlqods/ 6/15/04

Qods (Jerusalem) Force, Irani,an Revo~onary Guard Corps (IRGC - Pasdaran~ Intelligence Agencies Page 2 of4 

the Ashura Brigades force W reportedly created in 1993 h!ler anti:'government riots 

e;upted iri various Iranian cities and it consists of17,000 Isla~ic militia men and women. 

The Ashura Brigades are reportedly composed ofelements ofthe Revolutionary Guards 

(Pasdaran) and the Baseej volunteer-militia 

In August 1994, some Pasdaran units, rushed to quell riots in the city ofGhazvin, 150 

km. west ofTehran, reportedly refused orders from the Interior Minister to intervene in 

the clashes, which left more than 30 people dead, 400 wounded ~nd over 1,000 arrested. 

Subsequently, senior officers in the army, air force and the usually loyal Islamic 

Revolutionary Guard reportedly stated that they would no longer order thei.r troops into 

battle to quell civil disorder. A Pasdaran commander was among four senior army 

officers who are said to have sent a letter to the country's political leadership, warning the 

clerical rulers against "using the armed forces to crush civilian unrest and internal 

conflicts. II In a communique sent to Ayatollah Ali Khameini, stated that "the role ofthe 

country's armed forces is to defend its borders and to repel foreign enemies from its soil, 

not to control the internal situation or to strengthen one political faction above another." 

They· are said to have then recommended the use ofBaseej volunteers for this purpose. In 

a move believed to indicate a shift in the trust ofthe ruling clerics from the Pasdaran to 

the Baseej volunteer force, on 17 April 1995 Ayatollah Ali Khameini reportedly 

promoted a civilian, veterinary surgeon Hassan Firuzabadi, to the rank offull general, 

placing him above both Brigadier-General Mohsen Rezai, commander-in-chiefofthe 

Pasdaran and Brigadier General Ali Shahbazi ofthe regular armed forces. 

Foreign Operations 

The foreign operations by the Guardians, which also encompass the activities of 

Hizballah and Islamic Jihad - are usually carried out through the Committee on Foreign 

Intelligence Abroad and the Committee on Implementation of Actio~sAbroad. As 

with agents ofMinistry ofIntelligence, Pasdaran personnel operate through front 

companies and non-governmental organizations, employees or officials oftrading 

companies, banks, 'cultural centers or as representatives ofthe Foundation"ofthe 

Oppressed and Dispossessed (Bonyade-e- Mostafazan), or the·Martyrs 'Foundation. 

The Qods (Jerusalem) Force ofthe Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is 

responsible for extraterritorial operations, including terrorist operations. A primary focus 

for the Qods Force is training Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups. Currently, the Qods 

Force conducts training activities in Iran and in Sudan. The Qods Force is also 

responsible for gathering information required for targeting and attack planning. The 

Pasdaran has contacts with underground movements in the Gulfregion, and Pasdaran 

members are assigned to Iranian diplomatic missions, where, in the course ofroutine 

intelligence activities they monitor dissidents. Pasdaran influence has been particularly 

. http://fas.orglirp/worldliranlqods/ 6/15/04

?OdS (Jerusal~m) 

--- ----- 

Force, ~ranian ReV~lutiona~ ?uard ~orps (IROC - pas~aran~n Intelligence Agencies Page 3 of4 

Important In KuwaIt, BahrAdthe Umted Arab EmIrate~ 

The·largest branch ofPasdaran foreign operations consists ofapproximately 12,000 

Arabic speaking Iranians, Afghans, Iraqis, Lebanese shi'ites and North Africans who 

trained in Iran or received training in Afghanistan during the Afghan war years. Presently 

these foreign operatives receive training in Iran, Sudan and Lebanon, and include the 

Hizballah ["Party ofAllah"] intelligence, logistics and operational units in Lebanon 

[Hizballah is primarily a·social and political rather than military organization]. The 

second largest Pasdaran foreign operations relates to the Kurds (particularly Iraqi Kurds), 

while the third largest relates to the Kashmiri's, the Balouchi's and the Afghans. The 

Pasdaran has also supported the establishment ofHizballah branches in Lebanon, Iraqi 

Kurdistan, Jordan and Palestine, and the Islamic Jihad in many other Moslem countries 

including Egypt~ Turkey, Chechnya and in Caucasia. Hizballah has been implicated in 

the counterfeiting ofU.S. dollars and European currencies, both to finance its operations 

and to disrupt Western economies by impairing international trade and tourism. 

The Office ofLiberation Movements has established a GulfSection tasked with 

forming a GulfBattalion as part ofthe Jerusalem Forces. In April 1995 a number of 

international organizations linked to· international terrorism --including the Japanese Red 

Army, the Armenian Secret Army, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party -- were reported to 

have met in Beirut with representatives ofthe Iraqi Da'wah Party, the Islamic Front for 

the Liberation ofBahrain, Hizballah, Iran's "Office ofLiberation Movements," and Iran's 

Guardians ofthe Revolution. Tehran's objective was to destabilize Arab Gulfstates by 

supporting fundamentalists with military, financial, and logistical support. Members of 

these and other organizations receive military training at a Guardians ofthe Revolution 

facility some 100 kilometers south ofTehran. A variety ofoftraining courses are 

qonducted at the facility for fundamentalists from· the Gulfstates, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, 

and Lebanon, including naval operations, mines, and diving operations in a special camp 

near the Orontes River. 

Sources and Methods 

• SPECIAL AND IRREGULAR~D FORCES_ in JRA1'1-_A C0UD:t!y Stu~y 

Library ofCongress Federal Research Division 

• "ISLAMIC REPUBLIC" OF IRAN EXPORT OF REVOLUTION FLAG OF 

- -- - - - - 

FREEDOM ORGANIZATION OF IRAN (FFO) SPECIAL REPORT August 12, 

1997 

• Counterfe~t U.~._ Currency Abro~d:_ Issues a~d U.S. Deterrenc~ Eff,?rts (GAO Letter 

Report, 02/26/96, GAO/GGD-.96-11) 

• "Alleged Extremist Plans To Destabilize Gulf' FBIS-NES-95-092 : 10 Feb 1995 

[Source: Paris ~-WAT~N AL-'ARABI, 10 Feb 95 pp 14-1.6.] 

http://fas.org/irp/worldliran/qods/ 

--- 

6/15/04

Qods (Jerusalem) Force, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC - PasdaranlJlan Intelligence.Agencies Page 4 of4 . 

,:

----~- - ----- - 

Iran Liberation 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAIlmD 

HEREIN IS UNC~IFIED ~ 0 

• ~ DATE 07-29-20llJ,;lY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsqr-'_-, 

t~PUblicationL ~~ 

No. 

170 

Tehran Poised to Attack 

Mojahedin, 

Sieze Iraqi Territory 

April 7, 2003 

:Iriil UtiiiatfOn, 

.. .,.., " ......~.."..",- 

,J1~"(11~!. 

.p.tevi~~sfJ~f~~ 

lVl1omen' 

... ~ .... ~ I .... 

i!.!~;i~~I!~' 

,p.re'vfOus:15suei. 

,. ... ........ ..,. ".' ~.. ~ • ...,.. tI' 

,,!!qf1.&~~.~q 

tievi issue 

.i!~~f~~~~~u~~ 

I 

I 

Page 1 of5 

Contrary to the consecutive denials 

and reiterations that it does not 

intend to interfere in Iraq, the clerical 

regime is poised fully to take 

advantage ofthe developments in the 

region and attack the Mojahedin and 

capture parts of Iraqi territory. To 

this end, the People's Mojahedin 

Organization of Iran issued a 

statement on April 1, exposing parts 

of the activities of the regime which 

are as follows: 

1. The regime has stationed a total of 

46 brigades and an assortment of 

weapons, equipment and missiles in 

the border region. The following 

activities have been undertaken in 

the past 10 days: 

2. Transferring the 3rd Brigade ofthe 

21st Hamzeh Division from Marand 

to Chehel Zari (along the border 

region in Kermanshah Province); 

http://www.iranncrfac.org/Pages/Publications/IL/IL170/pages/Tehran%20poised%20to%20attack%20mojahed 6/15/04


" 3:.Transferring partQf the 28th 

· Sanandaj Diyision to the city of 

\, 

Mehran (a border town in Ilam 

Province); 

4. Transferring part of the Guards 

Corps 10th Division to Mehran; 

5. Transferring parts of the 16th 

Qazvin Armored Division to Sar-pol 

Zahab (in the border region in 

Kermanshah Province); 

6. Transferring 1st and 2nd brigades 

of 81st Kermanshah Division from 

Kermanshah and IslaIlJ.-Abad to the 

border region and deploying five 

tank battalions along Qasr-e Shirin; 

7. Transferring the 35th Commando 

Brigade from Kermanshah to 

Mehran and Gilan-e Gharb; 

8. Transferring parts of the 55th 

Airborne Brigade from Shiraz to Sarpol-Zahab; 

9. Transferring the 2nd Brigade of 

the 84th Division from Khorramabad 

to Bostan; 

10. Transferring part of the 64th 

Orumieh Division to Abadan (south 

of Khuzistan Province, oPPQsite 

Basra); 

11. Transferring the 45th Commando 

Brigade from Shushtar to 

Khorramshahr and Bostan; 

12. Transferring the 2nd Brigade of 

the Revolutionary. Guards- 7th Valio 

Page 2 of5 

http://www.iranncrfac.org/Pages/PublicationsIIL/IL 170/pagesrrehran%20poised%20to%20attac~%20mojah(... 6/15104


. , 

~ 

Asr Division from Qehbahan to 

· Sousangerd (in the border region in 

Khuzistan Province); 

13. Transferring part of the 2nd 

Brigade ofthe Revolutionary Guards 

4th Division from Ilam to Mehran; 

14. Transferring part of the 3rd 

Brigade ofthe Revolutionary Guards 

4th Division from Hamedan to Qasre 

Shirin; 

15. Transferring parts of the 

intelligence and operations 

headquarters of the Revolutionary 

Guards Divisions from different 

provinces to· Qasr-e Shirin to assess 

the situation and order the 

operational forces of those divisions 

ifneeded; 

16. Concentrating the Intelligence 

Ministry's terrorist groups and forces 

in the Qasr-e Shirin in order to 

infiltrate the Iraqi territory and carry 

out terrorist operational against the 

Mojahedin in Khanaqin, Jalawla, 

Baquba and Baghdad; 

17. Transferring a part of the 64th 

AI-Hadid Missile Brigade of the 

Revolutionary Guards to Howeizeh 

(border region in Khuzistan 

Province) to carry out missile attacks 

with Fajr 3 and 5 missiles; 

o 

Page 3 of5 

18. Transferring a part of the 65th 

Special Airborne Force from Tehran 

to. the so-called Abuzar in south of 

Sar-pol-Zahab. The probe and 

units of the brigade 

J;ecoI1J:lais~ance 

- - . 

http://www.iranncrfac.orgIPagesIPublicationslIL/IL170/pagesrrehran%20poised%20to%20attack%20mojahc... 6/15/04


. -. 

• have so far carriePout several 

reconnaissance missions on 

Mojahedin bases in Khosravi 

Khaneqin and Sumar-Mandali axes. 

Page 4 of5 

19. Transferring ammunition and 

equipment inside Iraq by the 

Revolutionary Guards Fajr Base 

(belonging to the extra-territorial 

terrorist Qods Force) in Ahwaz, in 

Bostan, Shat-Ali, Howeizeh and 

Tala'ieh (border region in Khuzistan 

Province); 

~o.. Transferring 40 truck-loads of 

ammunition from Kermanshah to 

Iraqi territory through Azgaleh to 

Maydan and Darbandikhan by the 

Revolutionary Guards Zafar 

Garrison; 

21. Redeploying mercenaries of the 

9th Badr Corps from Kermanshah to 

Marivan and Iraqi Kurdistan and 

from Dezful to Howeizeh as well as . 

helping groups of them to infiltrate 

the Iraqi territory in Mandali, 

Mehran and Howeizeh by the extraterritorial 

terrorist Qods (Jerusalem) 

Force. 

22. According to the Qods Force's 

operational scheme, the 9th Badr 

Corps is planning, similar to 12 years 

ago, to pour into Basra, Nasseriyah 

and AI-Amara. Revolutionary 

Guards Brig. Gen. Ahmad 

Forouzandeh, in charge of the Iraqi 

Crisis Headquarters, is currently 

based in Ahwaz (Khuzistan 

Province); 

http://www.iranncrfac.org/PagesIPublications/IL/IL170/pages/Tehran%20poised%20to%20attack%20mojahc... 6/15/04

Iran Liberation .. 

". 2~ .. Commanders ofaQods Force, 

. • including its commander B~ig. Gen. 

\ Qassem Soleimani, his deputy Brig. 

Gen. Iraj Masjedi, Brig. Gen. Hamid 

Taghavi, Ramezan Garrison's 

commander of operations, and Brig. 

Gen. Obeidavi, Fajr Garrison's 

commander, are making the military 

and terrorist preparations in Iraqi 

territory. Occasionally, they use 

ambulances to enter Iraqi territory; 

24. All of the so-called Ashura and 

Az-Zahra battalions of the 

Revolutionary Guards paramilitary 

Bassij forces across the country have 

been armed to confront the 

Mojahedin. The Revolutionary 

Guards Divisions have been put on 

alert across the country; 

25. Eight warplanes in Hamedan's 

Nojeh air base, eight in Dezful's 

Vahdati air base, two in Bandar 

Abbas air base and two in Bushehr 

air base are on a state of readiness 

round-the-clock. They are armed' 

w,ith air-to-air missiles. 

26. The clerical regime has so far 

stationed a total of 46 b~igades with 

an assortment of weapons, 

equipment and missiles in hopes of 

taking advantage of the Iraqi 

situation and attack the Mojahedin. 

o 

Page 5 of5 

http://www.iranncrfac.orglPages/Publications/IL/IL170/pagesffehran%20poised%20to%20attack%20mojahc••• 6/15/04

ALL INFORMATION COlrTAINED 

HEREIN IS lnlCLASSIFIED ~ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 ~W/Sab/1Sg 

Page 1 of5 

P~!_nt ~indow I Close Window 

SECTION: FACfi Annals Of National Securityi Pg. 54 


HEADLINE: PLAN Bi 

As June 30th approaches, Israel looks to the Kurds. 

BYLINE: SEYMOUR M. HERSH 


Copyright 2004 The Conde Nast Publications, Inc. 

The New Yorker 

June 28, 2004 

BODY: 

In July, 2003, two months after President Bush declared victory In Iraq, the war, far from winding down, reached a critical point. 

Israel, which had been -among the war's most enthusiastic supporters, began warning the Administration that the American-led 

occupation would face a heightened Insurgency-a campaign of bombings and assassinations-later that summer. Israeli Intelligence 

assets In Iraq were reporting that the Insurgents had the support of Iranian Intelligence operatives and other foreign fighters, who 

were crossing the unprotected border between Iran and Iraq at will. The Israelis urged the United States to seal the nlne-hundredmile-long 

border, at whatever cost. 

The border stayed open, however. liThe Administration wasn't Ignoring the Israeli Intelligence about Iran," Patrick Clawson, who Is 

the deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and has close ties to the White House, explained. "There's no 

question that we took no steps last summer to c1ose_ the border, but our attitude was that it was more useful fC?r Iraqis to have 

contacts with ordinary Iranians coming across the border, and thousands were coming across every day':'for Instance, to make 

pilgrimages'" He added, "The questions we confronted were 'Is the trade-off worth It? Do we want to Isolate the Iraqis?' Our answer 

was that as long as the Iranians were not picking up guns and shooting at us, It was worth the price." 

Clawson said, liThe Israelis disagreed quite Vigorously with us last summer. Their concern was very straightforward-that the Iranians 

would create social and charity organizations In Iraq and use them to recruit people who would engage In armed attacks against 

Americans.n 

The warnings of Increased violence proved accurate. By early August, the insurgency against the occupation had exploded, with 

bombings In Baghdad, at the Jordanian Embassy and the United Nations headquarters, that killed forty-two people. A former Israeli 

Intelligence officer said that Israel's leadership had·concluded by then that the United States was unwllllng·to confront Irani In 

terms of salvaging the situation in Iraq" he said" "It doesn't add up. It's over. Not militarily-the United States cannot be defeated 

militarily In Iraq-but polltlcally." 

Flynt Leverett, a former C.I.A. analyst who until last year served on the National Security Council and Is now a fellow at the Saban 

Center for Middle East Polley, told me that late last summer lithe Administration had a chance to turn it around after It was clear that 

'Mission Accomplished' n_a reference. to Bush's May.speech-nwas premature. The Bush people could have gone to their allies and got 

more boots on the ground. But the neocons were. dug in-'We're doing this on our own.'" 

Leverett went on, liThe President was only belatedly coming to the understanding that he had to either make a strategic change or, 

If he was going to Insist on unilateral control, get tougher and find the actual insurgency." The Administration then decided, Leverett 

said, to "deploy the Guantanamo model in Iraqll-to put aside its rules of Interrogation. That decision failed to stop the insurgency 

and eventually led to the scandal at the Abu Ghralb prison. 

In early November, the President received a grim assessment from the C.I.A.'s station chief in Baghdad, who filed a special field 

appraisal, known Internally as an Aardwolf" warning that the security situation in Iraq was nearing collapse. The document, as 

described by Knight-Ridder, said that "none:of the postwar Iraqi political Institutions and leaders have shown an ability to govern the 

country" or to hold elections and draft a constitution. 

A few days later, the Administration, rattled by the violence and the new intelligence, finally attempted to change Its go-It-alone 

polley, and set June 30th as the date for the handover of sovereignty to an Interim government, which would allow It to bring the 

United Nations Into the process. "November was one year before the Presidential election," a U.N. consultant who worked on Iraqi 

Issues told me. "They panicked and decided to share the blame with the U.N. and the Iraqis." 

A former Administration official who had supported the war completed a discouraging tour of Iraq late last fall. He visited Tel AViv 

afterward and found that the Israelis he. met with were equally discouraged. As they saw It, their warnings and advice had been 

Ignored, and the Amerlcan·'war against the. insurgency was continuing to founder•."I spent hQurs. ~alklng to the. senior' m~m~ers. ~f

o ~ 

tile Israeli political and Intelligence community," the former official recalled. "Their concern was IYoulre not going to get It right In 

~faq, and shouldn't we be planning for the worst-~ase scenario and how to deal with It?' .. 

Pant 

Page 2 of5 

Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime MinIster, who supported the Bush Admlnlstrationls Invasion of Iraq, took It upon himself at this 

point to privately warn Vice-President Dick Cheney that America had lost In.lraqj according to an American close to Barak, he said 

that Israel I'had learned that there's no way to win an occupation." The only Issue, Barak told Cheney, "was choosing the size of 

your humlllatlon.'1 Cheney did not re_spond to Barak's assessment. (Cheneyrs office declined to comment.) 

In a series of Interviews In Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, officIals told me that by the end of last year Israel had 

concluded that the Bush Administration would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq, and that Israel needed other 

options. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government decided, I was told, to minimize the damage that the war was causing to Israel's 

strategic position by expanding Its long-standing relationshfp with Iraq's Kurds and establishing a significant presence on the ground 

In the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. Several officials depicted Sharon's decision, which involves a heavy financial 

commitment, as a potentially reckless move that could create even more chaos and violence as the Insurgency In Iraq continues to 

grow. 

Israeli Intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, 

most Important In Israel's view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria. Israel feels particularly 

threatened by Iran, whose position in, the region has been strengthened by the war. The Israeli operatives Include members of the 

Mossad, Israel's clandestine foreign-intelligence service, who work undercover In Kurdistan as businessmen and, In some cases, 

do not carry Israeli passports. 

Asked to comment, Mark Regev, the spok~sman for ~he Israeli Embassy In Washington, said, "The story Is simply untrue and the 

relevant governments know it's untrue," Kurdish officials declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the State Department. 

However, a senior C.I.A. official acknowledged in an interview last week that the Israelis were Indeed 'operatlng In Kurdistan. He 

told me that the Israelis felt that they had little choice: liThey think they have to be there.'1 Asked whether the Israelis had sought 

approval from Washington, the official laughed and said, 1100 you know anybody who can tell the Israelis what to do? They're always 

going to do what Is In their best interest." The C.I.A. official added that the Israelipresence was widely known In the American 

Intelligence community. 

The Israeli decision to seek a bigger foothold in Kurdistan-characterized by the former Israeli Intelligence officer as IIPlan BII-has 

also raised tensions between Israel and Turkey. It has provoked bitter statements from Turkish politicians and, In a major regional 

shift, a new alliance among Iran, .Syria, and Turkey, all of which have significant Kurdish minorities. In early June, Intel Brief, a 

privately circulated Intelligence newsletter produced by Vincent Cannistraro, a retired C.I.A. counterterrorism chief, and Philip 

Glraldl, who served as the C.I.A.·s deputy chief of base In Istanbul in the late nineteen-eighties, said: 

Turkish sources confidentially report tha~ the Turks are Increasingly concerned by the expanding Israeli presence In Kurdistan and 

alleged encouragement of Kurdish ambitions to create an independent state~ •.• The Turks note that the large Israeli Intelligence 

operations In Northern Iraq Incorporate anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian activity, InclUding support to Iranian and Syrian Kurds who are 

In opposition to their respective governments. 

In the years since the first Gulf War, Iraq's Kurds, aided by an internationally enforced no-fly zone and by a U.N. mandate providing 

them with a share of the country·~ 011 revenues, have managed to achieve a large measure of Independence In three northern Iraqi 

provinces. As far as most Kurds are concerned, however, historic IIKurdistan" extends well beyond Iraq's borders, encompassing 

parts of Iran, Syria, and Turkey. All three countries fear that Kurdistan, de_spite public pledges to the contrary, will declare Its 

Independence from the Interim Iraqi 90vernment if conditions don't improve after June 30th. 

Israeli Involvement In Kurdistan is not new. T.hroughout the ,nineteen-sixties and seventies, Israel actively supported a Kurdish 

rebellion against Iraq, as part of its strategic. policy of seeking alliances with non-Arabs In the Middle East. In 1975, the Kurds were 

betrayed by the United States, when Washington went along with a decision by the Shah of Iran to stop supporting Kurdish 

aspirations for autonomy In Iraq. 

Betrayal and violence became the_ norm in the next two decades. Inside Iraq, the Kurds were brutally repressed by Saddam Hussein, 

who used afrpower and chemical weapons against them. In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or P.K.K., Initiated a campaign of 

separatist Violence in Turkey that lasted fifteen yearsj more than thirty thousand people, most of them Kurds, were killed. The 

Turkish government ruthle_ssly crushed the. separatists, and eventually captured the P.K.K.'s leader; Abdullah Ocalan. Last month, 

the P.K.K., now known as the Kongra-Gel,. announced that it was ending a five-year unilateral ceasefire and would begin targeting 

Turkish citizens once again. 

The Iraqi Kurdish leadership was furious when, early this month, the United _States acceded to a U.N. resolution on the restoration of 

Iraqi sovereignty that did not affirm the interim constitution that granted the minority Kurds veto power In any permanent 

constitution. Kurdish leaders Immediately warned PreSident Bush in a letter that they would not participate in a new ShIIte-controlled 

government unless they were assured that their rights under the interim constitution were preserved. liThe people of Kurdistan will 

no longer accept second-class citizenship in Iraq,," the letter said, 

There are fears that the Kurds will move ~o seize the_ city of Kirkuk, together with the substantial oil reserves In the surrounding 

region. Klrkuk Is dominated by Arab Iraqis, many of whom were relocated there, beginning in the nineteen-seventies, as part of 

Saddam Husseinls campaign to "Arabi~~" the region" ~ut the Kurds consider Kirkuk and its oil part of their historic homeland. IIIf 

Klrkuk is threatened by the Kurds" the Sunnllnsurgents will move in there~ arong with the Turkoinen; and there will be a bloodbath,"

Print 

o o 

Page 3 of5 

al) American military expert who is studying Iraq told me. "And, even if the Kurds do take Klrkuk, they can't transport the 011 out of 

tHe country, since all of the_ pipelines. run through ~he Sunnl-Arab heartland." 

A top German national-security official said In an interview that "an independent Kurdistan with sufficient 011 would have enormous 

consequences for Syria, Iran, and Turkey" and would lead to continuing Instability In the Middle East-no matter what the outcome In 

Iraq Is. There Is also a widespread belief" another senior German official said, that some elements Inside the Bush Administration-he 

referred specifically to thefaction headed by Deputy .Secretary of Defense Paol Wolfowltz-would tolerate an Independent Kurdistan. 

This, the German argued, would be. a mistake. "It would be a new Israel-a pariah state In the middle of hostile nations.II 

A declaration of independence would trigger a Turkish response-and possibly a war-and also derail what has been an Important 

alliance for Israel. Turkey and Israel have become strong diplomatic and economic partners In the past decade. Thousands of 

Israelis travel to Turkey every year as ~ourists. Turkish opposition to the Iraq war has strained the relationship; stili, Turkey 

remains oriented toward the West and" despite the victory of an Islamic party In national elections in 2002, relatively secular. It Is 

now vying for acceptance In the European Union. In contrast" Turkey and Syria have been at odds for years,at times coming close 

to open confrontation, and Turkey and Iran have long been ,regional rivals. One area of tension between them Is the conflict 

between Turkey's pro-Western_stand and Jran·s rigid theocracy. But their mutual wariness of the Kurds has transcended these 

divisions. 

A European foreign minister, in a conversation last month, said that the "blowing Up" of Israel's alliance with Turkey would be a 

major setback for the region. He went on, "To avoid chaos, you need the neighbors to work as one common entlty.1I 

The Israelis, however, view the neighborhood, with the. exception of. Kurdistan, as hostile. Israel Is convinced that Iran Is on the 

verge of developing nuclear weapons, and that" with .Syria's help, it_ is planning to bolster Palestinian terrorism as Israel withdraws 

from the Gaza Strip. 

Iraqi Shiite militia leaders like Moqtada al-Sadr, the former American Intelligence official said, ~re seen by the Israeli leadership as 

"stalking horses" for Iran-owing much of their success in defying.the American-led coalition to logistical and communications support 

and training prOVided by Iran. The former intelligence official said, "We began to see telltale signs of organizational training last 

summer. But the White House. didn't want to hear it: 'We canlt take on another problem right now. We can't afford to push Iran to 

the point where we've got to have a Showdown. ~ II 

Last summer, according to a document I obtained, th~ Bush Administration directed the Marines to draft a detailed plan, called 

Operation Stuart, for the arrest and, if necessary,. assassination of.Sadr. But 'the operation was cancelled, the former Intelligence 

official told me, after it became clear tha~ Sadr had been "tipped ofr' about the plan•.Seven months later, after Sadr spent the winter 

building support for his movement, the American-led coalition ,Shut down his newspaper, provoking a crisis that Sadr survived with 

his status enhanced, thus insuring ~ha~ he will playa major, and unwelcome, role In the political and military machinations after 

June 30th. .' , 

"Israel's Immediate goal after June 3Qth Is to build up the Kurdish commando units to balance the .Shiite militias-especially those 

which would be hostile to the kind of order in southern Iraq that Israel would like to see," the former senior Intelligence official said. 

"Of course, If a fanatic Sunni Baathis~ militia took control-one as hostil~ to Israel as Saddam Hussein was-Israel would unleash the 

Kurds on It, too.II The Kurdish armed forces" known as the peshmerga, number an estimated seventy-five thousand troops, a total 

that far exceeds the known Sunni and .Shiite militias. 

The former Israeli Intelligence officer acknowledged that .slnce late. last year Israel has been training Kurdish commando units to 

operate In the same manner and with the_ same effectiveness as Israel's most secretive commando units, the Mlstaravlm. The Initial 

goal of the Israeli assistance to the Kurds, ~he former officer ,Said, was to allow them to do what American commando units had been 

unable to do-penetrate, gather Intelligenc~on, and then kill off the leadership of the Shiite and Suno,l insurgencies In Iraq. (I was 

unable to learn whether any such mission had yet. taken place.) "The feeling was that this was a more effective way to get at the 

Insurgency," the former officer .sard. "But the growing Kurdish-Israeli relationst,ip began upsetting the Turks no end. Their Issue Is 

that the very same Kurdish commandos trained for Iraq could infiltrate and attack In Turkev." 

• 

The Kurdish-Israeli-collaboration inevitably expanded, the Israeli said. Some Israeli operatives have crossed the border Into Iran, 

accompanied by Kurdish commandos, to install sensors and other sensitive devices that primarily target suspected Iranian nuclear 

facilities. The former officer said, "Look" Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way-as balance against Saddam. 

It's Realpolitik." He added,. IIBy aligning with the Kurds, Israel gains eyes and ears in Iran, Iraq, and Syria." He went on, "What 

Israel was doing with the Kurds \yas not so unacceptabl~ In the. Bush Administration." 

Senior German officials told me, With ala(.ffi, that their Intelligence community also has evidence that Israel is using Its new 

leverage Inside Kurdistan, and within the Kurdi~h communities in Iran and .Syria, for Intelligence and operational purposes. Syrian 

and Lebanese officials believe that Israeli intelligence. played a role. in a series of violent protests In Syria in mid-March In which 

Syrian Kurdish dissidents and .Syrian troops clashed" leaving at least thirty peopl~ dead. (There are nearly two million Kurds living In 

Syria, which has a population of seventeen million.) Much of the fighting took place In cities along Syria's borders with Turkey and 

Kurdish-controlled Iraq. Michel ,Samaha" th~ Lebanese Minister of Information, told me that while the disturbances amounted to an 

uprising by the Kurds against the leadership of ~ashirAssad" ,the .Syrian President, his government had evidence that Israel was 

"preparing the Kurds to fight all around Iraq, In Syria" Turkey, and Iran., They're being programmed to do commando operations." 

The top German national-security official told me that h~ believes that the Bush Administration continually misread Iran••IThe 

Iranla~s waJlted~to k~ep America tied down In Iraq, and to keep it busy there" but t~ey didn't want chaos,1I he said. One of the . 

senior German officials told me, )-The critical question is 'What will the behavior of Iran be-if there is an Independent Kurdistan with _

o 

G 

close ties to Israel?' Iran does not want an Israeli land-based aircraft carrier"-that Is, a military stronghold-"on its border." 

Jfl 

Proint 

Page 4 of5 

Another senior European official said, liThe Iranians wouid do something positive In "the south of Iraq If they get'somethlng positive' 

In return, but Washington won't do it. The Bush, Administration won't ask the Iranians for help, and can't ask the Syrians. Who Is 

going to save the United States?" He added that, at the. start of the American Invasion of Iraq, s~veral top European officials had 

told their counterparts In Iran, ")'00 will be the wlnner~ In the region. II 

Israel Is not alone in believing that Iran, despite Its protestations, is secretly hard at work on a nuclear bomb. Early this month, the 

International Atomic Energy Agency" which, is re_sponsible for monitoring nuclear,prollferation, issued Its fifth quarterly report In a 

row stating that Iran was continuing to misrepresent its re.search into materials that could be used for the production of nuclear 

weapons. Much of the concern centers on an underground enrichment facility at Natanz, two hundred and fifty miles from the Iran 

Iraq border, which, during previous I.A.E.A., Inspections, was discovered to contain centrifuges showing traces of weapons-grade 

uranium. The huge complex, which is still under construction, i~ said to total nearly erght hundred thousand square feet, and It will 

be sheltered In a few months by a roof whose design allows it to be covered with sand. Once the work Is completed, the complex 

"will be blind to satellites". and the Iranians could add additional floors underground," an I.A.E.A. official told me. liThe question Is, 

will the Israelis hit Iran?1I 

Mohamed ElBaradel, the I.A.E.A. director, has repeatedly stat~d that his agency ha~ not IIseen concrete proof of a military program, 

so It's premature to make a judgment on that." David Albright" a former U.N. weapons inspector who is an expert on nuclear 

proliferation, buttre.ssed the I.A.f;.A. claim. "The United States has ,no concrete evidence of a nuclear-weapons program,II Albright 

told me. "It·S just an inference. There's,no smoking gun." (Last. Friday" at a meeting In Vienna, the I.A.E.A. passed a resolution that, 

while acknowledging some progress" complained that Iran had yet to be as open as It should be, and urgently called upon It to 

resolve a list of outstanding que_stions.) 

The I.A.E.A. official told me. that the. I.A.E.A. leadership has been privately warned by Foreign Ministry officials in Iran that they are 

"having a hard time getting Information" from th~ hard-line. religious and military leaders who run the country. liThe Iranian Foreign 

Ministry tells us, 'We're just diplomats" and we don't know whether we're getting the whole. story from our own people,' n the official 

said. He noted that the Bush Administration has repeatedly advised the I.A.E.A. that there are secret nuclear facilities In Iran that 

have not been declared. The Administration will not say more, apparently worried that the information could get back to Iran. 

Patrick Clawson, of the Institute for Near east Policy, provided another explanation for the reluctance of the Bush Admlnlstratlonto 

hand over specific intelligence. "If we wer~ to identify a site," ,he told me, "it's conceivable that It could be qUickly disassembled and 

the I.A.E.A. Inspectors would arrive"-international inspections often take weeks to organlze-"and find nothing." The American 

Intelligence community, already discredited because of its faulty reporting on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, would be criticized 

anew. "It's much better," Clawson said, ,lito have the I.A.E.A. figure out' on its own that there's a site and then find evidence that 

there had been enriched material there." 

Clawson told me that Israel's overwh~lmingnational-security cOl'lcern must be Iran. Given that a presence In Kurdlstan would give 

Israel a way to monitor the. Iranian nuclear effort" he. said" "it would be. negligent for the Israelis not to be there. n 

At the moment, the former American .senior Intelligence official said, the Israelis' tie. to Kurdistan "would be. of greater value than 

their growing alliance with Turkey. 'We. love Turkey but got to keep the pressure on Iran..' "The former. Israeli Intelligence officer 

said, "The Kurds were the last surviving group clos~ to tl)e. United States with any say in Iraq. The only question was how to square 

It with Turkey." 

There may be no way to square. It with Turkey. Over breakfa~t in Ankara, a senior Turkish official explained, "Before the war, Israel 

was active in Kurdistan, and now it i~ active .agaln. This is very dangerous for us, and for them, too. We do not wa",t to see Iraq 

diVided, and we will not ignore it." Then, citing a popular Turkish proverb-"We will burn a blanket to kill a f1ea ll -he said, "We have 

told the Kurds, 'We are not afraid of you, but you ~hould be afraid of os." II (A Turkish diplomat I spoke to later was more direct: "We 

tell our Israeli and Kurdish friend~ that Turkey's good will lies in keeping Iraq together. We. will not support alternative solutions.") 

"If you end up with a divided Iraq, It will bring.more blood, tears, and pain to the Middle East, and you will be blamed," the senior 

Turkish official said. "From Me.xico to Russia, everybody will claim that the United States had a secret agenda In Iraq: you came 

there to break up Iraq. IfIraq Is diVided, America cannot explain this to the world." The official compared the situation to the 

breakup of Yugoslavia" bu~ added, "In the Balkans, you did not have oil." He said, "The lesson of Yugoslavia is that when you give 

one country Independence everybody will want it." If that happens, he said, "Kirkuk will be. the. Sarajevo of Iraq. If something 

happens there, It will be 'impossible. to contain the crisis." 

In Ankara, another senior Turkish official explained that his government had "openly shared its worries" about the Israeli military 

activities inside Kurdistan with the.Jsraeli Foreign Ministry. "They deny the training and the purchase of property and claim It's not 

official but done by private persons. ObViouslyI, our intelligence" community Is aware that it was not so. This polley Is not good for 

America, Iraq, or Israel and the Jews.i\ 

Turkey's Increasingly emphatic ,and public. complaints about Israel's missile attacks on the Hamas leadership In the Gaza Strip Is 

another factor In the growing tensions between the. allies. On May 26th, Turkey's Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, announced at a 

news conference in Ankara that the Turkish government was bringing its Ambassador in Israel home for consultations on how to 

revive the Middle East peace proce.ss., He also told the Turkish pafliament that the government was planning to strengthen Its ties to 

the Palestinian Authority, and" rn conver~ations with, Middle. Eastern diplomats in the past month, he expressed grave concern about 

Israel. In one such .talk,.one diploma~ lold me, G~I d~scribed Israeli activities, and the. possibility of an Independent Kurdistan, as 

~p.re~f!nting us ~i~h a_c~oi~e that is not ,a real choice·b~tweeri su"rvival and alliance-;" -

Pant 

o 

PageS of5 \ 

A,thirdTurklsh official told me that. the Israelis were "talking to us I~ Qrder to appease our concern. They say, 'We aren't doing 

anything In Kurdistan to undermine. your interests. Don't worry.' "The officiai added, "If it goes out pUblicly what they've been 

doing, It will put your government and our government. in a difficul~ position. We can tolerate 'Kurdistan' if Iraq Is Intact, but 

nobody knows the future-not even th~ Americans." 

A former White House official depict~d ~he Administration as eager-almost desperate-late this spring to Install an acceptable new 

Interim government in Iraq before President. BuSh~s declared June .30th deadline for the transfer of sovereignty. The,Administratlon 

turned to lakhdar Brahimi, the U,nited" Nations special envoy, to "put together something by June 30th-just something that could 

stand Upll through the Presidential election, th~ former official said. Brahlml was given the task of selecting, with Washington's public 

approval, the thirty-one. members of Iraq's ,interim government. Nevertheless" according to press reports, the choice of Iyad Allawl 

as Interim Prime Minister was a disappo.lotment to Br~hjmi. 

The White House has yet to deal with. AlIawi's past. His credentials as a neurologist,'and his involvement during the past two 

decades In anti-Saddam activities, as the founder of th~ British-based Iraqi National. Accord, have been widely reported. But his role 

as a Baath Party operative while Saddam struggled for control, in the nineteen-sixties and seventles-Saddam became President In 

1979-ls much less well known. "Allawi helped Saddam get to power," an American intelligence officer told me. "He was a very 

effective operator and a true. believer." Reuel Marc Gerec.ht, a former C.I.A. case officer who served In the Middle East, added, "Two 

facts stand out about Allawi. One" ,he.like.s to think of himself as a man of ideas; and, two, his strongest virtue Is that he's a thug. 1I 

Early this year, one. of Allawi's former medical-school c1assmate.s, Dr. Haifa al-Azawl, published an essay In an Arable newspaper In 

London raising questions about his character and his.medical bona fides. ,She depicted Allawi as a "big husky man ••• who carried a 

gun on his belt and frequently brandished it, terrorizing the medical.students." Allawi's medical degree, she wrote, "was conferred 

upon him by the Baath party." Allawl moved to London in 197.1, ostensibly to continue his medical education; there he was In charge 

of the European operations of th~ Baath ,Party organization and the local activities of the Mukhabarat, Its intelligence agency, until 

1975. 

"If you're asking me if Allawi has blood on his hands from his days in London, the answer is yes, he does," Vincent Cannlstraro, the 

former C.I.A. 'officer, said. "He was a paid Mukhabarat agent for the. Iraqis, and he was Involved In dirty stuff." Acabinet-level Middle 

East diplomat, who was rankled by the U.S. indiffer~nc~ to Allawi'spersonal history, told me early this month that Allawl was 

Involved With a Mukhabarat "hit team" ~hat sought out, and killed Baath Party dissenters throughout Europe. (Allawl's office did not 

respond to a request for comment.) At some. point, for reasons that are not. clear, Allawl fell from favor, and the Baathlsts organized 

a series of attempts on his life. The third attempt, by ,an axe-wielding ,assassin who broke into his home near London In 1978, 

resulted in a year-long hospital stay. ' . 

The Saban Center's Flynt Leverett said of the. transfer of sovereignty, "If it doesn't work, there is no faliback-nothlng. 1I The former 

senior American intelligence officJal told me, similarly,. that "the. neocons .stlll think they can pull the rabbit out of the hat" In Iraq. 

"What's the plan? They sayI. "We don't need it. Democracy is .strong enough. We'll work it out.' " 

Middle East diplomats and former C.I.A. operatJve.s who now consult in Baghdad have told me that many wealthy Iraqi businessmen 

and their families have deserted Baghdad in recent weeks in anticipation of continued, and perhaps heightened, suicide attacks and 

terror bombings after June ,30th."We'U $~e. Christians" .Shiites, and Sunnis getting out," Michel Samaha, the Lebanese Minister of . 

Information, reported. "What the resistance is doing is targeting the'poor people who run the bureaucracy-those who can't afford to 

pay for private guards. A month agol, tri.ends of mine who are important landowners in Iraq came to Baghdad to do business. The 

cost of one day'S security was about ,twetve thousand dollars.'\ 

Whitley Bruner, a retired Intelligence officer who was a senior member of the C.I.A.·s task force on Iraq a decade ago, said that the 

new Interim government. in Iraq is urgently seeking ways to provide affordable security for second-tier officials-the men and women 

who make the government work., In early.June, two such officials-Kamal Jarrah, an Education Ministry official, and Bassam Sallh 

KUbba, who was serving as deputy foreign minister..were assassinated by unidentified gunmen outside their homes. Neither had 

hired private guards. Bruner, who returned from Baghdad earlier this month, said that he was now working to help organize Iraqi 

companies that could provide high-quality security that Iraqis could afford. "It's going to be. a hot summer," Bruner said. itA lot of 

people have decided to get to Lebanon, Jordan" or the Gulf and wait this one out." . . 

LOAD-DATE: June 28, 2004

,- 

fMSNBC - And Now a Mole?0 

, 

)~ MSN Home I My MSN I Hotmail I Shopping I Mon~y 'I People 8i Chat [f ,Sign In.~·l 

Web Search: I 

Page 1 of7 

ALL INFOR}lATION CONTAI1VED 

HEREIN IS UNCLASStFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/3ab/lsg 

I-~ '(..,(;.~ 

MSNBC J 

Print I Email I Alerts 

L!1J1J:dJJl~ N ews ' 

8/30/2004 

Newsweek 

Periscope 

National News 

campaign 2004 

World News 

The War in Iraq 

Business 

Enterprise 

Tech & Sdence 

Health 

Olympics 

SocietY 

Entertainment 

TIp Sheet 

Columnists 

letters & live Talk 

International Ed. 

Multimedia 

Search Newsweek 

News 

Business 

Sports 

Entertainment 

Tech I Science 

Health 

Multimedia 

Travel 

Opinions 

Weather 

Local News 

And Now a Mole? 

-In the Pentagon, a suspected spy allegedly passes secrets, 

to Israel 

...~ ~"",~ ... 

.Ii ; ':r::~.. :,,'.~_A~... ...~ ...~tt Peterson I Getty Images 

...._~~f;;J·;J: .., ~~~=.,.:::JI,.....u_ __... -'t_ _ 

•• jlt.. ~lot"" 

"'t...'t.~ 

A show of force: Iran dis$lays1!fs military might: .":i 

• "'-a\: , & 

By Michael Isikoff And ~'~k1Hi»sei1'ii~if;'.:". I': ~ 

Newsweek .~ ~'. ".' • , ' • ~ • 

f:. f k..... "..: ~ .1; .... .....!:l. ... " 

... •.. 'l.f·.}~'fi."~lI::H-'ilro~·_·l·,, .. 

?' ,"'I'~Iio.f~'--I~I"'o' \.'''~~~~",,'j1llt'''~~ 

.' . "'" ~~ ~ "..... 

Sept. 6 issue" It was~~¥~,~~,~~sni#o~t~lun~h-onethat the FBI 

happened to be monitoring~ .Nearly a year-,and a half ago, agents 

were monitoring a conve]~ation between·~9jl.sraell Embassy 

official anq a lobbyi~t ~of~A:merlcan IsraetR~4~IJc_ Affairs 

Committee, or AIPAC, as"'"pai-rbf a 'probein~o possible Israeli 

spying. Suddenly, ~nd~%!~ff&\$nexp'~~~edlY~ in the description-of 

one intelligence offiCiC!r,.@..i)Olh.f!f Ameri~ap.:'l.l~alked In" to the lunc 

out of the blue. Agentjj~.t\first·dldn~e·kn6~Ytho the man was. 

They were stunned to...Qiscover he was LarrV,'.Franklin, a desk 

..,... ~. 

'~. "'t, . " 

.. ~..:~ :... ~:t- 't t 

tsf~'~li ~ t~~·:,~ .,,~~ . Il :;; 

http://www.msnbc.msn.comlidl58S3706/site/n~~~W~.~E??·~ .. ~f~'" 

.......;4$~\~::,;~~~~ •.\.." .:~ .oW 

• ~ \.I¥, ,I .... _ ~ .. ~ ~ • 

•

8/3012004- --

'. - 

. ~SNBC .. And Now a Mole? f 

, 

· :¥;.}(" 6 .... ~( \~·l ~ ~ , 

1 ••t..,~~,. "l'tl ~ .. '.;.''''.'.,,,,", I'" ".".."".,f't." 

-i,'. :~, ': I,. j, t l"\,J. I 

• Star Power 'f. ;'J"'~ . • ,," _ :t , 

• .;t..... , • " : ••:. 

• Newsweek Natlonal~~~~s Section Front· ..; 'j"-,! 

: 

.... _........ M"-_ - -_...... - 

..... R.,.-,; '.~l'" '.. 

. .-: .:Jt ,; t, , 

.. ---. -- 'tf..,.;-, ~ - .. -. -- -..... t::'-- "''7- 

.':.'1'"....,.... ';I'..... t - ....., .............~;.y 

~~~~~~~~ 

Page 4 of7

\\flYW. Iiaa rctz. to Di 

http://www.ha8r~tz~cqIDlhaser¥obje~iSipageslPrintArtlcl. .. 

ALL INFORMATION C~INED 

HEPEIN IS UlJCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 UG baw/sab/1sg 

Last update - Q1:57 29/08120Q~ 

Order was out - no ~pying on U.S., says 

former Mossad chief 

By "t1IJ~ ~\l't"(t~Gide~n Alan and Nathan Guttman 

A fonner head·ofthe Mossad and military secretary to former defense 

minister and p~e minister Yitzhak Rabin says an unequivocal order 

tQ the in~~lligence Community prohibits illegal activity in the U.S. and 

operating a person to collect infonnation. 

"I hope the infotl11ation is false and thete are no gro~ds for 

suspic"io.n," rviK Danny Yatom (Labor), who was Mossad chieffrom 

1996 fof ayear and Ii half, stUd. " 

. "'. 

....... 

Accord~g to Yatom, in spite ofthe prohibition, the U.S. 

!l~~~!~tqtt~o~; ~pCi=~!~HY !h~' !tt!eHigen~ ~ntm~.ityl ~~9~ ~tr~~g 

suspicions ofIsrael being involved in intelligence-gathering activities. 

Th~ tUn ~Xt~nto.(d.l~ sqJpi~io~ WQ$ ~y~led ill J9?7 wh~ VIS! 

media p!lbJisl!eQ repQrts QfFDJ i)\v~tJgl\tlQ»s Qtt9 a)legatioflS tl);tt ~ 

Mossad agent was involved in running an intelligence agent within the 

admiriistnltioii. As a result, tHen-CIA chiefGeorge Tenet asked Danny 

Yatom for cbirifications in both a phone call and in writing. A letter 

that Yatom ~nt to' Tenet containirigclariftcations di~ not Satisfy the 

Americans, and Yatom had to fly to Washington tor a meeting with 

Tenet. When it eventually became clear that the alleg~tionwas false, 

Tenet wrote Yatom a·letter ofapology• 

Itsubaequelltly tum6d out that thQ fBI, which listens in Oil all home 

and office p1)one calls oflSraelj djplomats, bad ihtercepted a cal' 

between two Mossad officiais stationed in the U.S., Yoram Hassel, 

head ofdie Mossad miSsion, ~d anotlier individual, involved in the 

workings ofTevel, an intelligence unit responsible for liaison with the 

CIA and other ~tel1igence organizationS. The two spoke in code and 

mentioned the word "mega... Unaware that "mega" was th~.Mos~'s 

c,ode word for the CIA, the U.S. thought mega was an agent run by the 

Mossad. 

Cf.ta!nnan ofthe Knc;sset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee MK 

Yuval Steinitz told Haaretz yesterday, "I am certain !hat this story is 

groundless. This is certainly not a case ofPollard II.~'· Steinitz sai~ that 

~ sj!1~ ~e P~II~4 !lfffl!r, J~~l ~~ J!~t 9~~F!t~ ~p'j~ ~'!!lS~ tIl~ U.~:, 

and that there were gooCi relations in the area ofintelligence between 

ls.rael, the u.S., and other Western countries against terror - and no 

need to resort to spying. 

' 

"I would be very surprised jfin the flnal analysis itturned out that 

there is any basis to this story," Steinitz said."fAt most, W.s possibl~ 

that certain people may have said things t~ey were not authorized to 

say, but I ~ say with certainty that evt?Jl ifsomeone passed 

i' oft

'rri~t 

~~.. 

'/# 

~~ .'Q~ f- 

...... #, " '". 

,infotm~~orfabout.WinteHouSe poli~y. on Ute Irania4 isSue, th~ ~as 

iio~ '~~n~, ~ ~,:" ~~~sf .~f ~~eJ or

Haaretz ~ ~ews http://www.haarefz.comlJiasenlpages!AtticleNew"s.jlitri}I?:... 

E.> ALL INFOPnTION CONI'AlNED 0 


I . . DATE 07-29-2010 BY' 60324 uc baW

'Haaretz - News 

e, • 

•q 

" 

9 

'L'" w 

o 

I wortc;~ Qn CapitQlHili fQf five yePnt. 

AIPAC is aespfsed lOOre fof jJus~liig 

~emb~rs of c;ongress at'C!und. 00 you 

think that all these resolutions of 

$Upport indicate that Congress cares 

about Ismel? They don'- They just 

indicate how easily Congress can be intimidated. 

http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/pages/ArticleNews.jhtml?... 

O· 

,~ ThIS scandal won' hurt Israel 

unless Israel sticks too,closely 

to AIPAC. 

Peter Ross, Los Angeles. United 

States ofAmerica . 

ii' 

•1Q 

My boss was Jewish and cared deeply about Israel. He despises AIPAC for 

using Israel for its own ends. I called him today to ask how he feels about the 

~py ~11.d;lI: tf~ ~id tflat !lmaybe noyI tsra!!tis¥till un.4~"tpfla that ~IP~Q hJJris 

them badlY up here. You can't win friends or keep friends through intimidation. 

Uml~1 ia at GrAlt any ofAii'llttica but I WOuld ltewr trust AIPAC and, you knoW 

~at. I'd.guess t1!at !JQQ of the 435 H9use me~bers feel the sar:ne '!iay I do. ~t is 

the most unpopUlar lobby in town. This scandal won't hurt Israel unless Israel 

slicks too dosely to AIPAC. Itshould throw them to the wolves." 

PeterRoss, Los Angel.. UnitedStstesofAmerica 

Ifanything waws ever mentioned about a fraction of U.S. espionage activities, 

Mr. Franklin's sneakel}' would pale to nonexistence. 

Gllma Ramirez, Canu/el, Israel 

The Lebanon 

withdrawal 

Ifthe allegation is true. and even ifit is false, it will raise the canard ofdual 

loyalty. AIPAe. may los~ ii~ t~ e~empt ~tatU$, ilild the U.S. CQogress may ~vofd 

the organization. It's troubling that Palestinian groups in the U.S. could laurich a 

~~S~Qqp9P !\Ilt ~!i~ ~~~pth!; i~~\1e ~liY~. 11l~ '~it ~~Id contend tfiit since 

fUndS WUf8 cut for Arab organlZ.aUO~f lik~ for Israel or its 'pro" lobby. 

Ricardo Arias, Houston, United States ofAmerica 

With both major Al11erf~n.political parties st~n9 to outdo o~e another in 

slavish devotion to Israel. I cannot see Utat this affair is memly something 

sQll'lttUJing ctlQked \fA by mllepl}ten~ trvipg tQ lfl1~r ih~ BUIll administration•. 

J~" IIC1tfo,;lgI(:; Edgewiferi FI;, tinnedstat. ofAriicmm 

The publication of the affair might serve the U.S. administration in appeasing 

voters ~!fii~ 6y lh8 Close ie!8tioiiSf!ip 68tween lfii l!.S. ana Ii"!,!. It may 

elJso be trying lc) atten~ ita failure to aChieve progress In the 

IsraeliIPalestinian conflict. and hence find a pretext to distance itselffrom 

Sharon, who isn't rewarding It at a time when It could use a boost. whether there 

is any merit.fn the anegations, either ofthese tactics will harm. U.S.-Israel 

relations.. 

The timing of the allegations and the paucitY. offindings revealed so far appear 

to be a calculated move to counter this administration"s reorganization efforts of 

tI!~ Vjl(ioq~(nte!lig,"ce gptp,rjng ;lgftflcjes. In the process, allegiances of 

Jewisll office holders rriay be qiJestioned. 

I. Gat, Los Angeles, Unlteil StSfes ofAmerica 

The 'new 

antl-Sem.itlsm' 

Je'Wisli e'idiemlsm: 

HOwiealthe 

threat? 

It ~pp~", th~t !h~ -"fl!ir- i! m91lJ f'fI1"Y f!I![1 fgct, !~ t~ timf}i~g gf t~ 

r~,~,S! 9! t~~! inf9nn~~lon is ~1gf\1y !~,p~ ~!'~ p'01!~~11y !,,!qpv~!~~. Am~~?n 

Jews ha~G n~thln9 to filar: there a.r~ no targets on th~l~ baCkS, nO.Whlsp6.fS Of 

traitor when they leave the roam. Haaretz feeds Into this paranoia by asking this 

fool~ Qutl$tIQrI. 

lion $/gurw; Miami. lIaiti:d State# ofAmerica 

Tho West Bank 

separation·'-nce 

ii: UnfQrtpnately. ttl, Iflternts of 

Contrary to the popUlar and 

misinfonned belief that Jewish lobbies the U.S. and Israel don't always 

and neo-conservative Jews in the coincide. ". 

Pe!"fagon -c;ontrQl f9!elgn P.O~g': q!tf¥! Jail PieterVerhey, Huizen, The 

U.S. in the Middle East, the facts tell a Nethellands' 

different st0'Y~ ItJS the CI1s~s.l~ the ..' .• . • 

non~emocratic Arab wol1d. Islamic terrorism. as well as rampant anti~emitlc 

incitement agafnsi Israel and Jews. Thai forces the u.s. to be invoived there in 

Wf~ fp Y4llch it st~'Il·t \y@!!l tCJ ~~ illVQ!v~4 t91!egin yAtI1~ 

Before 9111. th~ B~h gov~rnmen~ aim~ at coQ~ntrating on dOm~UC affairs 

and it was Bin Laden who basically took control ofthe U.S. agenda for the 

Middle East. And had the Palestinians radically renounced all violent struggle 

8/30/2004 ?:47 PM

Haaretz - News 

http://wWw.ha~e~.comlhasen/pagesl Article~ews.jhtm1?... 

O~J . - 

against Israel and chosen the path ofnon-violent resistance, a final seWement 

could have been reached already long ago. The Arabs might want to lobby in the 

U.S. for such non-violent struggle and take Martin lUther King aOd Gt1andi as 

their heroes and martyrs, instead of suicidal terrorists. As long .as this doesn't. 

happen, Israel might need some spies around to know the true agenda of 

countries like Iran that develop nudear WMO and support antJ.lsrael terrorists 

groups. Unfortunately, the interests ofthe U.S. ancflsrael don't always coincide. 

Jan P/eter Vedle}', Hulzen, The Netherlands 

After thousands ofyears, the woltd Is stiD persecuting Jews. albeit disguised in 

different ways. The way the Unitect Nations view Israeli actions in the OcCupied 

Territories as compared to how they view Palestinian suicide bOl11.bers is a prime 

example. I justcannot fathom why the UN willingly condemn legitimate Israeli 

actions against Palestinian militants but only give Palestinians a light slap on' 

,their wrists with regard to PalestlnJan suicide bombers who wantonly blow up 

innocent Israeli women, Children, old folk and men. 

It seems that even the U.S. media has Joined in this madness with reg~rd to the 

Lany Franklin affair. The FBI has not even conduded their investigations and we 

already see the U.S. media portraying Israel as the culprit. 

• 

I would like to appeal to all to wait for the official condusion before making your 

judgement. Please note that it is also election season in U.S. now ~nd some 

unscrupulous American pofitlcal supporters might want to lea~ some bias~d 

news to boost their hidden agenda. 

Gabriel Ho, Singapore, Singapore 

For all Intents and purposes, Israel has secured effective control over.U.S. 

,foreign policy in the Middle East. through various sophisticated means, iQduding 

AIPAC's lobbying. as well as placfng at the top decision.making echelonS 

right..wing Zionists who view Israers Interests· from a"Ukud perspective, of 

course - as far more relevant than American interests, when the two do not 

converge. . 

. 

0 • 

The Franklin affair has the potential ofannouncing the begiooing of the end of 

this unquestionable control Israel has enjoyed for many years nOW. 

Omar Barghoutl, Acre, ~srael ' . 

°w..e are living with this -dualloyalism • 

~n ute tiJl1e·1llj~11\ what an{l.~",ites, 

out of fresh accusations or smearS 

auain~~ ~ ~~'h fioyre in PC?Ii~~. 

revert to. The difference is that Jews 

no longer feei the need to defend their 

1000ltY'tQ A"!f:lica 3nd ttteir s:arq !o.r 

J~rAg,: Np~ino Yrl'! ett'~rigft \h9 

relationitiip betWeen me tWO friends. 

They need each other and they'lIIm 

each other and scamiats ~nCQ~ by 

"~9thI~g ~!I ~!1g!flI' 

nllltl~nshfp b.tw~bh ~.l\YCS 

friends. They need each other 

~il~ i~~!! ~!l99~~4l!j 

~P.tb WhO wantto huttthl 

,reiationship wlii find thai they. 

a'-liiiocldil W til"IrfieadS to Die 

~I: :. ".'c' 9 ••, ... ,. .. " ". 

Batya Dagan, Los Angeles. 

ujl!~ ~I:f~ ofMl+ric]f 

.,' 

people who want to hurt the relationship will find that they are knocking their 

rieads to'the wall. . 

Batya Dagan, Los A!'gcles, United States ofAmerica 

Ifits tn.te. to bite the hand that is feeding us shows arrogance and contempt for 

our friends, as well as the rest ofthe world. This is why the resentment to rsrael' 

is justified and not juSt another case of anti-Semitism, as many Jews would have' 

it. When I was young I saw Israel as morally right but now 1m not so sure. 

~on,!ie Wolman, Toronto, canada- 

' 

Of COUISG it will badly harm the relations Israel has with the USA. Worse, ail the 

allegations ofthe Arab World that the U.S. is govemed by the "Zionist Lobby" 

WIll be proven correct. to their satisfaction. 00Jews of the dlaspora and Israel 

needs this? . , 0 

,ClaUde Myriam Hasson. Sao Paulo, Brazil 

The damage has been done by Israel. They denied the Jonathan Pollard story 

for 13 years. They still deny their involvement in the NeW Zealand Passport 

story. The Sharon government and the rest oftheir group are not the friend of 

'Unit~.States but an open enemy, and very soon it will be proved before the 

November eledions. , . 

,__ 30f6 

8/30/2004

-Haaretz - News 

o 

.. 

Sal Azam, Chicago, United states ofAmerica 

http://www.haar~tz.comlhasen/pag~s/ArticleNews.jhtml?.. ~ 

OJ 

To love America and care for Israel's security is not dual loyalty. Afew people 

made some mistakes. that does not represent all of Americas Jews. 

Gabriel G, San Francisco, United States 01America 

Ped1aps history and the events ofWW2 have convinced some Jews that their 

fate can never again rest in tIM; hands of the -Goyim- but itwould be very • 

careless of Israel to saaific:e the good will ofthe American people by treating 

them With arrogance. presuming that Israel knows whars best for both of them. 

Dan McAllnden, Los Angeles, United States ofAmerica 

From the timing atone one can jtt From the timing alone one can 

conclude this Is a political ploy either of conClude thIS Is a Political plot 

the CIA - which has a weakened eitherofthe CIAora Democrat U 

connection to Israel according to 

AI Stein, Mendocino. United 

Haaretz today- or much more likely to States ofAmerica 

the Oe!"Qqat who ~s the anony-mous . _• 0 0 • 

SQurce ofthe leak. There are aWhole bunch Qf Americans who never got oYer 

letting Jews into their countly dubs who now and again dabble in the latest fann 

of Jew 6iitfng YmiCii iiiW lakes tfi8 fomi of lYing 860m JdWiifi spies; 

AIStein, Mendocino, United States ofAmerica 

75% ofAmerican Jews are reported to be voting for sen. Kelly In the upcoming 

election, the AIPAC so leaning towards the Ukud. hardly represent American 

Jewry and should take this blame and not share itwith people they do NOT 

represent. 

Johanes Franzen, Stockholm, Sweden 

Ifthe spy case against Franklin is true. all it does is serve ~o reinforce the 

opinions ofthe Arabs. who suspect the Jews ofdesiring world dominion. the 

antJ.Semites. who claim the Jews control the government. and the mainstream. 

who distrust the Jews but choose to hideitwhen it's unpopular., The Arabs 

already believe Israel perpetrated 9-11. Iraq, and many other horrors. The spy 

case Is simply'fodder for analready·loaded cannon, pointed at the Jews for3ooo 

years. 

Jorr:lan Hirsch, Dallas, United States ofAmerica 

The so-called ·spy affair" should be reported more carefully In the media. 

Joumalist should reassess their responsibility in reporting such matters. Mr. 

Franklin Is still innocent until proven guilty, At this point It appears to be a matter 

ofinappropriate handling ofclassified documents a charge that even sandy 

Berger has to face. Unfortunately. the damage has been done and itfuels the 

hate-propaganda of all those believing In the •Jewish-Zionist" world conspiracy. 

Bernd Wollschlaeger, Miami, United States ofAmerica 

The spy story was invented to blame the Iraq war on Jews. justas Jews have 

always been blamed throughout history for major problems and mistakes made 

by Gentiles. We were blamed for the black plague. Gen:.nany's loss in World War 

I. we are blamed for the Arab world's InCC!mpetence and cruelty, and now we are 

being blamed for the war in Iraq. The result will harm U.S. Jews. Within the next 

few hundred years discrimination and violence against Jews In America wil 

increase drastfcally. Itwill get to the point where every U.S. Jew Is either dead or 

In Israel. 

BISayetta, San Francisco, United States ofAmerica 

It is time for Israel to divest itself ofIts 

~i I'Is tlpte for Israel to d,,1 with 

,,~t~_'!Stlip- ~ ~lpAg. A:lPAC ..ItseIf· theu.s:fJO!cin",~ tao '..~ ~ _ 

a rogue operation dedicated to the 

government notthrough AlPAC, 

aOQtaDditAlfU!1U ofAIPAC. Itiinot '!falem ~ ~ omm~~ .1!n~, @ .... 

p~l~el.It Is pro-AIP~C .... ~1I~ve ~8 ~e!1.nDw, da'!Qe~us. ., U. 

that the neo~nservative AIPAC types Art Rabinowitz. Brooklyn, United 

~t th~ Q~p'a(trnefll Qf QQf@(lt!8 g~'lg ~f!~~ ~J Afrlen~ 

!nfC)iIp~qqn tq A~~MI !li1~ If!i! ~PAC 

tooK itto impi"d18 1M Idraelii oftfieir iJflpdrtahdd, I do not tielieVe fiiraal wail 

runnlnq this operation. Ehud Y!I!.Om is right. So Is Shara~s~. Israel Is Innocent 

but the power mangers at AIPAC and the wannangers at ~elthis operation are 

guilty as sin. I hope AIPAC Is destroyed.by this anjj we American Jews can 

4.of~ 

8/30/2004 5:47 PM

Haaretz - News 

:,.. 

~~ 

: 

" .. 

http://www.haareiZ.com/hasen/pages/ArticleNewsJhtmI?... 

O· 

replace itWith a truly pro-Israel opeiation. one that Is not on a power trfp. I just 

hope that AIPAC's shenanigans do not hurt Israel. As Rabin suggested in 1992. 

it Is time for Israel to deal with the U.S. government to government not through 

AIPAC. which Is both outmoded and. as we see now, dangerous. 

Arl Rabinowitz, Brooklyn, United States ofAmerica 

On the contrary. the Pentagon spy scandal will greatly benefit U.S. Jews and 

Israel. By drawing attention to AIPAC, the organization will be exposed as the 

pompous, propagandistic fraud Ulat it is. Thus. U.S. Jews will be more likely to 

think rationally and humanely about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. They Will 

listen more closely to the uplifting message of Jewish peace and justice groups. 

Israel. with dIminished U.S. support for its outrageous and Immoral conduct: will 

also benefit. The greatest gift the world can give to Israel is to Insist that the 

nation bring peace and justice to Palestinians. First step: End the OCQIpation 

and bring all the sewers home. 

David Howard, Olal, California, United States ofAmerica 

There is somethIng smelly about the -franklinlAIPAC" affair. Govem~ents and 

their security agencies by rule do not go pubrlC in matters of·sples· until they 

have been nailed and indicted. So far this reeks of a malicious leak or of capital 

ineptitude ofthe FBI. or bothl ~ 

Egon Lazarus, MORAGA, United States ofAmerica 

The point about the American spies is good. and so is the point about this 

incident being set up to blame the Iraq mess on Israel. Wake up people and 

smell the coffeell think I speak for.lots of people in Canada. the U.S., and Israel 

when I say that Israel had nothing to do with the war on Iraq. Was it Israel who 

told Saddam to act like a crazy dictator? It wasn't Israel who told Saddam to fire 

scuds at Israel, nor to kill Iraqis. No. This spy business is to rehash the theory 

that Israel set up thewar on Iraq. The fact Ulat Israel actuaRy sent spies to bring 

this upon themselves seems utterly stupid. It is appalling to think that any right 

minded human being would think otherwlsel 

Tyrone Nimerowskl, Winnipeg, ClInada 

Larry Franklin should be viewed as innocent unless found guilty in a court oflaw. 

but even ifhe's convicted ofespionage, that wouldn't have a big anti-Jewish 

backlash In Amedea. MostAmericans now consider Amerlean Jews part ofthe 

national mainstream. . 

IfAmedcan Jews' special ties to Israel is -dual loyally,· what about the 30 million 

or so American Christian Zionists? They are Israel·s strongest bastion of support 

in America. Yes, most politically consdous Americans befl8V8 by now that the 

Iraq war was mastenninded by neo-conservatives to ernninate a blUer enemy of 

Israel. But again. I don't see that spawning much IIf..feellng among Americans 

against Jews or Israel because of their deep loyalty toward the" Jewish state. 

What the Israelis may need to wony about is the war's disastrous effect of 

America. their only real ally In the worfd. The Iraqi quagmire is dramatically 

• exposing the limits ofAmerica's power and eroding Its dout In the Middle East 

and the wodd. And it's happening when Israel sbuggles to extricate itselffrom its 

own quagmire In Gam and the West Bank. 

Mus""aMalik, Cheverly, Md., United States ofAmerica 

Nobody in the White House is going to say anything negative about Israel right 

now. Bush needs some Jewish votes in florida and Ohio, and November's 

election wall dictate poSey until November. This issue will die quietly and quickly. 

Paul Mann, Chicago, United States ofAmerica 

The "macho· attitude which permeates all Israeli soc.iety. does not make this a 

farfetched possibility. The InvincibUity trait runs high and cORUpts one and an. On 

an optimist point this may tum to be nothing but a political smoke screen by the 

GOP to fend off ifs supposedly pro-Israel stand. On a pessimist view. nothing is 

too stupid to put it beyond any level of Israel's govemment. To advance Israel's 

advantage (supposedly) then any risk Is worthwhile. 

Ness/m Dayan, Ashdod, I~I - 

It is amply clear that Israel and its powerful lobby In Washington were behInd the 

American invasion and OCQIpation of Iraq last year. Now Israelis trying to get ' 

the US to invade Iran and is using Jewish Americans to get the job done. 

Israelis should stop thinking that America plays the role ofmonkey and Israel 

the organ glinder 

.50f6 

8/30/2004 5:47 PM

,Haaretz,-'~ews: 

..... 

e'· , . 

·Kl}aJld SulelmaiJ: :ieniialem, ~sraei: " ... 

l1ttp://.W\VW.ha~e~'.com/llaseiiJpa:ge~ AJticl~Ne~s.jhiinl? i.~ 

g: 

This charge smells of political, ,....Why woul~ ~9 ~llealt this tOt 

,diversion. Why would the FBlle'ak this' the press before ~rresUng 

to the press beforearresting Franklin if Franklin Ifthey have kept the 

they I!~v~ ~eP,t tf!e ~r !ornJ, . year long In~gatl~n quiet _,~ 

inv~ation quiet before nOW? ,before noW?, ~ ~" 

Perria~because the U.S.' had a major Usa S~, Michigan. United ~ . 

defeat in Iraq this week; the economic States of A;,ITI8rica 

numbers are bleak and the , 

~~!'l~frti9M.b~~~ qi, ~us!, ~!PPlllgn @f1~ the §W!tl qo~t ads ~re.beComing 

clelater•• ~. •• ~ . 

LIiiii simtItld, ~ICI!lgln, unltdll~ofAmDrit:S 

During the Pollard affair. Rabin said that he caught "two Americans. spying'In. 

Olmona and they were politely sent out of the country. So Why this hullabaloo, 

•when ~e did not even !,oa~ythin9? . .' , 

richardcohen, U'!1ted Ki~gdom. 

I highly doubt Israel wOuld risk JeopardiZing relations with the U.S. Ifit turns out 

that indeed therewas aspy I doubt relations wOuld be h!lrm~: first because it 

was not as if an enemy was spYing; and the informatlon on' Iran Is something, 

Israel should MOW. without having to spy for its surviVal. AlSO relations wiD 

remain wann bec8use th8 interests. hopes values and destinies ofboth 

·coun~ are completely interwOven. . • , '.' . -. 

D Vi~nlkov, NY,. United States'ofAm,eric. 

This is obViously'Part ofan eloit ~o blame the'iraq war mess on Israel ahead of 

the U.s. elections: But AIPAC'stiould knoW better than'to'maintain lobbying • 

•Contact With bureauaatS in the Department ofDefense.1he solution Is to 

prevent these types ofscurrilous charges frOm occurring In the first place as 

there Isno shortage ofpeople willing to·use these types of Inddents for their 

own political motives. Contacts of this nature should be between government 

officials on both sides.'ine' like anY'other independent nation has a foreign 

ministry and a defense department with-liaison officers forthis. Let AIPAC lobby 

In Congress. . - - . , _. - ., .' . . . 

'Henl)' Cittoj1e, ~NeV! Yolk, United S~tes olAmeric.a 

Ifthis turns out to'be trUe. this is one 'of the dumbest things Israel could have 

done.,HoW on earth could they-haVe"thought thafthis'was a good idea?, • 

Jackie, HB"a~ Israel' . - - 

c...... - ........... -... -~ - .................. 

- 

.........--- -- 

8/30/20'045:47.PM

.rnnt 

.... 

o 

1 ,\ .... 

www.haaretz.com 

http://www.haaretz.comlhasenlobjectslI 

Q INFORMATION CONTAINED 

HEREIN IS TlNCLASSIFIED 


JQi . , - _ "~L A*'- =- ..4=:-*-13 1 0( 4 J( _C:=1C2 

Last update· 21:14 30/0812004 

Shalom: Mol~ affair is 

exaggerated 'media nonsense' 

ByNathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz 

Service and Agencies " 

Officials confirmed Monday that a senior Israeli 

diplomat in Washington met several times'with 

Larry Franklin, a Pentagon analyst being 

inv~tigated by the FBI on suspicion he passed 

classified information on Iran to the American 

Israel Public Affairs Committee. 

However, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom· 

4enying allegations of ~spionage• said such 

meetings are commonplace and the two 

governments routinely share secrets. 

\ 

"Israel and the United SUites have intimate ties 

... arid the infomiation Heing exchanged is milch 

more classified than any conversation that may 

have taken place," Shalom told a join~ news 

conference with his German counterpart, 

Joschka Fischer., • 

.The Israeli diplomat was identified as Naor 

Oilon, head ofthe political departm~t at 

Israel's embassy in Was~ington, and a specialist 

on n~clear weapons proliferatioll, ~rael says 

I~ and its nuclear.~bitions pose the greatest 

threat to the Jewish state. 

Shalom did not mention GilOD by name, but 

when asked about contacts between Oilon and 

Franklin did not deny they had taken place. 

A statement issued after the weekly cabinet 

meeting said that tlin discussing the Larry 

Franklin affair, he [Shalom] note4 that Foreign 

Ministry checks have shown that the entire 

Israeli Embassy acted accordin$ to procedures. tI 

Shalom said Monday that Israel already 

receives all'the classified information it needs 

from the U.S. governnient through shared 

intelligence. He called the Franklin affair 

"media-nonsense" that has been taken out ofall 

proportion, Army Radio reported. 

"There is no troth whatsoever in the claims that 

i 0(3 

8/

.rnnt 

.: .' 

"\ 

o 

Israel spi~d or in any way acted against our 

great friend and aUy, the United States," Shalom 

told reporters in Jemsalem. 

"I think the ties between Israel and the United 

States are intimate. The cooperation and l~vels 

ofinformation are so close, so intimate, that the 

information that is exchanged is much mo~ 

classified that any conversation or. another," he 

said. 

The pro-Israel'AIPAC lobby denied serving as a 

conduit for documents from the analyst 

connected to U.S. Defens~ Secretary Donald 

Rumsfeld's office. 

Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday that 

the FBI began investigating Franklin after 

tailing Gilon, the minister ofpolitical affairs at 

the Israeli embassy in Washington, who met an 

AIPAC representative for lunch.~Franklinreportedly 

approached their table and engaged 

in a warm conversation with them. 

However, Shalom said any meetings Franklin 

might have hel4Jwith pro-Israeli officials were 

simply part ofdiplomatic work, acc~rding to~ 

Army Radio. 

IIAmerican embassy offi9ials meet regularly 

with Israeli goverJ1t11~~t officials," said Shalom. 

lilt's an accepted thing." 

The magazine also said Franklin was once 

posted at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv when 

he served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. 

Accordirlg to the report, Federal Bureau of 

Investigation counter~intelligence agents were 

following Franklin when they saw him attempt 

to pass a classified policy document on Iran to 

an unnamed surveillance target. 

Th~ U.S. adplinistration believes that the FBI 

will refrain from c~g Franklin with 

espionage, American media saidSunday. The 

FBI apparently lacks any evidence thattl!e_ 

Pentagon data analyst was operated by either 

Israel or-AlPAC. 

Franklin, an analyst in the Pentagon's Near East 

and South Asia Bureau; could be charged with 

mishandling a classified document. However, 

the FBI has yet to make an official 

pronouncement on whether Franklin will be 

arrest~ an~ what charges he might face. 

Nevertheless, investigators are broadening their 

. 

http://www.haaretz.com!liasenlobjects/I 

(;l 

2of3 

8/

-l'~nt 

·--... 

http://vijlJI.',;'.~aareti,coinihasenlObj~tS/i, 

, 'li'Q," '. . 

tiro,be and inteii.:i~g figures at !Ile~~fen.se, '; 

D.ep~..ent, the State Dep~ent an~ o\u.tsl~e"1. ,i 

thf~slrlitiOti. \ ' ..., . , 

The investig~tio~ currently, cen~rs 'Qn f ~mgl~ ~l 

,doc'!W~nt ~I~ting t~ a di~c~ssion held ~~,~~D1~r 

administration offic;ials, about U.S. poli~y~on 

111m. Fr8rlk1in is s~speCted of~anding ~~ , 

document· which was classified'· to AIPAC, 1; 

whioh conveyed the document or its co'iite1itS Jto ' 

I~me!i gov~metit repre8entatlyes. 

J ,: .' 

The ~s Angeles Times reported Sup~y that 

Franklin may have'conveyed tlie,claSsified:. 

info~atipn jDnocently, not realizing he w~ 

~reaking the"law. ~ 

.. .. 'I 

/ 

"Th~_ ~an is not a ~py~ he's ~'idio~~' an official. ~ 

familiar ~ith the investigation told the paper. 

~ .. ' ~ .... 

-Ii 

.., , ..... 

:: _ _ _ w .. #: ~, 

; ;.'. , .... . "J,. 

Jha~enfobJectalpagesIPrintA~cfeEn.Jhtml?lteinN0=470~86 

cJ~se~ndow 

---- ......... -- ............. -.... -.: _..- 

- ..... - - ..... ;~ ......-

foot 

ft .. 

o 

www.haaretz.eom 

. http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/objecis/I 

ALL INFOPMA

.rnnt 

o 

Q 

~dditio~ to English). Oh top ofhis work ~t th~ 

Pentagon, Franklin teaches history at Shepherd 

University mW~st Virginia. 

http://wWw.haaretz.comlhas~rilobjects/I 

In conversations about Franklin with his 

coJleagues, one' ofthe words that com~s up 

again and again is IInaive.." He is described as an 

ideologue who believes wholeheartedly in the 

neo-conservative approach. "Everything by him 

is black and white," said someone who has 

worked with Franklin iJ1 the P~lltagon. "He is a 

very nice person, very conservative, not at all 

arrogant," said the colleague, adding that one of 

the reaso~s he was ~rought intQ_ th~ Near East 

and South Asia desk was his political beliefs. 

Franklin's political opinions are similar to those 

ofhis bosses - Douglas Feith, undersecretary of 

defense, and William Luti, the depu~ 

undersecretary ofdefense responsible for Near 

EJ\Stem and South Asian affairs. Like them, 

Franklin supports the policy ofacting to bring 

democracy to Arab regimes and,build up 

pro-American allies in the Middle East. 

But those who have worked with Frankljn also 

say he was a bit extreme in his work patterns, 

attitude and behavior. They occasionally 

referred to him ~ "Planet Larry">as a way of 

expressing the extent to which he "lives in a 

world ofhis own," colleagues said. 

People who have worked with Franklin believe 

that it was his ~demartc naivete that got him in 

trouble, saying Franklin was not aware ofthe 

severity ofhis activities, and so did not try to 

hide or mask them. Franklin visited Israel eight 

times while he served in the U.S. Air Force and 

wo~ked at the Pen~gon. Most ofbis visits. 

appear to have Deen related to his reserve duty 

service as an officer dealing with international 

c~ntacts. Accord~ng to his resume. Franklili 

served as a reserve air forCe colonel between 

1997 and 2004. worl~ing with Ute p.S. military 

attache in Tel Aviv. Beforehand he was 

involved in analyzing counter-intelligen~ in 

the air force. 

Had the current accusations not come to light, 

Franklin's job at the Pentagon would have 

.20f3 

8/

.rnnt 

~ 

.~; 

o 

http://www;haare~~~9m1hasen/objects/l 

'Q 

depen~~d on the presid~~tial e1t!ctiQD.s, hi$ 

_,?6wQr~e!"8 ~ai~. I(:pemocra~i6_ candidate John 

Kerry wins the next electiQn, colleagues said, 

it's doubtful that F~in will move up'.due to 

his \veil-known political views. . 

"He was considered a little s~ge even for the 

neo-cons," a coworker said. "They're probably 

saying to themselves - oh, tarry again." 

'" __ ..=.... _........ ,,;;;- ... __ .. _=::=£.z:::: __ ., _. __u..- __ ._ ... 

lhasenlobjects/pagesiPrintArtlcleEn.jhtml?itemNo=470856 

close wln,dow .' 

-- ...- .... 

8/

'l1aaretz - israel News - Mak1ng a mountain into a molehill 

· 0 ALL IIIFOrolATION COIITAINED' Q 



I Hqmepage 

News Updates Mon" August 30,2004 Blull3, 5764 

·Print Edition 

M$klng a 

mountain into a 

molehill 

http://www.haaretz.comlhasenJsp: 

Sear~h site l 

Israel Time: 02:19 (GMT+3) 

News 

Business 

Editorial & Op~Ed By Aklva Eldar 

B Srnd bJ e·rnai 

Features 

It now looks by all 

@*S81d resplIIse 

Sports ~ccounts like t.,arry 

Art & Leisure F~anklin w~II, at w~rst, be Top Articles 

BOQks 

tried for mishandling 

Letters tlen~itive rnateri~l. hi other Chutzpah: 

words, he'll be charged Class 101 

Food & Wine with leakinQinformation to Sarah 

Tourism th~ p-to·lsr~u~llobby Augerbraun 

Real Estate AIPAC. "Sensitive" data of knew she 

this sort, or of an even wasn't In 

Cartoon more s~nsitlve nature, i~ Florida 

Friday Magazine routinely conveyed during anymofe 

meetings between when standIng 

Week's End Anieri~n officials and In line at h~r 

Anglo File Israeli diplomats under the local 

W~ Bank- fence ruling bright lights .of upscale supermarket, 

t t th h rt f a man tried to 

Disengagement plan 'res a~ran S In e e~ 0 cut in front of 

Washington, D.C. h 

Ara "I' I' d 

b snapshots . ere rea Ize 

Shopping service T.he real problem I had two 

- threatening options," 

Pre~l~u! ~~~~Ions fsraei-U.s. recalls the 

, Select tI 'relations and the former 

" .,- Jewl"sh Hebrew 

~ teaQfier. "l 

IBm community does co~ld hav~ 

J I nQt reside in. this either yelled at 

_ 

small·frY from th~ him or just 

Pentagon and the ign9r~d It." 

.. 

ThIS Day mHaaretz 

cll;lssifiQatiofl 

grade of the 

By Daphna 

Berman 

Today's Papers leaked document, but 

. ra~her in the $uspicipn of 

An 

Map ofIsrael 

something fishy at the top. expiration 

Useful Numbers The murky waters ofthis date 

In..depth affair will provide ample In a few . 

About Haaretz ~shlng grou;'d~ ~or poiltlcal ~~~~~~~hen 

Tech Support rivals and conspiracy magazines list 

l'ofS 

,8/

l1aaretz - Israel News - MakIng a mountain mto a molehill http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/sp; 

o 

Q 

Paper in PDF fonnat p~Jfs. First they'll land the great 

Headlin~ N~wsbox Franklin's boss, -m,9yle hits of 

~ Undersecretary of Defense 2004, not only 

~ fQr P6lipy Q6uglas Feith, !tSpi~erman ~:' 

and then they'll hook the . ~~d ~hrek 2 

entire group of 

~dl star ~t ~he 

neoconservatives of which top o! thehst. 

•.... 

So will one 

he IS .one of the leaders. documentary. 

That IS th~ gr~up?f. B Uri Klein 

Israel's friends, fncll)dmg Y 

many Jews, that pushed 

Pr~siden\ Bush to go to 

war in Iraq. 

The bet!t fQrm of defense 

being off~nse, 

spokesp~ople 

Isr~eli 

for the 

gQv~rnJ1lent 

Insinuated that anti-Israel 

elements are behind the 

affair; R~p'yblic;an 

representative~ 'point to 

"Democratic agents" 

among $en~or FBI Officials 

who want to spoil things 

for Bush on the eve of his 

party's convention. 

They may Qe right. But you 

don't need Franklin and 

the classified rranian 

qoc~nient to draw fire at 

the conspiracy to take over 

Iraq. As members of think 

t~r1ks several yearE~ago, 

Feith and his friends 

volunteered an open 

dO"QlJmerit'in which they 

laid bare their 

Israeli-American plot to 

change the face of ~he 

entire Middle East. In 

1996, a conservative 

Isra~n-American research 

institute invited Feith and 

9thers, Including Riohard 

Perle who headed an 

advisqry panel to the 

Pentagon known as the 

Special 

Offers 

Advertisement 

StUdy In 

Israel 

Get your BA 

In Israel In 

English. IDe 

Herzl.!va. 

Israel 

Travel 

Center 

Just one click 

• hundreds of 

super dealst 

2,ofS 

8/

t;taareti..; '~srae! News~ M~g'~ ~O~!ain m(il-'a· m61~Jti~l : 

. - 

. , . 

Q' 

Def$l1se p(~)licy I3Qard i to 

puftog~ttier ~:strateglc· 

manual, for tlJeincoming 

p.rim~ minister Benjamin 

NeJahyahu; 

'~ttp:l/wwjl.Jt~~~:coinll:tasetVspi; 

O· 

~l 

, . 

F~ith: is t~sponsi~l~ for ~he 

folloWing pa~graph f"'o~ 

,that document: "Israal.can 

sh~pe its _~tra~eg,c ~ 

'environment: "in 

.~o~p'9r~tio~ with Turkey 

and-Jord@n. ,by, '!'eakel1ing, 

~o~taining. and evan 

rqJling b~c~~. ~yr.i~. r~is 

effort can focus.on 

r~.m6vi!1g Saddam 

Hussein .frQm power-hi-Iraq 

- an important Israeli ', 

~tra~egic" objecti~Ei in its 

own right ~-as ~ means'of 

f~iling Sy~i~'s region'sf" 

,am~itions:" ' 

rhe ~ocument.gqes on to 

,state that "Jordan has 

ch~llerig~d'$Yri~'s/'r~gional 

ambition.s recently by . 

suggesting the restor.a~iori 

of the Hashemit~~ 

in..lr-aq 

... Sirt~,e :(r~qts .fu~ure 'could 

~ffect:tl1e ~trategio balance. 

; in the Middle East 

profou'ndly, :it'woiild be 

:4"derstancJ~ple .Jtiat Isra~1 

lias'an interest in 

,supportina t~e Hashemites 

in,their efforts-to redefine 

Iraq/!" ,.,. -' 

:~ixfy~ars i~ter, ""e,mbers 

of that sa~e "grQup _ 

- supported.the, half-baked 

idea to.crown.Jordan's 

priric~ H~assah as:lraq'~ 

ruler. . 

If.'anyonewas lookfng:to, 

~se_~Fr~nk!ira tg s091< Fe.itti, 

. - -, ·s(- 

.'4 .-

Haare~ - Israel News - Making a mountain into a molehill 

o 

!< 

Feith and his friends 

promised in that document 

that l$ra~1i sup,pqrt for the 

missile plan would assist 

efforts to relocate the U.S. 

.embassy in Isra~1 from Tel 

Aviv to Jerusalem. Ttiat 

initiative._sponsored by the 

RepltbUcan presidential 

candidate Bob Dole, was 

the brainchild of the 

neoconservatives ~nd their 

friends at AIPAC. It utterly 

contravened the view held 

by president Bill·GUntan 

and prime minister Yitzhak 

~abin that initiatives of • 

that sort QQ not help ~uild 

trust between Israel and 

the Palestinians. Perhaps 

40f5 8/

Ha.aretz .. israel News .. Making a mountain into amol~hil1 

'; 

\,;I ~ 

th~tJs the strongest-proof 

of all that the 

neoconservatives and 

Jewish IQbbylsts do not 

"serve two masters. Th.ey 

serVe themselves, and 

that's t~e trouble. 

Ii 

Top 

htql:/l.viWW:haaretz.comlhase~sp; 

o 

Subscribe to Haaretz Plint Edition 

HomeINewsl Businessl Editorial &Op-EdI,FeatureiISportsI~ooksl,CartoonISite rulesl 

C Copyright 2004 Haaretz. All rights reserved 

-5 of5 

8/

- Yaboo! News - Top Ofiicials Queried in Israel Ptobe 

o 

Yahool My Yahool Mail 

l!HOOtNews'fIIm 

New 

User? 

Sign UP. 

.http://story.news.yahoo.com!news?ttilpJ 

o 

'~Mbl 

_ 

News Home .. Help 

ALL 


HEREIN I~ 

UNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

Vallool 

News 

Mon,Aug 30, 

2004 Search All News 

Personalize News Home Page 

News Home 

Top Stories 

•u.s. NatiOnal 

Business 

World 

Entertainment 

SPO~B 

Technology 

Politics 

Science 

Health 

Oddly Enough 

Op/Ed 

Local 

Comics 

News Photos 

, . 

lYIost Popular 

Weather 

IAudloNldeo 

Full Coverage 

White House· AP Cabinet & State 

Top Officials Q~eri~d in ApA880CIated 

Israel probe 

Mon 

.Press 

~~~2:08eAdd White House - AP Ca~inet p& State to My Yahopi 

PMET 

By CURT ANDERSON, Associate"d Press Writer 

WASHINGTON - High-ranking officials at the 

Pentagon (~ .. web sites) and State 

Department have been inteiviE),wed or briefed by 

Fal (~ews .. web sites) agents investiQating a 

Def~nse Department arialy~t 

suspected of 

passing to Isra~lclassitie~ 

Bush administratiQn 

mate~ials 

on Iran. 

. Among those briefed by the FBI 

! ; was Douglas J. Feith, the Pentagon 

uenderse-cretary for pblicy·who is a 

superior of the analyst under 

--.......... investigation, said governm~nt 

AP Photo official~ familiar with the sessions. 

. J ..of4 

8/

" Yahoo! News .. Top OtIJcials Querjed'in ~srael ~robe~ 

,~~:lIstory.news~Yahoo.com/news.?tnip)" 

o 

0' 

.. FuU .Coverage, Th~ offiQi~J$ !?pok~ Monday on 

More about conditio"n pf anonyr:nity Qeca~se t~e prob~ is 

Espionage & ongoing.' " 

Intelligence The Fa, ~gents briefed Feith Qn ~\Jnday in his 

Related News Stories office at tl1Q pentagon· and als~ 

as~eq 

. • Israel, Iran Trade 

'q~estions, the 6f{ici$ls $~iQ. AI$o r~Q~ntly 

briefec;l by the FBI wa$ Deputy Defens~ 

Threats As FBI 

Secretary Paul Wolfowitz .they said 

Investigates Spying at "., 


Others at State and Defense have been· 

(reg. req'd) (Aug 30," 

Interviewed or briefed over the course of the 

?904) . probe, but tt}e officials declined to provide ~ny 

• Shalom: Franklin 

other names. 

affair is 'media 

There"was no immediate indication that the 

nonsense' at 

criminal investigatiqn'"has widened b~yond the 

Jerusalem Post ' 

single an~lyst. 

identified previously by senior 

(registration req'd) (Aug 

law enfoi-gement officials as Larry Franklin. . 

30,2004) 

Franklin. who has not responded to telephone 

• Top Officials Queried 

messages seeking .comment. work$ in al1 office 

in Israel Probe AP via 

dealing the.Middle East affairs and has access 

Yahool News (Au~ 30, 

to clas$ified government information. 

2004) 

The investigation focuses on whath~r Franklin 

Opinion & edltorla~s passed classi~ed U.S. material on Iran to the 

American Israel 'Public Affairs Committee. the 

• ~:king almh~~n~ain inti.uantiallsraeli lobby"jng o~ganizatiori in 

In 0 a rna e I a . " '. .' . 

H tz (A 30 2004) Washington! and whether anYQne In that group 

aara ug, •forwarded the.information on to Israeli officials. 

• Israeli Mole in the AIPAC and ,~raal have·strenuou~IY d~nied the 

Pentagon at' 

allegations. 

AIJazeerah,lnfo (Aug 30, • . • 

2004) 'J~raeh offiC;lals ,did confirm Monday that a senior 

Israeli diplQm.at in Washington has met with 

Feature Articles Franklin. Those offlcif:)ls. alsQ $~eaking on 

• Spy probe tests 

pondition of anqnymity, identified tne diplpmat 

US-Israel ties at as·Naor ~ilOn. head of the Israeli Embassy's 

Christian Science p~litical department. . 

Monitor (Aug 30, 2Q04) Gilon tqld the Isr~eli newspap~r Maariv th.at he 

• Analyst at center of did nothing wrong ~l:It was concerned that he 

spy flap called naive. 

may no longer be able to work in Washington 

ardently pro-Israel at becaiJs~ of the investigation. 

Haaretz(Aug 30, 2004) 

Re~ated 'Web SI~e8 

"Now, people will be scared to talk with me," 

Gilon said.in a story published Monday. 

.2.of4 _..... _ - 8/

x anoo! l'1eWS - lOp UInclats \.luep.ea InJs~el .Probe 

• National Security 

Archive 

http://story.news.yahoo.comlnews?tmp) 

o 

• Crvptome 

• FBI's Electronic 

Reading Room 

proVI~8r8 

•A~ Cabinet & State 

•AP White House 

~ewsAlerts 

•Pentagon 

·FBI 

Services 

• News Alerts 

Politics Tools 

• EI~cted Officials 

Enter Your ZIP Code: 

r I - 

m 

or.Search by State 

•Reaister to Vote 

Enter Your ZIP Code to 

Find a Candidate: 

J 

~~1 

or Search by State 

·Issues &Action 

Scroll to select issue area 

... .# .. "' .... - ~ ... "f!!:!T "*"" 

Sel~ct 

Issue Area 

Agrtculture/FoQd 

Arts/Humanities 

Budg~t 

Busines$ 

Campaigns 

. .,. . 

-..."~... ~.."..~ 

6~ -_'. 

Associated Press writer Barry Schweid:' 

contributed "to this story. 

SloryTools 

BEmail 1>POStlRead aPrint 

StOry Msgs Slory 

Ratings: Would you recpmmend 

this story? 

Not at all 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 

Prev~ 

- Highly 

- - - - 

Avg Rating: 3.75, 209 

Story: GOP lauds Bush As Strong Wartime 

leader (AP) 

Next Story: 

GI Testifies Against Woman in Iraq Abuse 

(AP) 

More White House Stories 

•Bush Signs Orders for Intelligence Reform 

(AP) 

•Powell Praises NaJaf Peace Agreement 

(AP) 

•Cheney's Plane Avoids Collision. (AP) 

•Bush Seeks $2 Billion In Hurricane Aid 

(AP) 

•Bush: Consider Landowners on Environment (AP) 

~ .30f4. 8/

Print 

o 

http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/objects/pagesIPrintArticI... 

ALL nrForotGN CONTAINED 

HEP-EIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJ1sg 

Last update· 02:0l 29/0812004 

Analysis I A ~old wind blowing from the 

CIA 

By 

Befo~ fonner U.S. Central Intelligence Agency head George Tenet 

retired, he made stinging comments on various occasions to Israeli 

officials in the intelligence communityJ especially the MossadJsaying 

Israel had a spy in America. 

The acellSaUon was rejected out ofhand - Tenet was even lOUdly 

challenged tQ eateh any such agent and expose him publicly. The 

exchange ofremarks was pass~d on to Isrnel J evokilig siliPdse at tHe 

politl~l ievel over ~e accusations. . 

Qq Fti4ay I,ljght the: Am~rt~ J!l~~~a ~v~~~ ~!! ;tA ~lJv~t!gatj(m 

was proceeding into a suspected Pentagon mole who was transmitting 

!~tmltiQt\ 

to MPAC (t~~ Ameri~ lSnlet P-bbUq Aftllittl 

CQJtY1).j~) ~d 119m tb~~ to ISA~Il\bQut the \\il:lJt~ HQ!JS4 i S war 

plans for Iraq. 

A person named Larry Franklin was mentiQrtecIr who works in the 

offICe ofundersecreiary ofdefense Douglas Feith. Between La1Ty 

Franklin and Doug Feith there are at least three levels ofbureaucratie 

~ierarchy. . 

AlPAt insisted last night that it heard Franklin's name ror the first 

time on Fridll-Y when investigators Cjme to them. They also said that 

AIPAC provided the autborities with documents and information that 

investigators had requested orasked about. 

In any ease, it is difficult to imagine that an organization like j\IPAC, 

considered professional and very experiencedJwould get itself 

involved in maintaining a mole in the American security 

establishment. 

The timing ofthe affair's exposure is connected with the U.S. election 

campaign and the struggle against the group ofneoconservatives in 

the administratioriJwho are accused ofleading President Bush to war 

with·Iraq. 

While j\IPAC claims it never heard ofLarry Franklin, he is known to 

the ism~1i int~lIigence community. H~ has. appeared more than puce at 

meetings with ISfaeli iiitelllgelice!, especially with military (iUelligeiice, 

mostiy in a group setting. . 

Israel has noticed that relations between the CIA and the Mossad had 

begun to cool. Senior Israeli and American officials say the chill may 

have a number ofcauses. One mighi have been the leaking ofsecret 

1of3. 

8/30/2004 5:41 PM~


e· 

UNCLASSIFIED - ~OUO 

Newsweek 

Sept~mber 6, 2004 


ALL 

FBI INFORMATION CONTAIloJED 

HEREIN IS lTNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

III ti,e Pentagon, a suspected spy allegedly passes secrets aboutIran to Israel 

By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball 

It was just a. Washington lunch-one·that the FBI happened to be monitqring. Nearly a year and a half 

ago, agents were monitoring a conve~sation between an Israeli Embassy 9fficialand a lobbyist for 

American Israel Public Aff3:irs Committee, or AlPAC, as part ofa probe into possible Israeli spying. 

Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, in the description ofon~ jntelligence official, another American-' 

Itwalked in u to the lunch out ofthe blue. Agents at first didn't know who the man was. They were stunned 

to discover he was Larry Franklin, a desk officer with the Near East and South Asia office at the 

Pentag°rt· 

Franklin soon became a ~ubject ofthe FBI investigation as well. Now he may ~ace cpar~es, 

accuse.d of 

divulging to Israel classified infonnation on U.S. government plans regarding Iran, officials say. While 

some U.S. officials warned against exaggerated accusations ofspying, one adl)'linistration source 

described the case as the ~ost significant Israeli espionage investigation in Washington since Jonathan· 

Pollard, ~n America~ who was imprisoned for life ,in 1987 for passing U.S. Navy secrets to the Israeli~. 

The FBI and Justice Department are still reviewing the evidence, but one intellige~ce 

source believes 

Franklin may be arrested shortly.. 

The probe itselfamounts to another ep:1barrassing problem for Donala Rumsfeld, the beleaguered 

Defense secretary. It come~during ~ week in which violenc~ 

flared up ag~in in Iraq arid a Pentagon 

investigation indirectly blained Rumsfeld for poor oversight in the Abu Ghraib prisoner-~~use 

scandal. In. 

a statement, the Defense Department said it Ithas been cooperating with the Department ofJustice on this 

matter for an extended period oftime." 

Atfirst'blush, officials close to the investigation say, Franklin seemed an ~likely suspect: he was 

• 

described as a midlevel policy "wonk" with a doctorate who had toiled for. some time on Mideast affairs. 

Yet he had previously worked at the,Defense I~te1l1gence 

Agency, and there was at least one other ~pect 

to his background that caught ,the FBI's attention: although-Franklih was not Jewish, he was an Army 

reservist who did his reserve duty at the ,U.S. Embassy in rei Aviv. 

FBI counterintelligence agents began,tracking him, and at one point watched him allegedly attempt to 

pass a classified U.S. policy document on IraIl to one ofthe surveillance targets, according to a U.S. 

intelligence official. But his alleged confedera~e 

was "too sma~, II the official said, and re~sed to take it. 

,Instead, he asked Franklin to briefhim on its contents-and-Franklin allegedly obliged. Franklin also 

passed informati9n gleaned from more highly classified documents, the official said. Ifthe government.is 

correct, Franklin's motive appears to have been ideological rather than financial. There i~ 

no evidence 

that money changed hands. ufor wl!atever reason, the guy hates Iran passionately," the 9fficial said, 

referring to the Iranian govermrient. . 

. 

10f2 

813112004 1:30 PM

. ". 


bIlp'JIWWWodi"O/adminlEARLYBIRDI0408301s20040830316062.btml 

NEWSWE~KIS efforts to reach Franklin or a lawyer representing him were unsuccessful. But a close 

friend, MicliaerLedeen ofthe American Enterprise Institute, said he believes the charges against 

Franklin are "nonsensical.II Officials say that Franklin began cooperating about a month ago, after he was 

confronted by the FBI. At the time, these officials say, Franklin acknowledged meetings with the Israeli 

contact. Law-enforcement officials say they have no evidence that anyone above Franklin at the Pentagon 

had any knowledge ofhis activities. 

Israeli officials, meanwhile, bristled at the suggestion ofespionage. Ephraim Sneh, a member of 

Parliament and a retired general who has been monitoring the development ofnukes in Iran for years, 

said that Israel would be crazy to spy on its best friend. JlSince Pollard, we avoid any intelligence activity 

on U.S. soil,II Sneh said in an interview. "I know the policy; I've been in this business for years. We avoid 

anything that even smells like intelligence-gathering in the U.S. II Another Israeli official contended that 

the Israelis had no cause to steal secrets because anything important on Iran is already exchanged 

between the CIA and the Mossad, Israelis spy agency. In a statement, AlPAC denied that any ofits 

employees received information "they believed was secret or classified,II and said it was cooperating. 

U.S. investigators would not reveal w~at kind ofinformation Franklin was allegedly trying to divulge to 

Israel. But for months the administration has been debating what to do about IraI\'S clerical regime as 

well as its alleged program to build nuclear weapo~-a subject ofkeen interest to the Israelis, who have 

quietly warned Washington that they will not permit Tehran to gain nuclear capability. 

. Franklin was known to be one ofa tightly knit group ofpro-Israel hawks in the Pentagon associated with 

his immediate superior, William Luti, the hard-charging and impassioned protege offormer flouse 

speaker Newt Gingrich. As deputy assistant secretary ofDefense for Near East aff~irs, 

Luti was a key 

player in planning the Iraq war. He, in tum, works in the office ofUnder Secretary Douglas Feith, a 

career lawyer who, before he became the Pentagon's No.3, was a sometime consultant for Likud, Israeli 

prime Minister Ariel Sharon's political party. Officials say they have no evidence that either Feith or Luti 

had any' knowledge ofFranklin's discussions with the Israelis. 

Franklin has also been among the subjects ofa separate probe being conducted by the Senate intelligence 

committee. Part ofthat investigation concerns alleged "rogue" intelligeJ!.ce activities by Feith's staff: 

Among these activities was a series ofmeetings that Franklin and one ofhis colleagues, Harold Rhode, 

had in Paris in late 2001 with Manucher Ghorbanifar, the shadowy Iranian arms dealer made infamous 

during the Iran-contra scandal ofthe 1980s. One purpose ofthose meetings was to explore a scheme for 

overthrowing the mullahs in Iran, though Rumsfeld later said the plan was never seriously considered. 

But so far, there is no evidence that the Ghorbanifar contacts are related to the espionage probe. And 

officials famili~ with the ~ase suggest that the political damage to Bush and the Pentagon may prove to 

be more serious than the d~age to national security. - 

With Michael Hirsh and Daniel Klaidman in Washington and Dan Ephron in Jerusalem 

f· 

2of2 

8/3112004 1:30 PM

~~I Looking Deep Into Qefense Office 

, "I 

o 

hUp:l/wwW.dia.~/admWEAiu,YBIRD10408301s20Q4083031S93I.h~1 

UNCLAS~IFIED.. FOUO 

Philadelphia Inquirer 

August 29, 2004 

ALL 

FBI INFOrot&TION CONTAlNED 

HEREIN IS TJNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

FBJ, Looking Deep Into Defense Office 

A probe goes beyond wlletller a ":lidlevel analyst gave an Iran policy docum.ent to !s.r~el, 

sources said. . 

By Warren P. Strobel, Inquirer Washington Bureau· 

WASHINGTON - An FBI irivestigation into the handling ofclassified material by Pentagon civilians'is 

broader than previously reported and goes well beyond allegations that a single m~dlevel 

analyst gaye a 

top-secret Iran policy document to Israel; three ~ource.s familiar with the investigation said yesterday. 

The probe; more than two,years old, also ha~ fo~used 

on othe~ Pentagon civilians, the sources, who have, 

firsthand knowledge ofthe subj~ct, said on c~ndition ofanonyinity. 

~n additin, one said, FBI investigators in recent week~·have condQcted interviews to detelJllin~ whether 

Pentagon officials gaye cl~sified 

u.s. intelligence to a leading Iraqi exile grQup, the Iraqi National. 

Congress, which'may,have in tum passed it to Ira!!. The exile group's leader, Ahmed Chalabi,.has de.nied 

his group was involved in any wrongd

FBI Looking Deep Into Defense Office 

o 

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. 

http://www.di..O IadminlEARLYBIRD10408301s200408303IS93I.htm1 

Franklin, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who lives in West Virginia, could not be reached 

for comment yesterday. 

Investigators are said to be looking at whether Franklin acted with authorization from his superiors, one 

official said. 

Two sources disclosed yesterday that the information believed to have been passed to Israel was the draft 

ofa top-secret presidential order on Iran policy known as a National Security Presidential Directive. 

Because ofdisagreements over Iran policy among President Bush's advisers, the document is not 

believed to have been'completed. 

Having a draft ofthe document - which some Pentagon officials may have believed was.insufficiently 

tough toward Iran - would have allowed Israel to influence U.S. policy as it was being made. Iran is 

among Israel's main security concerns. 

Two or three staffmembers ofthe pro-Israel lobby have been interviewed in the case. In aprepared 

statement, the lobby said any allegation ofcriminal conduct was "false and baseless.II It is cooperating 

fully with investigators, the statement said. 

Israeli officials insisted they stopped spying on the United States after the exposUre ofJonathan Pollard, 

who was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison for spy'ing for Israel. 

White Hou~e spokesman Scott McClellan would not discuss the investigation. 

I1Qbviously any time there is an allegation ofthis nature, it's a serious matter," he said while traveling 

with the President in Ohio. 

Other sources said the FBI investigation was more wide-ranging than initial news reports suggested. 

They said it had involved interviews ofcup-ent and former officials at the White House, Pentagon and 

State Department. 

Investigators have also asked about the security practices ofseveral other Defense D~partment civilians, 

they said. 

, 

20f2 

813112004 I:30 PM

.; ~ - 0 

Pentagon Spy Flap Isn't Open-And-Shut Case 


hUp:/lwww.dia.(5V/adminiEARLYBiRD~~s2004083031S922.hlml 

• "'~ .4~' , •••. ~~~~;'~3f~~~:~'ijfe~~iiitMi~:ii&i~i¥~.( 

-;:...!-'#:.' ~t..~.!...:';__~2~-::lU..~~~:.;.~"::~ t •• , .. ',~~~......-:.. ~.,..:±-~_ 

PIA Home IWhat'$ New IProducts by Typ~ IProdUcts_by Region I~ IIDili! 

Lqs Angeles Times 

Augu'st 29, 2004 

ALL FBI INFO~HATION CONTAINED 

HEREIN IS T~iCLASSIFIED 

DATE'07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

Pentagon Spy Flap Isn't Open-And-Shut Case 

u.s. and Israel often sl,are data, officials say. But tl,e latter I,as rile4frlelldly nations 

befor~' . 

By Laura King and,Tyler Marshall, Times Staff Writers 

JERUSALEM - 

Not just in espionage thrillers,but in real life as well, it can be difficult ~o tell trusted 

.friend from double-crossing spy. 

That's especially tru~ 

Qetween close- allies such as Israel and the United States, in a world where 

g~vernmentofficials, 

lobbyists, diplomats, Jhink-tank analysts and !ntelligepce veterans fr~m both sides 

o~en move in overlapping political ~nd social circles - 

a pattern that can blur the line between cordially 

informal exchanges ofinformation and espionage. · 

After U.S. authorities disclosed that a Pentagon analyst specializing in Iranian affair~ 

is under 

-investigation for possibly spying for Israel, the government ofPrime Minister Ariel Sharon flatly denied 

that it had illicitly acquired any classified American material. 

r 

But cases such as these are not always ~pen and: shut. Longtime observers ofthe intelligence scene note 

that the U.S. and Israel often share sensitive data, particularly when one has assets the other lacks. 

For example., the ranks ofIsrael's diplomatic and intelligence corps are:h~neycoinbed.with 

native Arabic 

spea~ers, many ofthem Jews whose families emigrated from elsewhere in the Middle East. They are i~ 

many cases far better equipped than their relatively sparse U.S. counterparts to carry out sophisticated 

analyses ofpolitical and military developments in the region, and the fruits ofsuch labors are routinely 

handed over to America. 

Before and during the war in Iraq, Israel and the United States engaged in intensive sharing of 

inte~ligence- some ofwhich turn~d out to be tainted, military and inte~ligence officials on both si~es 

have said. 

Among Arne~jcan 

Jews, the subject ofIsraeli spying is fraught with tension because offears.ofbeing 

tarred as a "fifth'column" that pu~ Israel's interests'ahead ofAmerica's. ~ome act~vi~ts 

for Jewish and 

Isra~li 

causes believe that it took-years to recover from the damage done by the case ofU.S. naval 

intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was convicted ofspying for Israel and sentenced in 1987 

to l.ife in prison. 

i 

I 

I I !, 

In t~~ current case, such concerns are complicated.by investigators' s~spicions 

that the American Israel 

.Public Aff~if§ Committee, the foremost lobby group in Washingto~ for Israeli causes, may have served 

as a conduit for infonnat!on improperly passed to the Israeli'government. AlPAC has denied any 

wrongdoing. 

lof4 

813112004 "1:3.0 PM

.. - 0 

Pentagon Spy Flap Isn't Open-And-Shut Case . 

.~ 

" 

http://www.dia.iO/adminlEARLYBlRDlO4OilJ0Is2904083031S922.html 

.For.Israel,.part ofthe. problem w~~n confronted.wit~:a 

spy scandal like this is that in the past, its, 

protestations ofinnocence sometimes proved Jess:than. creaible: 

In recent years, under the watches ofseveral prime ministers, Israel has antagonized a string offriendly 

nations, inclpding Switzerland, Cyprus, Jordan an4.Canada, either by using their soil as a staging ground 

for spy activity or by having' ~ossad age~ts pass themselves offas these ~ountries' riationals. .. ' 

Israel ~uffered 

one ofits.·worst cases of"blowback"-. espio~ageparlance for unanticipated and highly 

unwelcome consequences - when Mossad agents tri~d, ineptly, t~ assassinate Hamas le~der Khaled' 

Meshaal in Jordan in 1997 by injecting him in th~. ear with poison. 

To retrieve its disgraced agents, Israel wasJorced to free Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who 

returned to the Gaza Strip in triumph and was a driving force behi~d the campaign ofPalestinian suicide 

bo~bings until he was ass~sinated by Israel in March. 

.Authorities in New Zealand were infuriated last spring when two Isra~lis 

were caught trying to 

fraudulently procure a New Zealand p~spoi1. 

Prosecutors s~id a disabled New Zealand man waS 

unwittingly used as the phony passport ~pplicant. . 

Israel ha~, 

not acknowledged that its nationals were spies, but New ~aland says there is little room for 

doubt. 

" 

Bungles suc~ as these have done much to dent the.Mossad's image a~ a skilled and subtle practi~ioner 

the art ofespionage, and high~profile 

errors nave pro~pted ,calls in Is~el to rein in the spymasterS: 

of 

In the aftermath ofthe Pollar~ case, Israel made ~trenuous pledge~ to refrain from spying on the United 

States. Senior diplomatic sources apd analysts interviewed Satw:day expressed doubt that Israel WQuld 

have'dsked involving ~tself in such an operation at thi~ j\Ulcture. 

"Isr,ael is not spying on American soil, full stop,in the sense that it's not trying to locate potential agerits, 

it's n9t approaching them, it's not iecmiti.ng $em, it's not running the~, and it's not paying mo~ey for 

information," said Yossi ~elman, an author Who special~zes in ~srael's intelligence community. 

"And it very much depend~ 

on the extent and detail ofthe information involved," Melman added. ~IIf 

someone at the Pentagon actually passed a confidential document directly to Israel, it would-be very, very· 

se~ous, but ifsomeone si~ply tell~ a third partY, 'Well, it seems the American thinking on this subject is 

such ~d such: then it's·all much more murky." 

In Washington, the reports ofthe FaI inv.estigation al$o raised. questions aliout why Israel might be 

willing to risk a major-spy scandal involving its closest ally. After all, Sharon's government can open 

doors even at the highest ~eve!s oJ~e Bush acJ1lJinistra~iQn, Washington-based diplomats and Middle 

East experts noted. 

"It would be kind ofreckless for Israel to dO.this c

Y:"7 n Spy Flap Isn' Open-And-Shut Case0 

- 

http://www.diatrladminJEARLYBIRDt0408301s2004083031S922.b1m1 

\. 

believes. 

Earlier this year, senior Israeli officials predicted that Iran could gain nuclear weapons capa~ility 

by next 

year, and some hinted that Israel would be prepared to attack facilities at the Iranian portofBushehr if 

Tehran achieved that capacity. Iran has threatened Israel as well. 

"Ifthe Zionist entity attacks us, we are capable ofstriking its nuclear reactors, It Iranian news reports 

quoted Gen. Yedalla Jawani, a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guard, as saying recently. 

A U.S. inteiligence estimate this year suggested that Iran was still several years away from building a 

nuclear bomb. 

"Some Israelis have recently adjusted to a prediction oftwo to three years, but they have~taken 

a much 

more alarmist position on this [than the U.S.] ·all along," said Joseph Cirincione, senior associate and 

director ofthe nonproliferation'program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Pea~e 

in 

Washington. "There are ~learly differences." . 

Understanding details ofthe U.S. assessment ofIran's nuclear program·or gaining inside knowledge of 

how America might reac~ to a possible Israeli preemptive military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities 

would be extremely valuable for the Jewis~ state, regional experts say. 

The subject ofthe FBI's investigation is believed to have dealt with Iran pdlicy in a part ofth~ Pentagon 

that has had considerable influen~e 

on U.S. policy in the region. 

Almost no one in the Israeli leadership echelon believes that intelligence-gathering,in and of i~elfis 

necessarily a hostile act, even when conducted in friendly countries., Part ofany diplomat's job is to read 

the newspapers, talk t~ politicians 'and policymakers, visit military and industrial installations when 

invited to do so - 

and report back. 

"All over the world, in the embassies ofany country, you have people with job titles like cultural attache 

or agricultural liaison, and in reality, they gather infonnation ofuse to their home country's intelligence 

apparatus," said a former Israeli diplomat, speaking on condition ofanonymity. "Everyone does it.tI 

Israel has dozens ofmilitary and military intelligence officials, and at least two ranking Mossad agents, 

as part ofits overt operations in the United States. The Mossad has a liaison to the CIA, who also ~cts 

on 

behalfofIsrael's domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, in dealings with the FBI. 

Because Israelis such a melting pot, with immigrants from all over the world, it has many citizens who 

hold dual mitionality. When smart, multilingual young Israelis holding foreign passports are ready tQ 

enter the job market, they sometimes find themselves approached --albeit discreetly - 

by Mossad 

rec~iters. 

Separately, the Mossad is known to seek out foreign Jews to serve informally as volunteer 

tipsters, known in Hebrew as sayanim, or Ithelpers. 1t 

Whatever its outcome, the spy flap comes at an awkward time for both Sharon and President Bush. The 

Israeli prime mipister is on far friendlier terms these days with Washington than he is with members of 

his own party and has no wish to jeopardize that. And in an election season, no U.S. leader would court a 

public spat with Israel. 

Bush has lately gone far out ofhis way to support Sharon. 

30f4 

813112004 1:30 PM

Pentagon Spy, Flap Isn't O~n·Aii(l·Sliut Case - http://www.dia.ic.~oY/admintEARLYBlRD/04"0830/s200408303IS922.html 

,~ ~ - - " 0 .O' -.' .' -:- ., . 

" - . .. - 

.Four mOl)ths ~gQ;·h~ r~v.~r.se4 'c!~c!4~~'.~.fl)~~'. ~?liCYJ9, s~uppg~ ~~ t~e ,prime nii~i~tet~siplan to"eve!1tualiy 

~ex large Jewish settle~ent blocs in:the'W~st Bank'in e.xc~uingefor Israel relinquishing settlements'in 

the Gaza_Str~p., 

Washingt~l} also~ ~efrahied from publ~

UNCLASSIFIED .. FOUO 

washingto1'~:Post 

August 29, 2004 

Pg. 1- 

. .~ 'r~" • "~'''(I·~$r!~'ls·'1....~'''Z':\" ..~:ti~~i''''''''Iii~;;'''-:-{l1J:~:~f'''~,iIll'1. 

_.~~~ 

~i~:ii.~~~~~~~~:~D~f'!!S8; t~ntg9n~'i~m~5:!I 

PIA HOme I¥'hat'? New IProdu~ts by Type l rfoduets bY ReSioD I~'11:k!R. 

ALL 

FBI INFORMATION CONTAI~mD 


DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sq 

Analyst. Who Is Target QfProb~ Went-To Israel 

By Thomas E. Ricks and Robin Wrigh~ Washington Post StaffiWriters 

The FB~ investigation into whether classified inforination was passeq to the IsraelLgov:ernment is 

focused on a P,entagon:analyst.~ho has served as an Air Force reservist in Israel, and tne.probe'has ~e~n 

broadened'in recent days to in~lude 

interviews at the State and Defense departments and.with Middle 

~astem affairs speci~lists 

outside government, officials and

-. ~ () 

Analyst Who Is Target OfProbe Went To Israel . 

. http://www.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/040830/s2004083031S928.html 

O' 

liThe whole thing makes no sense to me;II said Dennis Ross, speciar'envoy on the Arab-Israeli peace 

process in the first Bush administration a~d the Clinton presidency. "The Israelis have.access to all sorts 

ofpeople. They have access in Congress and in the administratipn. They have people who talk about 

these things," said Ross, ~ow a seniQr fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office issued a statement yesterday saying Israel was not involved in the 

matter and conducts no espionage in the United States. AlPAC has strongly denied any wrongdoing and 

said it is "cooperating fullyll with the probe. ~ 

The FBI investigation was touch~d 

offmonths ago when a series ofe-mails was brought to investigators' 

attention, said a U.S. official familiar with the case. The investigation move4 into Jrlgh'gear in re~ent 

days, another official said. On Friday, Justice Department officials briefed some Pentagon officials about 

the state ofthe inquiry. 

"1 think they are at the end oftheir investigation and beginning to briefpeople in the chain ofcommand, 

partly to make sure that the acts weren't authorized,II one official said. 

Pentagon co-workers expresse~ 

shock at the news. IIIt's totally astonishing to all ofus who knew him," 

said a Defense Department co-worker who asked not to be identified because ofthe investigation. "He is 

a career guy, a mild-mannered professional. No one would think ofhim as ev~l 

or devious." 

Franklin works in the office ofWilliam 1. Luti, deputy undersecretary ofdefense for Near Eastern and 

South Asian affairs. For years a bureaucratic backwater, the office has been in the thick ofthe action 

since 2001 because it fonnulates Pentagon policy on Iraq. It played a centralt'ole as the U.S. military 

prepared for the spring 2003 invasion and"since then as the Pentagon has overseen the occupation. 

Luti's office is part ofthe policy operation Ul1der Feith. 

Feith has been a controversial figure in U.S.-Israeli affairs since the mid-l990s, "Yhen he was part ofa 

study group ofAmerican conservatives, then out ofgovernment, who urged Israel's then prime minister, 

Binyamin Netanyahu, to abandon the Oslo peace accords and reject the basis for them .- that Israel 

should give up land in exchange for peace.. 

More recently, Feith has been a target ofcriticism from Democrats who claim that two offices in his 

branch -- the Office ofSpecial Plans, headed by Luti; and the Counteperrorism Evaluation-Group _. 

sought to manipulate intelligence to improve the Bush administration's case for war against Iraq. House 

and Senate intelligence·committee investigators found no evidence for allegations that the Pentagon 

offices tried to bypass the Clt\ or had a major impact on the prewar debate. But in the Senate panel's 

report on prewar intelligence, three Democratic senators -- John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), Carl M. 

Levin (Mich.), and Richard 1. Durbin (III.) .-specifically criticized Feith's operation. . 

In Kearneysville, W.Va., about 80 miles from the Pentagon, neighbors ofthe Franklins interviewed 

yesterday said they did not know the family well. Though nobody answered the door, voices were heard 

i~ the house, which had a "God Bless Our Troops" sticker and an American flag i~ the window. 

People who know Franklin from different phases ofhis life offered contrasting accounts ofhis political 

views. 

A U.S. governm~nt 

official familiar with the investigation said Franklin was very outwardly supportive 

20f4 

813112004 1:30 PM

Analyst Who Is Target OfProbe Went To Israel http://www.dia..~V/adminlEARL YBIRD/040830/s2004083 03 IS928.html 

.. ~ () ~ 

ofIsrael, for example. But a fo~er co-worker at the DIA disputed that characterization, saying that h~ 

did not recall In years ofworking with him any strong political statements about Israel or anYthing else. 

Franklin, he said, was a solid, competent analyst specializing in Iranian political affairs, especially the 

views oftop leaders and the course ofopposition movements. . 

In February 2000, Franklin wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal's European editiop. that was 

sharply cri~ical 

ofIranian President Mohammad Khatami, arguing that the leader was launching a "chann 

offensive" that was simply a "ruse" to make the Iranian government look better to Westerners while it 

continued to abuse human rights. 

Details ofFranklin's Air Force service, and especially his time in Israel, could not be learned yesterday. 

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv declined to comment. 

In Israel yesterday, Sharon's Qffice issued a statement. ItIsrael does not engage in intelligence activities in 

the U.S. We deny all these reports,1t the stateme~t 

said, according to the Associated Press. That followed 

a strong statement Friday by the Israeli Embassy· in Washington denYing any wrongdoing. 

One Israeli of(icial familiar with the situation said yesterday that his government had checked· lI every 

organ here" to make sure that no part ofgovernment was involved. "We checked everythiJ}g possible, and 

there's absolutely nothing. It's a non-event, from the Israeli point ofview. Someone leaked this to [hurt] . 

. . the president, AIPAC and ~e Jews on the eve ofthe R~publican convention,1t he speculated. 

He added that Israel would not have been involved in such activities, "because we have a trauma here in 

Israel. It's called Pollard. It 

That was a reference to the case in which a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, Jonathan J. Pollard, admitted 

in 1987 to selling state secrets to Israel. Pollard was sentenced.to life in prison, and Israeli officials have 

said since then they do not conduct espionage against the Uriited States. 

At AIPAC, spokesman Josh Block said the organization had no comment yesterday beyond its Friday 

statement that the organization and its employees denied any wrongdoing and were cooperating with the 

government. A former A~AC employee also said he was baffled by the news ofthe FBI investigation. "I 

have a hard time figuring out what this is about, II he said. Ifthe Israelis or their supporters want to know 

about deliberations in the Bush administration, he,said, "all they have to'do is take people to lunch. II 

Others in Washington, however~ 

maintained that Israel does present a problem for the United States in 

certain aspects ofintelligence, such as sensitive defense technologies and Iran policy. 

- 

Israel sees Iran as the single biggest threat to its existence, and so closely monitors all possible mov~s in 

Washington's Ira~ian pol~cy -- especially as the Bush administration presses Tehran to disclose more 

about the state ofits nuciear program.. 

One former State Department officer recalled being told that U.S. government experts considered the 

countries whose spying mo~t thr~~tened 

the United States were Russia, South Korea and Israel.. III also 

know from my time in Jerusalem that official U.S. visitors to Israel were warned about the 

counterintelligence threat from Israel:' he said. 

Taking a slightly different view, others speculated that the very closeness ofthe relationship between the 

United States and Israeli governments -- and especially the'tight connections between ~he Israelis and 

Feith's policy office -- may have led officials to become sloppy about rules barring release ofsensitive 

30f4 

813112004 1:30 PM

Analyst Who Is Target OfProbC Went To Israel 

.:;,; . ~ 

"I '-J 

,information. 

Staffwriters John Ward Anaerson in Jerusalem, 'Dan Eggen, Ami!. f?. Paley, Steven Ginsberg pndJerry 

Markon. in Washington a~nd staffresearcher Madonna Lebling ~ontributed 

to,this report.. 

40f4 

8/3 112004 1:30 PM'

!teport On Iran Key To Spying Inquiry 

,.~ · 0 

UNCLASSIFIED - fOUO 

Los Angeles Times 

Aug~st 29, 2004 

Pg.l 

'adm!JVEARLYaIRDI0408301s2004083Q3 IS93~.htrill 

hUp11www.di"O 

, _ .... to ~" i?{f(~ --:-:£~~~1.""'~'!5\~~~~~t.,;:;-rlii·~t~~·ii~:~·":rt~·'?~A(·~~~~~DJ' 

. • ,,~t' .'.! ~t:~.;':,~~~.;' ';_{-'~~~:!';"';J',*~UeAense, e.u.irtence; gency;~ - 

. PIA Home JWhars NmIProducts byType I Pr~ilCiS by Region',~ , &JR. 

A-".,~A:-..~1..~~~"~~=+= l~:S-lJ·l oi,'"&lH "."-0',.,, t. 

ALL 

FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED 


DATE 


Report On Iran KeY,To Spying Inquiry 

Investigators are looking closely at Pentagon'policy analyst Larry Franklin's 

relations/lips Wi~/l 

advocl;ltes for IsraeL 

By Mark Mazzetti and Richard B. Schmitt, Times StaffWriters 

·WASHINGTON - 

The man at the center ofan FBI investigation into possible Israeli espionage in 

Washington is a career Pentagon employee, a colonel in the Air Force reserves and a national security 

~nalyst who at the end ofthe Cold War taught himself Fa~si' and refashio't:led himselfas a!1 expert on Iran, 

officials said Saturday. 

T!le FBI is trying to detennine whether he is also aspy. 

U.S. officials ~onfinned Saturday that the target ofthe investig~tion was Larry'Franklint the Pentagon's 

top Iran policy analyst and a confidant ofDeputy.Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and Douglas J. 

Feith, whot as undersecretary for policy, was t~e Pentagon's t~ird-r~n.king 

official. 

The FBI is trying to ascertain whether Franklin turned' over a draft presidential direc~ive 

Qn policy toward 

Iran last year to two people affiliated with·the Washington..bas~d American Israel Public Affairs 

Committee, which may have given the information to Israel. 

Officials are concerned because the-directive was still being debated by U;S.· policymakers at the time, 

possibly putting the ISll\eli government in a position to influence the final document, officials said. U.S. 

policy toward Iran is vital to I~~ael, which is gravely concerned' about the expandi~g nu~lear capability of 

th~ country run by Shiit~ 

MuslJm clerics. 

Tne probe, which is being handled by the FBI's counter- espioQage ~ivisiont 

.espiopage charges against Franklin. 

might not result in 

Instead, the Pentagon analyst could be charged with lesser offenses such as i,mproper discl9sure or 

mishandling ofclassified information. Or he could be exonerated. 

A U.S. official with knowledge ofthe case expressed doubts Saturday that Franklin's alleged actions rose 

to the level ofespionage. Insteadt he said it was more .likely that Franklin, who maintaiI].S close ties with 

Israeli officials, passe~ documents to Israel without knowing the seriousness of.his actions. 

"Frqm everything I've seen, the guy's not a sPY,"·the official said. liThe guy's an idiot" 

Acc9rding to the official, th~ closeness ofthe U.S. relationship with Israel means that top officials ofthe 

two nations often share sensitive infonnation. Nevertheless, Fratiklin should have knoWn what 

'i~fonnation was and,was.no~ p.~~i~~ib.1e t(J ~e_shared, he said. . 

..... - ..... 

10f3 

8/3112004 1:30 ~M

Report On Iran Key To Spying Inquiry 

-0 

o 

http://www.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/040830/s2004083031S933.html 

1 

" 

; 

~ "We knew this guy had the relationship for a while, and he shareCl some stuffb~yond what he should·be 

sharing," the official said. 

Franklin did not respond to phone messages Saturday seeking comment. 

Sources said that Franklin, a longtime official withthe Defense Intelligence Agency, three years ago 

joined the Pentagon's Office ofNear East and South Asian Affairs, the group charged with developing 

the Pentagon's policy for the Middle ~ast. 

The office is run by William J. Luti, who in turn reports to 

Feith. 

Since joining Luti's office, Franklin has been the Pentagon's leading Iran policy analyst, ajob that took 

on greater importance after President Bush included Iran in his "axis ofevil" and his appointees at the 

Pentagon advocated a hard line toward Iran. 

As a member ofthe Air Force reserves, Franklin is assigned to a DIA reserve unit based in Washington. 

. 

APentagon statement released Friday characterized Frankli~ 

as a "desk officer" with no significant 

influence on U.S. policy. Yet some who have worked with him offer a different picture, saying he was 

very influential in high-level Pentagon policy debates.. 

"You're not talking about someone toiling away in the bowels ofthe U.S. government," said a former 

Pentagon official who worked fOf Feith until last year and spoke on condition ofanonymity. 

"Franklin was t!Ie. go-to guy on Iran issues for Wolfowitz and Feith. 1t 

In addition, the former official characterized Franklin as an ideological ally ofWolfowitz, Feith and Luti. 

The three men were among the Bush administration's leading advocates ofwar with Iraq, and the Middle 

East policy office and the Office ofSpecial Plans, both ofwhich reported to Luti, produced analyses 

bolstering the U.S. case against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hus~ein. 

"Their analysis wasn't whether we should invade Iraq, but whether we should do it on Tuesday, 

Wednesday or Thursday," the fonner official said. 

FBI investigators fear that Franklin - 

given his influential position and high-level security clearance-. 

may ,have been in a position to compromise government information,about Iraq and the U.S. war effort"'\ 

. .. 

. 

.. 

Sometime after the Sept. 11 terrorist attac~s, 

Franklin took a secret trip to,Rome with Harold Rhode, 

anot~er civilian official jn the Pentagon, to meet with Iranian dissiden~ 

who reportedly promised to 

provide information to'them 'that would aid the U.S.-declared war on terrorism. 

One ofthe dissidents the pair spoke to was Manucher GhorbaIiifar, an arms dealer and former Iranian spy 

who was a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal ofthe 1980s. 

The White House blessed the trip. Yet when news ofthe meeting ieaked two years later, officials said 

they had not known that Ghorbanifaf would be among the dissidents Franklin and Rhode met. 

According to Def~nse Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, th~t meeting and a subsequent one between Rhode 

and Ghorbanifar "went nowhere. II 

20f3 

813112004 1:30 PM

Report On Iran Key To Spying Inquiry 

htqi:l/WwYioCliaO/adminIEARLYBJRDi040~0Is2~O~03JS933.h1ml. 

, ... 

Michael Ledeen t a, scholar at,the American-Enterprise I~s~i~te 

in Wasllington Who specializes in Mideast 

,affairs, arranged the contacts betw~en the Pentagon' officials and the Irariian dissidents, wh~ch he said led 

to American lives being saved in Afghanistan~ 

Asked' Saturda~ 

for ~omment on th~ investigation, Ledeen ~aid he expected the FBI probe to yield 

nothing incriminating abqu~ Franklin, whom Ledee'n has known for years. 

"1 don'fbelieveLarry Franklin would ever do anythiIJg improper with class.ified'inf0l'll':ation," said 

Leqeen, who worked as a consultant to the Nation~l 

Security Council and the State and Defense 

• depart~ents during the adritinistrati~n ofRo~ald Reag~. -. 

L~deen ~aid the information Franklin was suspected oftransferring was well knowniamong foreign 

policy observers. 'f!1e U.S= h~d not developed a co4erent Iran policy, he said, and th~divergent 

views of 

various administration officials were publi~ly 

known and available. 

"There is no Americ~n policy on Iran," L~deen s~id. 

"What is,he telling them? What can there possibly 

be that is classified about-American po~icy on Iran that.we do not know about from the publ~c 

debate?" 

Franklin and Rl!ode also have clos'e ties with Iraqi politic!an Ahmad Chalabi, whose Iraqi National 

Congress was the dissident org~nization 

most favored by Pentagon officials during atisseiI)'s rule. 

Chalabi met ofteri.with top.officials at the Pentagon and Vice President Dick Cheney's office to a4vocate 

regime change in ~raq'. 

Chalabi himself has been investigated by American officials in connection with the transmission ofU.S. 

secrets to Iran. It is unclear whether the investigations into Franklin and Chalabi ~re connected. 

-. ~ 

30f3 

-- - .... - .. .k ...... __ 

~13JiiOO4 I:30 PM .

.. ;.. ' 0', 

Sharansky': Pentagon-CIA Rivalry Led To Spy Charge 

,0 

http://wWw.dia.ic.gov/ad!DihlEARLYBIRD/040830/s200408303is913.html 


Jerusalem Post 

August 30, 2004 

ALL 

FBI INFORMATION COlrfAINED 


DATE 

07-29-2010 BY' 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

• 

Sharansky: Pentagon-CIA Rivalry ,Led To Spy Charge 

By Associated Press 

Allegations of I~raeli'spying in the United States are false and may be th~ result ofintemal conflicts 

between.th~ Pentagon and ~he CIA, Diaspora.Affairs minister Natan Sharansky said Sunday, but analysts. 

admitted that even so, damage has been done to cmcial'ties between the two countries. 

American officials said S.aturday that the'FBI has spent more than a year investigating whether a 

Pentagon analys~ funneled highly classified material to Israel.. 

The material described White House policy tow~d Iran. 'srael says I~n .. and its nuclear ambitions 

pose the greatest single threat to.the Jewis~ state. 

Sharansky, the frrst Israeli Cabinet minister to spe8k in public about the matter, told Canadian 

Broadcasting Corp. television that Israel enforces a ban on spying in the United States. 

"I hope it's all a mistak~ or misun4erstanding ofsome kind, maybe a rlvaJry between different bodies," he 

said, singling out "the P~ntagon and the CIA." 

SharansIcY said the ban ori e~pionage 

in the 'United states dates to the scandal over Jonathan Pollard, an 

American Jew caught spying for Isr!1el in 1985. Sharansky, who belongs to P.rime Minister A~el Sharon's 

ruling Likud Party, said he pas "personal experience" with the ban, but he did not elaborate. 

"There are absolutely no attempts to involve any member ofthe Jewish community and any general 

Ameri~an citiz~ns to sPY fQr Israel against the United States:' he.said. 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office issued a denial late SatUrday, saying "Israel does not engage in 

intelligence activitie~ 

in the U.S. II 

The scandal dominated Israeli news media on Sunday. In numerous interviews, both current and former 

Israeli intelligence officials said it was pighly unlikely t~at 

Israel would have to spy on the.U.S. 

government. 

Legislator Ehud Yatom, chairman ofthe parliamentary su6committee on covert intelligence, said he 

expected the allegations to be quickly withdrawn. 

"I imagine that within a few days the United States will come oqt wi~ an'announcement that Israel has 

no connection whatsoever with t~e supposed spy and his activities," he told Israel Radio. 

Uii Arad~ a former senior offlcial in the Mossad spy agency, said the allegations were-leaked to hurt tile 

pro-Israel lobby in Washington. ~ 

,... 

lof2 

813112004 I:31 PM •

; ;,'.. '. 0 

Sharansk:y: Pentagon-CIA Rivalry Led To,Spy Charge 

· a -_' . 

http://www.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/040SjO/s2004083031S913.html. 

~They way.it was repofle~, 

they pointed out- in which office, (franklin) worked, II Arad told Israel Radio. 

"They pointe~ 

at people like "Doug Feith or other defense officials who have long been under attack 

within the Arileri~an bureaucracy. II • 

!-- 

20f2 

... 

~1~004'1:31'PM

... 

Spy Probe Tests US-Israel Ti~ 


o 

http://w\l-wodia.C:f/admin/EARJ.YBIRDI0408301s20040~303IS937ohtml 

.. 

Christian ScIence fylonitor 

August 30, 2004 

Spy Probe Tests US-Israel Ties 

ALL ,FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED 


DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

Atissue: wlietller a Pentagon analystpassed secrets to an Israeli lobby group, l;lnd 

wlletller tI,at group passed ti,e material to-Israel. 

By Faye Bowers, Staffwriter ofThe Christian Science Monitor 

VIASHINGTON _. The n~scent spy' probe unfolding in .t~e 

nation's capital could end up complicatJng ties: 

between the US,and Israel ~~ a'critical time in the war on terror for the Bush administration - and raise 

new questiq~s a1?out how closely the two allies should cooperate on sensitiv~ iss~es. 

Word l~aked over the weekend that for more than ayear the FBI has been i~vestigating aPentagon 

official for possibly pr

.. o 

.Spy Probe Tests US-Israel Ties 

hUp:lIwww.di..CSV/adminlEARLYBIRD10408301s200408303IS937.html 

-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a statement. 

- - . 

AlPAC, too, proclaims innocence. IIAny allegation ofcrimJnal conduct by AlPAC or our employees is 

false and baseless,II a statement says. 

StilJ, now that the probe has become public, speculation will contiriue until a conclusion,is reached. And 

whether Israel is guilty or not, there wil~ 

be residual damage to the relationship, experts say. For one 

thing, it reminds people ofthe time Israel was caught spying on the US once before. In 1987, a US Navy 

intelligence analyst, Jonathan Pollard, ~mitted to selling state secrets to the Israelis. "I think this will 

'escort us for many years to come,1I says ,Danny Yatom, a fonner chiefofthe Mossad, Israel's foreign 

intelligence ann. IIThere was one attempt made by Pollard, and since then there is still an assessment that 

Israel will try again whenever it is l?ushed into a comer.." 

In ~ddition, 

experts say the relationship,between the US and Israel has become so lax - because'ofthe 

cozy ties between the two countries at the moment - that there was bound to be this sort ofproblem. "The 

Israelis have always had more access tnan other friendly countries," says Patrick Lang, fonner head of 

Middle East intelligence at the Defense, Intelligence Agency. tiThe liaison relationships between the 

Israeli and American services are highl)' developed, codifie4, and have functioned for many years. II 

In this climate, he says, it is easy to share information without checking the rulebook, which can lead to 

problems. Indeed, some experts say the' level ofsharing will provoke other questions, even ifthe incident 

turns out not to be serious. 

"Why does this guy thjnk he should share this type ofinfonnation? asks Mr. Walsh. IIIfthis is just 

standard operating procedure, then it does raise serious policy issues." 

It is still not clear whether'the cl.1arge~ 

Will be serious (possibly espionage), or something more mundane 

(mishandling ofdocuments), or whether there will be charges at all. FBI officials reportedly were tipped 

to a potential problem months ago by ai series ofemail exchanges. The investigation recently ratcheted up 

to the point where Justice Department officials have begun briefing Pentagon officials. 

- Josh Mitnick contributedfrom .Tel Av(". 

20f2 

8131120041:31 PM

\Israel Denies Spying Against U.s. 

• : ;r 

UNCLASSIFIED - FOUQ 

New York Times 

August 29, 2004 

Israel Denies Spying Against U.S. 

ALL" FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED 

HEREIN IS T~iCLASSIFIED 

DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg. 

By Steven Erlanger 

JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 - News that the F.B.1. has Deen investigating a Pentag9rl official on suspicion of" 

passing secrets to Israel has caused a diplomatic scramble here, with officials rushing'to deny spying on' 

Washington and to assure the United States ofits friendship. 

Administration officials say the Pentagon official, who has been identified in some news reports but who 

could not be reached for comment early Saturday, works in the office ofDouglas J. F~ith, 

the under 

secretary ofdefense for policy. 

Officials who have been briefed about the inquiry say the official'is suspected qfpassing a classified 

policy draft on Iran to th~ American Israel PubJic Affairs Committee, a pro-.Israellobby group, which in 

tum is thought to have prQvided the information to Israeli intelligence. 

Publicly, the Israeli government, through its spokesmen here and in Washington, have called the 

allegations wrong and outrageous, as has Aipac, the lobbying group. 

"The United States is Israel's most cherished friend and ally,"said David Siegel, the Israeli Embassy 

spokesm~n. 

"We have,a strong ongoing relationship at all levels, and in no way would Israel do anYthing 

to impair this relationship." 

Aipac called the allegations ltbaseless and false." 

After the hugely emoarrassing spying scandal of 1985, when Jonathan Pollard, an American intelligen~e 

analyst, was arrested and convicted ofspying for Israel, the Israeli government made a firm decision to 

stop·all

Israel Den~es Spying Against U.S.. 

o· 

Mr. St.einitz in particular cpnsiders Iran a nuclear s~perpower 

i~ the m~ng, working on weapons that 

can hit Europe, as well as Israel, and he urg~d 'Washington and Europe to deal with Iran Itbefor~ 

it is too 

late." . 

Still, reports ofthe F.B.I. investigation caused a furor here. And officials went to pains on Saturday to. 

say that despite the importance ofsuch iQ.telligence, Israel oqly works openly in America, including 

diplomatic conversations and relationships with a full range ofsources, from ~he White HoUse ~d 

Congress to Aipac, which has its own sources. "America is the great exception," on~ official said. Mr. 

Steinitz said, "People leak so~etimes 

when they shouldn't, that goes on everywhere;butthat's a different 

matter. II 

\ 

While Israel has representatiyes bfthe Mossad, its intelligence agency, and military intel1~gen~e 

in 

Washington, they are attache~ 

to the embas~y and their presence is known to American authoriti.es, 

officials said. 

Yossi Melman, an intelligence and terrorism e~pert w~th the Israeli daily Haaretz, said Saturday tliat 

since the case ofMr. 'Pollard, who remains in prison in the United States, "I know there has been a 

decision not to run any operations on American ~oil 

or to recruit Americans tospy for IsraeI.'• 

, 

Mossad, he said; is uhder'inst~ctio'ns 

to have.no direct contact even with officials from Aipac, "and I 

know that Israel is very, very sens~tive 

about having ev~n open contacts with Jewish members ofthe 

administration, because ofthe ramifications ofPollard" and the concern that Isr~el 

would be accused of 

playing on any duall~yalty 

that an A~erican Jew mig4t feel. 

This is.a case ofan American accused ofp~sing inform~tionto an American organiz~tion, 

Mr. Melman 

.said. "While Aipac is pro-Israel, and maintains contacts with ~he ~sraeli 

Embassy and shares ana!ysis, it 

does not deal withIsraeli intelligence services," he said. IIIf Aipac passed on a secret document, that 

would be a sensitive matter for Israel. But ifAipac said, 'It's oUr understanding that the Americans in 

Doug Feith's office are thinking this and that,' th.at's 4ifferent," he said. . 

But the lines are often har4 to draw, especially with an"issue as sensitive as the one involving Iran, ~hich 

is considered by American and Israeli offic~~s to be working on ilucle~r weaponry even though it has 

said its program is only to ge~erate 

electricity - in a sens~,'preseIiting a publicly ambiguous stance, much 

as does Israel, which has developed nuclear weapons ,as a deterrent but refuses to discuss the matter. Iran 

is also interesting to Israel, although less so to $e United Sb!tes, for the ~nancial 

and military support it 

provides Hezbollah, the militaht ~nti~Israel 

group based in Lebanon and active in the West Bank. 

For Mr. Steinitz, a hawk with Likud, Iran js a clear and present danger for $e entire West. lithe Iran 

nuclear program is so ambitious that after pr9ducing a first bomb, they could produ~e 

20 bombs a year, II 

he said. "This isn't North Korea or Iraq or ~yen P~istan. 

Iran will soon become a glob~l power with 

~ntercontinental 

missiles that will threaten Europe and NATO, with disastrous political results for Israel, 

the moderate Arab world and the United States,II he said. 

But the problem ofJran is global, he said., lilt's liP to t4e.Americans and Europeans to'solve Iran, not little 

Israel. II 

2Qf2 

- . -- 

813112004 1:31 PM

Officials Worry About Effects OrSpy Accusations 

UNCLASSIFIED· FOUO 

Washington Times 

August 30, 2004 

Pg.17 

hUp:llwwwodi"O/adminlEARLY0!RDf0408301s200408303160S9.html 

" .. >.,;:J~ ,~.:~~/ ·:~~fJSP\~i;J:-;1'r'!~;"~""~~t~"""""'n·~~~A1P.)'~:5a~ 

-.' : l.ff\t~ht1~m..~~~..;w1u,=!~~ns~.m1 e Jgen~;~ency~~ 

l>:__,~ illlJ. • ..........,..............~. ,h' . ~~ .. 

PIA Home IWha(s New IProdUctS byTiDe IProdUcts by RcgiOQ I~ 1lliJJ! 

'\Jr. to" l.~ "": _\,. .. ~ ;""\1l",:,~...::-.~=---~~~~ __ 

ALL 

FBI INFORMATION C01JTAII~D 


DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

-Officials Worry A~outEffects OfSpy Accus~tions 

Hope Pentagon reports arefound to be a 'misunderstanding' 

, 

By Abraham'Rabin~vich; 

The Washington Time~ 

"~ 

JERUSALEM - 

Israeli officials yesterday said reports that a Pentagon analyst passed classified 

infonnation to Israel seriously could damage the nation's image in America, even as t~ey denied any role . 

in such an operation. . 

"There is no doubt that these publications are damaging, [and] even though they are false, they are 

d~~ging," 

said Natan Sharansky, who as minister for diaspora affairs is responsible for tlie effects of 

anti-Semitism on Jews worldwide. 

American officials said thi~ 

weekend that the FBI has spent more than a year investigating whether a 

PeQtagon analyst funneled highly classified material to Israel concerning U.S. policy toward Iran. 

. " 

Bo~h-Israel and toe United S~tes are wQrried that Iran'~ 

nuclear-energy program is a front for an effort to 

develop J;luclear weapons. 

"I hope [the investigation] is all a mistake or misunderstanding ofsome kind," Mr. Sharansky told the 

Canadian Broadcasting Corp; 

Mentioning tithe Pentagon and the CIA" specifically, Mr. Sharansky suggested that the probe ~ight have 

resulted from "a rival!}' between different bodies." 

Former Mossad chie(Danny Yatom saic\ the Israeli government laid down strict guidelines to prohibit 

espionage against its major ally after the arrest in 1985 ofIsraeli spy Jonathan Pollard. 

Pollard, a former-official in U.S. Naval In~el1igence, 

"is serving a life sentence iri the United Sta~es. 

Although the two countries have very close defense and political ties, the American intelligence 

community has·been sensitive to the possibility oflsraeJi iI!telligenc~ penetration ever sin~e Pollard's 

arrest. 

With the issu~ 

dominating Israeli public-affairs show~ yesterday, Mr. Yatom pointed out that Israeli and 

American officials and acad~mics 

have.hundreds offormal and informal meetings every year. 

"It could be that someone [in the United States] innocently did something that is forbidden by American 

law. But there was no mopilization ofagents by Israel'or"instructions given to them about what ~o look . 

for, as with Pollard," he said. ,. 

lof2 

813112004 I:31 PM

•O~:ial~ Worry About Bffects OfSpy ACCUS8

Infonna~ion·Passing Inquhy Could ~pand 


USA Today 

August 30, 2004 

P~.13 

ALL 



DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

Information-Pa,ssing Inquiry Could Expand 

u.s. secrets may I,ave gone to Israel 

By Toni Locy and Barb~a Sla~in, 

USA Today 

WASJ1INGTON - 

Ah investigation into wheth~r a midlevel Pentagon an~lyst passed information about 

.U.S. policy on hanto pro-Israe. lobbyists could expa~d into a·brqader inquiry into whether more U.S. 

.secrets were shared with Israel, two federal law enforcement offici~l~,s~id 

Sunday. 

Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin is suspected ofhaving given either an internal administration 

document oran oral summary ofits contents to the American Israel P~blic 

Affairs Commi~ee (AWAC), 

said the officials, who have knowledge ofthe case but asked not to be named because the investigation is 

ongoing.-One official said charges as serious as espionage c~uld be filed soon. Th~ other official said the 

FBI hopes Franklin will cooperate. 'Ifhe does, he may face a lesser charge. such as mishandling classified 

documen~. 

Spokesmen for AlPAC ~nd the Israeli gov~rnnlent have denie~ the n~tion, first reported Friday by CBS 

News, that Franklin shared the.contents ofa draft U.S~ policy document on Iran ,with AlPAC members 

who then passed t,he information to israel. 

. "Any allegation ofcriminal conduct by.AIPAC or our employees is false at:ld baseless,II the organization 

said in ~ statement on its Web site; "Neither.AIPAC nor any ofits employees has violated any laws or 

. rules, nor'has AlPAf; or its employees'ever received information they believed was secret or classified." 

Much about the,case is puzzling..The dQcument Franklin is suspected ofhaving shared, an internal 

statement on U..S. policy on Iran, :was nevetpublished because ofdifferences within the Bus~ 

administration about how to deal with that country. 

' 

Israel, which fears Iran is c~ose to developing ~uclear weapons, has myriad w~ys offinding out and 

influencing U.S. policy, as does AIPAC, a half-century old organization considered. the niost influential 

foreign affai~ lobby.in the Vn~ted States. . 

"AIPAC doesn't need to d~al with midlevel people I~ke this guy," says Dennis Ross ofthe Washington 

Institute for Near ~ast Policy,.a think ta~ whose trustees include AlPAC members. "Why create a risk 

by dealing with someone who is not at the policy level? it doesn't.add up to me at all. II 

The investigation is taking place in an"atmosphere ofpolitica! recriminations .in Washington focused on 

so-called neoconservatives - strong supporte~ ofls~el who lobbied for the U.S. invasion ofIraq and 

downplayed the difficulties U.S. fo~ces 

would face there. 

the Frariklih investigation'comes as aseparateJnq~iry ~oo~s.into w~o leaked information about U.S. 

.. ...:. _ _ _ l'" _ 

. • - - 

lof2 

813112004 I:36 p.~

~nfonri~tJon.P8ssing In~uirY C~uld Ex~d 

. ; 

• .." .. ." 11' - • l • ..' .~ "'I"'~"''' ~ ,. 

ioo, 

,; 

rp.~t~i04sg( spyi~g

FBI's Pentaoon Probe Is Another Burden For Rumsfeld 

..... 0 "0 

~ ... 

btrp:llwwlN.dia.Q/adminIEARLYBIRD10408301e20040~03IS867.~1 

,I 

UNCLASSIFIED· FOyO 

Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) 

August 29, 2004 

ALL 

FBI INFORMATION CONTAI~mD 

'HEREIN IS U]JCLASSIFIED 

DATE 


FBI's Pentagon Probe .Is, Ano·ther Bur(len For Rumsfeld 

Dow Jones Newswires 

WASHINGTON(AP)·-The FBI investigation into whether·a Peritagon analyst passed classified 

information to Israel is yet another political weight on Defense Secretary Donald H,. Rumsfeld, still 

fending offcriticism ove~ the Iraq war and prisoner abuse. 

It is not clear whether the investigation will result in charges ofespionage at the Pentagon. At the least, 

the pro~ complicates Rumsfeld's position as congressionatc9Jn.mittees that oversee the Qefense 

Depart~ent 

prepare for more hearings on the abuse scandal. 

Rumsfeld has no~ commented publicly o~ the FBI's investigation. Whil.e the FBI has spent more than,a 

year on the case, it only became p~blic 

Friday. 

Officials~ 

speaking on condition ofanonymi~,say the inyestigation is foc:used on Lawren~e A. ~ranklin, 

an analyst ofIranian affairs who works in a policy office headed by pouglas J. Feith, the undersecretary, 

for policy. Feith ~as been accused.by Democrats of see~ingto manipulate intelligence.to help make the 

case for going to'-war in Iraq. Congressional investigati9ns hav~ found no eVidence ofthat. 

" - 

Th~ New York Times reported on its.Intemet site in a storY for Monday's editions that government 

officials say.Franklin had been coopeiatiJig with federal agents for several weeks and was'preparing to 

Jead them to contacts inside the Israeli gov~rnment 

when work ofthe investigation, first reported by CBS 

News, was leaked late last week. 

The Israeli gove~ent has denied spying o~ the United States. 

'Efforts to reach Fr~lin by telephone have been unsuccessful. Local law eriforcement officers have kept 

reporters and photograpqers away from his secluded home in rural West Virginia, about a 90-minute 

commute from Washington. 

The Washington Post reported Sunday that $e FBI investigation has broadened to include interviews 

with individuals at the State and Def~nse departments as well as MideaSt affairs specialists outside the 

government. Israeli officials predi,cted ~hat the allega~ion 

it got secret information on White HoUse policy 

toward Iran f~om the Pentagon analyst would prove false. 

Vincent Cannistraro, a retired CIA officer and former director ofWhite House intelligence progfams 

~uring the Reagan administration, ~aid 

Sunday, "It's another scandal for the Pentagon," with the potential 

in this case ofgoing beY9nd the singl~ 

individual under investigation. 

Larry Di Rita, Rumsfeld's chiefspokesman, said ~unday·that 

the Penqtgon is sticking"by its initial 

s~atement Friday.that it imderstands the investigation is limited in scope. He said it would be 

lnapprC?pria.te for him or RUlQ.sfeld to comment further because it is an active investigation. 

lof2 

8131120041:36 PM

--. () 

FBI's Pentagon Probe Is Another Burden For Rumsfeld 

http11www.dia.~/adminlEARLYBIRDI0408301c200408303.~861.html 

.. • As for the possible political implications for Rumsfelrl at the height ofapresidential election campaign, 

Di Rita said, "I would not try to predict how the political season will affect,this." 

Early in his tenure at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld spoke out publicly against the unauthorized release of 

classified information. He undertook a special investigation when some elements ofPentagon planning 

for war in Iraq leaked to the news me4ia in 2002. 

In his 3 1/2 years as secretary, Rumsfeld has had a sometimes rocky relationship with Congress. When 

the administration began a global fight against terrorism in response to the attac"s ofSept. iI, 2001, ~is 

stock rose quickly and he gain~d popularity for his tough approach. 

But as the insurgency in Iraq took hol~ in the summer of2003 and the casualty toll for American troops 

mounted - more than 950 have be~n killed - Rumsfeld became a target ofcriticism on Capitol Hill. 

A Time magazine poll released Saturday said.39% ofthose surveyed approve ofthe job Rumsfeld has 

done and 37% disapprove., They were split on whether President Bush should replace Rumsfeld : 49% 

said Rumsfeld should go and 48% preferred that he stay. 

Rumsfeld, 72, took much political heat when the Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal came to light in April with 

photographs ofU.S. soldiers abusing and sexually.humiliating Iraqi prisoners. 

Two official investigations found that the highest levels ofthe Defense Department shared blame for 

management lapses that may have contributed to the problems at Abu Ghraib. ~ut those reviews found 

no evidence to sugg~st that Rumsfeld.ordered, encouraged or condoned any abuse ofiraqis. 

To the suggestion that Rumsfeld resign over the abuse scandal, former Defense Secretary James 

Schlesinger said last week that such a development would be a "boon to all ofAmerica's enemies.II 

Schlesinger headed an in~ependent 

panel that looked into the abuse. Asecond panelist, former DefeQse 

Secretary'Harold Brown, agreed that Rumsfeld acted appropriately. 

"lfthe head ofa department had to resign every time anyone'down below did something wrong, it would 

be a ver;. empty Cabinet table" Brown said. 

That was just days before news broke ofthe FBI investigation at the Pentagon. 

20f2 

8131/2004 1:36 PM

hltp:lfivww.di"O'V/admin!EARLYB1RD10408301c2OOi083pi15889.html 


)I. • ,. • ..' >·... ~." ••·~n..-"':~..."'~'!t.....:v:"':~~.i{,:I~ .•~....-:~~.lol..+

-- ~~.Cial~Say P~blicity Deraile~ Secrets InQUi\"-'" 

,- .. 

.. All I( \ ....... 

- ....~. 

hllp:llwww.di~"/adminiEARJ. 

YBnID!0403301~3031Sil89.hlmI 

... .. 

Wolfowitz. 

At one point in !he run-up to the Iraq war in early 2003, Mr. Er~lin was, brought in to help arrang

.Officials Say Publicity Derailed S~ts InquiryO 

w ~ T 

Franklin is one 9f.aboutl,SOO people who·~ork 

for Mr. Feith. 

http://www.dia.~.Q.adminlEARLYB}RD10408301e200408303IS889.html 

When he..transferred to the Pentagon policy office, Mr. Franklin was assigned to the Northern Gulf 

directorate to work on issues related to Iran. After the attacks ofSept. 11, 2001, that office was expan~ed 

and renamed.the Office ofSpecial Plans, and did most ofthe policy work on Iraq in the run-up to the 

war. Mr. Franklin was a part ofthat office but continued to work on Iran. 

In his job, Mr. Franklin is one oftwo Iran desk officers in the Pentagon's Near Eastern and South Asian 

Bureau, one ofsix regional policy sections. The Nell! Eastern office is supervised by William J. Luti, a 

deputy under secretary ofdefense, who also ovefSaw the Pentagon's Office ofSpecial Plans, which 

conducted some early policy work for the 2003 invasion ofIraq. 

According to former colleagues, Mr. Franklin was originally a.Soviet specialist at the D.nA. who 

transferred.to the agency's Mlddle,East division in the early 1990's. He learned Farsi and became an Iran 

analyst, developing extensive contacts within the community ofIranians who opposed the Tehran . 

government. 

' 

"He was very close to the anti-Iranian dis,sidents," one former colleague said. "He was a good analyst of 

the Iranian political s~ene, 

but he was also someone who would go offon his own.II 

Richard A. Oppel Jr. contributed reportingjrom West Virginiajor this article, and Steven Erlangerfrom 

Jerusalem. . 

30r3 

813112004 1:37PM

.~.. , 

.. .. UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

, Washington Post 

August 31, 2004 

Pg.3 

ALL 


HEREIN IS UlJCLASSIFIED 

DATE 

07-29-Z010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

FBI Interviews Senior Defense Officials I~ Probe Of A~~lyst 

Investigators Looking·At Contacts Witl' Israelis 

By Brad~ey 

Graham and Dan Eggen, Washington Post ~taffWriters 

The FBI has interviewed several senior Pentagon officials-in recent days in connection With an 

investigation ofa Defense Department analyst who is suspected ofproviding classified 40cuments to 

Israel but has been cooperating with investigators for several weeks, government officials said yesterday. 

Douglas J.Feith, undersecretary for policy, and Peter Rodman, assistant secretary for international 

security affairs" are among those who met with FBI agents on Sunday an4 Monday abou~ the case, which 

has·focused on contacts between a lower-level Pentagon analyst, Lawrenc~ 

A. Franklin, land the 

American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AlPAC), officials said. . 

Higher-11lnking government officials 'have also been,briefe4 about the FBI investigatiQn lin recent days, 

incl~ding 

Secretary of.State Colin L. Powell. State Department spokesman Richard Boufher·said Powell 

was briefed over the weekend during a telephone call ~y James B. Comey, ~e deputy a~orney general, 

and told his senior a~des at a meeting yesterday to "coQperate in any way with any reque~ts 

that might 

come from the investigators. II 

I 

U.S. gov.ernment oftjcials familiar with-the Pentagon interviews, who declined to be ide~tified-b~cause 

ofthe senSitive nature ofthe case, characterized them as an attempt by FBI investigato~ 

to determipe 

whether Franklin received authorizatioQ. from any superior to engage in the actions that 1~vestigators 

ar~ 

probil!g. The FBI has been forced to accelerate its investigation since the case broke int

..F~lll!terviews 

Se~ior Defense 9fficials In Pro.,....,-Analyst 

~ ~ 

and an ~IPAC ()ffici~lthat-was being monitored by FBI.counte~intelligence agents, two law enforcement 

officials said yesterday. 

Law enforcement and defense officials have declined to say what that original investigation was about, 

'and whethe~ it continues apart from the Franklin probe or has been abandoned. One law enforcement 

official who has been briefed on the Franklin case said it is part .of a broader FBI inquiry, but the official 

declined to elaborate. 

Defense officials familiar with the case empha,sized yesterday thatthe number ofthose at the Pen~gon 

approached by the FBI should not be taken as a sign that the'investigation was widening. They 

characterized the meetings as part interview, part briefing session, used by FBI authorities not only to 

gain information for their probe but also to briefsenior defense officials about the status ofthe case, 

which c~e as a surprise to many at the Pentagon. 

The list ofthose interviewed: over the past several days runs from William J. Luti, who heads the section 

on Near East and South Asian affairs where Franklin is assigned as,a desk officer on Iran, through 

Rodman and Feith. All told the FBI that they did not give Franklin perniission to giv~ AlPAC or the 

Israelis any ofthe material at issue, officials said. 

At the Pentagon, before Friday~ disciosure, only D~fense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Qeputy 

Defense Secretary'PauID. Wolfowitz and department lawyers had been informed ofthe investig~tion, 

which has been underway for more than a year, officials said. 

"The FBI is focused on one suspect," one officHl1 said. "The briefings and interviews that they're doing 

have been a routine part oftheir probe --not it broade~ihg 

ofthe list ofs~spects." 

At t~e same time, several' ~efense officials said the FBI hits not told them everyt~ing that investigators 

have learned in the course ofthe probe, making.it difficult to be certain ofthe outcome; 

The premature disclosure has caused proBlems for investigators, according to numerous law enforcement 

officials speaking on the condition ofanonymity because the probe is ongoing. . 

"This has severely hampered their investigation,!' one law enforcement official said. "It's impossible to 

tell what plight have.been lost beca~se ofall this." 

An Israeli official in Wash!ngton said the embassy has not received any formal noti,ce from U.S. 

authorities that th.ere is an investigation ofthe Franklin case. He also said reports of~~ case were 

growing increasingly exaggerated. 

1'. 

nOiv.en ~he level ofdialogue between the ·United States and Israel, this makes little sense," the official 

said. "We basically pick up the phone and call when we want to discuss policy. We have formal and 

transparent and open djscussions on all th~se 

issues. It's not like there are differences on these subjec~;" 

Naor Oilo!), the embassy's top political diplo~at, who.has been identified in several media ~ccopnts as 

having met with Franklin, said in an inten;.iew with the Israeli newspaper Maariv published.yesterday 

that "my hands are clean." 

"All my activities·are well within the parameters ofaccepted diplomatic norms and procedures," he said,' 

adding that he was concerned the scandal.will affect his -work in Washington: "Everyone would t!tink 

twi.c~ 

n~C!w before talking to me." 

20f3 

813112004 1:37.PM

l~~ IntCtvi~wsSenior pe~ OIlici~!n prn$Analyst 

.. " \ po , 

ft .~ ~ • .... .. ...." In Jerusalem ye_sterday, Foreign Minlster Silv'an'Shalofu to~d'iiieqibeis _. 

of.tl1e Jsraeli~cabinet}~~at tl).ere~ 

was no tr:uth;to' allegatiQns ofspying ~d said the,embassy",'nev.er deviatt:

I ... 

UNCL~SSIFIED - FOUO 

Boston Globe 

.August 31, 2004 

\ ,"', I~' ""'t "~-j""-"'~o'H1.":~4'+-v«r!m-l!t~~ 

....~~l."'..'t"~~~~~..r.. 

,. '. < .r:~~~~~/:i:.:~~~~~~;t~?~~~~uefense3liileUiien~;-ag~ui~ 

~:t: ... ~.... _....-t"4't..__~~.l';:~-...1. Ir ..~. t! ~ ! ' ........... 

. . ..~ --piA Home IWhats NewI Products bY TyPe IProducts'bY Regism I~ Illiln 

ALL FBI INFO~~TION CONTAINED 

HEP~IN IS ~JCLASSIFIED _ 

DATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc bawjsab/lsg 

2d Probe At The Pentagon Examines. A,ctions On Iraq 

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff 

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon office in .which an analyst is the focus ofan investigation into the 

possible passing ofsecret documents to Israel is at the heartofanother ongoing ptobe.on Capitol Hill. 

The broader probe is trying to determine whether Defense Departl{lent officials wen~ outside normal 

channels to gather intelligence on Iraq or overstepped their legal mandate by meet!ng with dissiden!S ~o 

plot against Iran and Syria, according ~o Bush admiriistratio~ 

and·congressional officials. 

Senate Intelligen~e and Hou;se Judiciary Co~mittee staffmembers say inquiries. into the Near East and 

South Asia Affairs division have found preliminary evidence tha! some officials gathered questionable 

information on we~pons 

ofmass destruction from Iraqi exile's such as Ahmed Chalabi without proper 

authorization, whic4 helpl!d 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-n~tionals to ~establize Syria ~d Iran without the 

presidential approval required for covert operations, said one senior congressiopal inves~igator 

who has 

longtime experience in. intellig~nce 

oversight. 

Government officials seeking the cooperatioQ. offoreign nationals to·take secret action against other 

countries p.eed a so-call~d presidential finding to engage in such activity. 

The office, I~d by Will~am 

J. Luti, a former Navy captain and a4viser to then-House Speaker Newt 

Gingricli,.is a.powerful cog in Bush administration policy making, populated by some 

ideologically-minded i~dividuals 

who se~ their goveriUnent service as a way to promote democracy in 

the Middle East and improve :US-Israel ties, according to colleagues inside ~nd outside government. 

Th~ recent investigation into whether analyst Larry Franklin provided documents on Jran.to a pair of 

lobbyists with the pro-Israel American-Israel Public Affairs Committee -- who then allegedly passed 

them to the Israeli government -- has placed the little-noticed Pentagon office in the national spotlight at 

a time when. the Bush administration is attempting to convince vot~rs 

that the president has been a 

; 2~ Probe At The Pentagon Bxamines Actio~ 00q 

'" .. • 

. 

hUp:lIwww.dla.ts"adminIBARLYBIRDt04083I1e20040831316433.hlml 

-, 

'i 

Both Perle and senior Defense officials, spe~ing on the condition ofanonymity, deny that the P9licy 

office or two controversial subgroups have ever engaged in intelligence-gathering activities. The 

division's work, they said, has consis.ted only ofdrafting policy options for superiors. 

They contend that the now-defunct P9licy Counterterrorism Coordination Group, set up after the Sept. 11 

attacks to search for links between Al Qaeda and state sponsors such as Iraq, never gathered intelligence; 

it only reevaluated previous government findings. The Iraq War planninggroup called the Office of 

Special Plans,meanwhile, did not engage in any wrongdoing or questionable contacts, they said. 

Butinvestigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is closely scrutinizing the office as part of 

a formal probe ofpre-Iraq War intelligence-gathering, and Democratic members ofthe House JudiciarY 

Committee, who are conducting a preliminary probe, say that the full picture ofthe office's·activities may 

include more than meets the eye. They are seeking additional documents and interViews from policy 

officials. 

After months ofdelay, the investigators said, they are getting cobperation from Feith and his staff: 

Some ofthe incidents that prompted the probes are already known. 

Franklin and another employee, Harold Rhode, met secretly with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms 

dealer, in Italy in December 200i and subsequently in Paris. The Paris meeting was not approved by 

Pentagon officials. 

Ghorbanifar, who has been linked to the Iran-contra scandal ofthe 1980s, has said the men discussed 

ways to destabilize the Iranian regime, labeled a part ofPresident Bush's tlaxis ofevil tl for support of 

terrorist groups and suspected development ofwe~ponsofmass destft:lction. 

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said I~t fall that the meeting was requested by Iranian officials 

to dis

•~ P~be At The Pentagon Examines Aetions0(1 

hllp:llwww.dia.i(5.ladminlEARL.(B1RD1040831/e20040831316433.html 

The official said he is ttying to determine ifsome ofthe office's activities may have been prohibited by 

the Hughes-Ryan Amendment, which holds that all activity to undermine a foreign government must be 

approved by the president in a specific document approving such activity. 

Supporters ofFeith and his policy advisers roundly deny accusations that the office is a rogue .opemtion. 

They say the two ongoing FBI inquiries into alleged leaks ofclassified infonnation amount to what one 

called "McCarthyism," a sustained campaign by opponents ofBush's policies to discredit their views and 

brand them as pawns for the Israeli lobby merely because they are pushing for stronger action against 

terrorist states. 

They note that no arrests have been made, only charges a~d leaks to journalists fr9m unnamed officials. 

"It sounds to me that it'is an investigation that was leaked for maximum adverse affect on the office, 

which has been subjected to a lot ofother criticism," said'Frank Gaffney, president ofthe conservative 

Center for Security Policy and a former assistant defense secretary under President Reagan. "You have 

people who are-controversial. They are taking positions that last time I checked, the president ... was 

closely associated with, that are opposed by other people in the bureaucracy. 

"One ofthe tricks ofbureaucratic warfare is to attack them in the press. It makes them less effective," 

Gaffney said. -"I think that is going on here." . 

30f3 

813112004 1:31, PM

__ 

Israel's Albatross: U.S. NeoeoDS 

.~ 

" UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

Los Angeles-Times 

August 31, 2004 

.... '~ ,' ~ ·v~:·· ...,.:·~{'~·~'l1"'~~;r,D·····J7'1t··!"~:'.~~·t~n ~'l..\mtI'1!!;?fAZ~~~.· ~ 

......... '.. _. ~··."l; ,:. ./.·~~U·.\!~':-"'t::;-:\,..,. e.lenso;m e tgence~eney.:'" 

I ~ • ..MJA,"MV~""''''':

·Israel's Albatross: U.S. }lJeocons 

hUp:lIwww.diai(S.ladmlnlEARLYBIRDI04083J1e20040831316386.html 

. 

and Deputy Defen~e ~ecretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, the two strongest promoters inside the administration 

..,.. ofpreemptively invading Iraq. He also was part ofthe unit that funneled intelligence chum up the food 

chain and into Bush's now..discredited speeches claiming Saddam Hussein's regime posed an imminent 

danger. 

These are the folks who bought the disinfonnation pumped out by Iraqi exile.Ahmad Chalabi, whom 

they promoted as the George Washington ofthe new Iraq state. Now the neocons distance themselves 

from Chalabi, who'has been accused ofspying for Iran and harangues radical Iraqi Shiite crowds with 

anti-American rhetoric. That can't be good fOf Israel, which is threatened by Iran's n~clear program. 

The neocons are unstable ideologues, more in love with their own radical dream ofbreaking the world to 

remake it in their image than they are with protecting Israel or the U.S. Such unbounded arrogance, 

embraced by Bush, has greatly amplified the voices ofthose persistent anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists 

in the Muslim world and beyond who are now seizing upon the latest Israeli spy rumors. . 

tilt revives the old charge that Israel is not an ally but a treacherous country," Nathan Guttman wrote 

Monday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. 

That charge is false. What is troe is thatnot every Bush administration hawk who claims to support Israel 

is actually a'reliable friend. 

20f2 

8131120041:38 PM

.. _The Iranian Bomb 

.http://wWw.dia,i~~inIEARLYBlRDi040831/e2l10401i313 t6364.h1m! 

W., 

UNCLASSIFIED _FOUO 

Washington T~mes 

August 31, 2004 

Pg. 16 

The Irani~n Bomb 

ALL FBI INFORMATION CONTAI~mD 

HEP~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED 


~y Frank J. Gaffney Jt. 

One could be forgiven, !n light ofrecent headlines and'press accounts, for \yondering precisely who the 

enemy is in this war on terror: For some people, it cle~rly seems the list should include - i€not be 

headed by - a.aemocratic ally that has bee~ subjected, per capita,to considerably more sustained .and 

deadly terrorist attacks 'than tile Unit~d States: Is"rael. 

This argument requires Israel to be seen not for what it is - n~mely, a longstanding U.S. partner in,a 

strategically vital region ofthe' world where few exist, one that shares America's values and is a bulwark 

against the risin~ tid~ ofanti-We~tem I$lamist extre1l!is!D. Israel must, instead? be portrayed as 

perfidi~us, p~rsuing an intematio*al agenda divergent from (ifnot actu~lly at odds with) that ofthe 

'United States an4 a liability, rathe~ t!tan an asset. - 

Those who wo~ld portray Israel ~n .suc~ an unflattering light doubtless are gleeful over leaks claiming the 

Jewis.h State surreptitiously obtained state secrets from. a U.S. government employee working for t~e 

Pentagon. At thJs ,writing, no evidence has beeq. provided to support'such charges. Nor has anyone'been. 

api>reherided - although, for s~veral ,d,ays, the FBfhas been described as poised to arrest someone 

employed by the Defense Department's·policy organizatio~. On~y time will tell whether anyone actually 

is taken into custody, the type ofcharges and wh~ther he is actually found guilty.. 

In the meanti~e, thes~ leaks have already divert~d attention from a' nation that genuin~ly,should head the. 

, list ofAmerica's foes: the terrorist-sponsoring, nuclear-arming and ballistic missile-wielding Islatnist 

gov~rnment ofIran. This effect haS been all the·more ironi9 insofar as, according tO,press accounts, the 

classified information the FBI thinks was improperly purveyed to Israel involved documents shedding 

light on America's evolving policy toward the Irani~n. mulhihocracy. 

Strategic analyst Steven D~ka~ recently offered a reminder ofthe peril posed by Iran: "While the Islamic 

Republic ofIran as a state is technically not at war with the U.S., Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa calling-for 

total war by all Shl'ites, regarciiess ofcitizenship, against the 'Great Satan ~erica' remai~s in effect ~ it 

has never.been rescinded" and in fact was expanded to include killing Americans as being a necessary 

part ofa defens~ve jihad to make the world sa(e for Islam. Khohteini's pioneering pseudo-theology was 

later picked up by Sunni ex~remists,including Osama bin Laden. II .. 

IIi a t~oughtful article in the Aug. 23 New York Post, ~ir Taheri recounted how 19tomeirii and his 

succe~sors have translated that fatwa into a 25~year-Iong war against the United States - wag~d 

asymmetricaUy, both directly (for ~xample, in'attacks against U.S. embassies and personnel) and 

indirectly (through terrorist proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq and Shi'ite 

.warlords i~ Afghanistan). Mr. Taheri correctly Qbsetves "the Khomeinist revoluti9n defines itselfin 

opposition to a vision of the world.that it regards as an American imposition.... With or without nuclear 

weapon.s, the I~lamic Republic, in its present shape,.represents a clear and pr~sent threat to the kind of 

10f2 

--- - -- -- ---... 

8/3 1/2004 1:38 PM

. ~The lrani~ Bomb 

. o 

.. - 

hUP:lIwww.dia.i(5'/adminIBARLYBIRD10408311e2Q01083 ~316364.hlinl 

'" .' 

Middle East that President Bush says he wants to shape." 

Therefore, for the '(:J.S., stopping Tehran's Islamist government before it obtains the means.to carry out 

threats to attack Americans forces in Iraq and elsewhere should .be an urgent priority. FQr Israel, however, 

denying the ruling Iranian mullahs nuclear arms is literally a matter ofnational life and death. 

Israel's concern about the growing existential threat from Iran can only be heightened by overtures Sen. 

John Kerry and his running mate have been making lately to Tehran"" In remarks Monday, vice 

presidential candidate John Edwards said a Kerry administration would offer the Iranians a "great 

bargain":'They could keep their nuclear energy program and obtainfor it Western supplies ofenriched 

uranium fuel, provided the regime in Tehran promised to forswear nuclear weapons. According to Mr. 

Edwards, ifIran did not accept this "bargain," everyone - including our European alliesl~ would 

recognize the true, military purpose'ofthis program and would,"standwith us" in!evying on'lran "very 

heavy sanctions." 

There is just one problem: Based oJ) what is knoWn about Iran's program and intentions -let alone its 

history ofanimus toward us - only the recklessly naive could still believe such a deal is necessary to 

divine the mullahs' true purposes. 

While it may be inconvenient to say so, Iran is clearly putting into place a complete nuclear fuel cycle so 

as to obtain both weapons and power from its reactor and enrichment facilities. And a deal like that on 

offer from Messrs. Kerry and Edwards failed abysmally in North Korea. 

Ifthe United States is unwilling to take concrete steps to prevent the Iranian Bomb from coming to 

fruition, its Israeli ally will·likely feel compelled to act unilaterally - just as it did with the 1981 raid 

that neutralized Saddam Hussein's nuclear infrastructure. At the time, the Reagan adminis~tionjoined 

the world in sharply protesting Israel's attack. 

A decade later, however, the value ofthe contribu~ion thus made to American security was noted by 

then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, who said he thanked God every day during Operation Desert Storm 

that Israel had kept Iraq a nuclear-free zone. Ifsuch a counterproliferation strategy becomes necessary 

once again, it will be in all ofour interests to have Israel succeed. 

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president ofthe Center[or Security Policy and a coiumnis(for The Washington 

Times. ... 

20f2 

813112004 1:38 PM

.. Hand Rumsfeld Hi~ Walking Papers. 

.; ṛ. 

/adminlEARLYBIRDI04083 1/C200408313 I6426.hbnl 

htlp:llwww.dia.O 

· ,~ 

.. .... 

or ~ 

.UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

Seattle Post-Intelligencer 

August 31', 2004 , 

Hand Rumsfeld His Walking Papers 

!3y Helen Thomas, Hearst Newspapers 

ALL FBI INFORHATION CONTAUJED 



WASHINGTON ,;,-The tillie has come for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to leave:His'Pentagon 

post, either by dismissal or resignatio~. 

Two separ~te reportsJast week make it clear that Rumsfeid and other t~p PeJ.1tagon officials were 

ultimate!y responsible for the sadistic abus~ of.prisoners in Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib. 

Areport by a four-member panel headed by foriner Defense Secretary James SchlesiJ!ger traced the 

mistreatment ofprisoners 'in ~q to failures that went all the way up the chain lof com~and in the 

Pentagon. 

Another military report Wednesday said 27 people attached to intelligence agencies as well as four 

private cont~ctors participated in abuses, some tantamount tp torture, ofprisoners. 

"We.discovered serious misconduct and a loss ofmoral-values," said Army Gen. Paul Kern, ,head ofthe 

investigation. This gives the lie to early Pentagon efforts'to paiht the prison abuses as the work ofa 

handful oflow-level MPs, acting out their frustrations. 

The Kern report also noted that eight "ghost detainees" were conceale~ from the Ipterna~ional Committee 

ofthe Red Cross. One ofthem died in custody. 

The origiQ ofthe scandal·traces back to Feb. 2, 2002, when President Bush abrogated the Geneva 

Conventions requiring humanitarian treatment ofprisoners. Bush declared that ~ose rules did~'t apply to 

the U.S. war against terrorism. Bush has been scrapping ou:r international agreements since he came into 

office, but for this one he has paid dearly in t~rms ofjust plain decency. 

'I. 

When he canceled the

Hand Rumsfeld His Walking Papers 

" .. o 

o - 

http://www.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/04083I1e20040831316426.html 

Top military officials ignored the mistreatment ofprisoners until the graphic photographs ofnaked 

prisoners piled in a pyramid at Abu Ghrail? horrified the public. , 

Red Cross reports about prison abuses fell on deatears at the P~ntagon until the administration ..was faced' 

with exposure. 

Several reviews ofthe military mistreatment ofprisoners have been under way but the Schl~singer 

was the first to assign any responsibility to the highest levels ofthe Pentagon. 

panel 

IIThere is both institutional and personal responsibility at higher levels, II the Schles~nger 

report said. 

Schlesinger said the prisn problems were "well known ll and corrective actions "could have been taken. , 

and should have been taken~ II 

Despite all ofthis, the report concluded that Rumsfeld and other-senior leaders, including Air Force Gen. 

Richard Myers, chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs"ofStaft; should not be forced to resign. 

Since he is a Washington "establishment" figure who headed the Pentagon in the Nixon era, Schlesinger 

was not about to go any higher than a brigade commailder to parcel out responsibility. 

Schlesinger said Rumsfeld's resignation would be "a boon to all ofAmerica's enemies and consequently, 

I think that it wQuld 'be a misfortune ifit were to take place. It 

Wrong. It would show the world that Americans are not afraid to topple leaders when the country is 

dishonored on their watch. For those who have lived under totalitarian rule, a challenge to the leadership 

could have dire consequences. But.that's not our system. In a democracy, public servants must be held 

accountable. 

Rumsfeld should have thrown in the towel months ago for this scandal. 

In the run-up to the invasion ofIraq, the Rumsfeld coterie bragged about the "shock and awe" ofthe 

p'anned U.S. invasion. The secretary has since lost some ofhis swagger and is no longer a]\T rock ~tar. 

As the gravity ofthe scandal gradually sunk in around the world, Rumsfeld has become virtually 

invisible to the public. 

Rumsfeld stands indicted by the very panel that he appointed to assess responsibility. The fact that the 

S'chlesinger panel vee~ed sharply atthe last curve and said Rumsfeld should keep his job can't bury the 

reality that they traced the footprints right to Rumsfeld's office. 

It's time for him to take responsibility for this scandal. It's time for him to leave office. 

20f2 

813112004 1:39 PM,

;A7 AI Center OfSpy Flap Called ~aive, '1;1~ ~Is...1 http://www o dia.t;/@llminIBARLYBIRDI040831/s2004083131641I.hllitl 

."t! 

.... 

,,~ UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

- ; '~':l:~ ·.:.:",~','f~~2;:';;,;'·~t~i~~~iI_mt1fn~:q;:C:iA::~~.i 

...:J.I . or~"''''''ot_......J:::t.-.boo."!&J''''''''"''-'';''-~~ ,(l ~fd'''' r..........". a.tS' gft'".. "J("~ 

• ~ ... .A .. - -- - PIA Home IWhat's NewI ProductS by Tvpe IProducts bY Region I~IJ:!dn 

Tel ~viv Haaretz 

August 31, 2004 



DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw!sab/1sg 

Analrst At Center OfSpy Flap Called Naive, Ardently Pro-Israel 

By Nathan Guttman 

WASHINGTON - Larry Franklin, the Pentagon analyst suspected ofpassing classified material about 

Iran to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has never hidden his unequivocal support ofIsrael. 

Colleagues from the Near East and South Asia desk at the Defense Department said yesterday that his 

sympathy for Israel was overt and public - he didn't refrain from praising Israel and he held aggressive 

views about seve~l Arab governments, primarily the ayatollahs' regime in Iral\ and Saddam Hussein's 

dictatorship in Iraq. 

"Everyone kn~W he was·a friend ofIsrael;·but he didn't go about it in any unusual way," a Pentagon 

coworker said. "He was always accessible t9 everyone. II 

Franklin~s r~sumedescribes his current positi~n, which he has held since 200I, as: "Office·ofthe 

Secretary ofDefense,-Policy, Near EastlSou~h Asia, Iran desk analyst, Office ofSpecial Plans Iraq. Focus 

Projects: Hizboll~, Islam, Saudi Arabia." But the official re~ume reveals only a few details about the 

man at the center oCtbe affair. 

franklin, a religious Gatholic in his late 50s, lives in Kearneysville, West Virginia, a 90-minute ~rive 

from"the Pentagon..But living in the distantsubur~ assured a high quality oflife. for F:ranklin, his ~ife 

Patricia ana t~eJr ~v~ children, some ofwhom are college-age. Franklin has a doctorate in East Asian 

studies from St. Jo~'s University, a,Catholic ~iversity in New York City, and speaks Farsi, Arabic, 

French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese (in addition to English). On top ofhis work atthe Pentagon, 

Franklin teaches history at Shepherd University i~ We~t Virginia. 

In conversations about Fr~nklin with his colleagues, one ofthe words that comes up again and again is 

"naive." He is described as an ideologue who believes wholeheanedly in the neo-conservative approach. 

tI~verything by him is blac~ and White," said someone who has work~d with Franklin in the P~ntagon. 

tlHe is a very nice ~erson, very conservative, not at all arrogant,~' said the colleague, adding that one Qf 

the reasons he was brought into the Near East and South Asia desk was his political beliefs. 

Franklin's political-opinions are similar to those ofhis bosses .. Douglas Feith, ulJ,dersecret.ary ofdefense, 

and William L.uti,.the deputy ~de~ecretary ofdefense responsible for Near Eastern and South Asian 

affairs: Like th~m, Franklin supports the. policy ofacting to bring·democra~y to AraQ regimes and build 

up.pro-American allies in the Middle East 

But those who have worked wi,th"franklin also say he was a bit extreme in his work patterns, atti~de and 

behavior. They occasionally referred to him as "Planet Larry" ~ a·way ofexpressing the extent to which 

he "lives in a world ofhis own," colleagues said. 

People who have 'Yorked with Franklin believe that it was his trademark naivete that gothim in trouble, 

s~ying F~anklin was not aware ofthe severity ofhis activi~ies, and so did not try to hide or mask them. 

I of~ 

813112004 1:39 'PM

·:An~lySt At Center qrS~y Flap C~II~ ~aiv~ A~y ~ro-Isniei 

'V!' 

c .. ,- '" 

.'" 

.FranJdin.visited Israel eight tiqles ~hH~ he ~~rV~.d.in the ll..§. A!r,:Force and worked.at the Pen~gon ... 

~Most ofhis.visits app'ear to have be~eii 

relilted"t

I 

_ Affair Won't Hann Strong US-Israel Ties 

'!' 

• If 

... 


:Jerusalem Post 

August 31,'2004 

Analysis: 

hltJ?:llwww.ilia.(S..adniinlEARLYBJRDI0408311s2004083\3162\ S.hJIDI' 

~j~' . ."~J< '\ ·'~·.~~~·~~~:W~~~~f'·D"'!~i~;~'~i~t :..... 

~••..t::. ..... ~.,f:;.-="'~=~~~~~i ~:~ .• \(-r ".?/f.;; ....e...y~~)UI fe ag~p.ce:~~ 

tilA HOme1What's New IProduCt!rt by Type I Produ~s by Region I~i~ 

ALL FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED 



U:,t~t~;:~~::'~~~..1 

Affair Won't 'Harm Strong US-ISrael Ties 

By Gerald M. Steinb~rg, The Jerusal~m Post 

By their very: na~e, allegations ofespionage and abuse ofcla~sifiedmaterial get huge headliiie~, 

although the. evidence;... ifany - usually remain,s murky and hidden from public scrutiny. This is 

particularly th.e case regarding the l}S and Israel, reflecting the wide ~ecurity cooperation that has 

developed in response to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and other mutual threats. Mixed with hints of 

conspiracy and dual loyalty, such cooperation presents a huge target for the relatively small ~u~ber of 

American offi~ials ~d journalists who want to see tpis relationship halted. 

For many years, claims involving Israel and spying have been manipulated in the effort tQ drive a wedge 

betw~en Washington and Jerusale~, particularly after the Pollard fiasco. The damage to relations in' that 

case was extensive, and its echoes are $till being fett today, making another "affair" the dr~am ofall 

those who wis.h to disruptUS-Isniel cooperation. But th~ lessons from Pollard ~ppear to have been 

learned by both the:Israeli government and the US. At the same time,.the absence ofreal and juicy spy 

scandals has spurred the' invention offictiti9us ones. 

A few years ago, false charge~ ~at Israel was stealing and selling the Pentagon's technical secrets to 

China were later revealed to have been part ofa personal campaign ofreve.nge involving two American 

officials working for different branches ofthe go~emment. And headlines claiming ~at Israel was 

eavesdropping on the Os ;vvere also exposed ~'nonsense. In another case, the he~d ofthe CIA - George 

Tenet - sent. an apolpgy to then Mossa~ head Danny Yatoro"apologizing for accusations linking Israel to 

espionage. 

These periodic leaks and allega;tions, including the current case,.reflect a wider agenda. Th~ Ara~ lobby 

in Washington is gaining influence and access to the media,· and peddling ,such stories is one means of' 

moving the focus awaytfrom te~orism and t~e growing pressure from many Americans to end.support 

for the corrupt regimes in the Middle :East. In addition,·fringe Republican Pat Buchanan and his 

adherents clingto·the classical anti-Semitic myths in which Jews are po~ayed'as all powerful,·and 

secretly manipulating US policy. 

The post~war complic"ations inlrag and tlie charge'that a neo-conservative kabal"(code for Jews and' 

Zionists, even though the top two neo-cons - Secretary .0fDefense Rumsfeld and Vice Pr~sident'Cheney 

are neither) led America "into this confrontatiol) have,revived the~e myths. This may explain the ~ttempt 

to involve AIPAC - the "powerful" pro-Israellob~y - and the timing ofthi~ leak at the heightofthe US 

election campaign. . 

Yet ~espite these efforts and short-lived I:t~adlines, US-Israel security coope~tio~ has be,?ome,stronger, 

reflecting an understanding ofthe necessity ofsharing resQ~~ces and; knowledge in order to counter the 

threats ~9 both. In addition, the underlying shared values ofdemocracy and freedom remai~ central~ and 

lof2 

.813112004 1:40 PM

Affair Won't Hann ~tiOng US-Israel Ties 

mark the difference between American and European attitudes towards Israel. 

http://www.dia.ic.gov/adminlEARLYBIRD/04083I1s20040831316215.html 

" 

As ~ result, in th~ earlier alleged espionage cases, including JJ1e Pollard affair, after the dust cleared, this 

coxp.mon core re"mained intact,'and there is no re~on to expect the outcome tO'be dlfferent this time. 

Indeeq, investigatjons into the sources Qfthe allegations and the erqbellis~ent add~d by CBS News may 

deter the next round ofthis game. 

Prot.·Gerald M Steinberg directs the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-llan University. 

2of2 

8131120041:40 PM

;'iran Intrigue 

• It 

. e 

o 

hltp:/lwww.dia.tl.adminlEARLYBIR1!10408311s20040831~16431.html 

-- . :~ 

'UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

~oston Globe 

August 31, 2004 

Iran Intrigue 




THE MOST instructive aspect ofthe FBI's interest in Larry Franklin, an Iran desk officer in the Defense 

Department, is the light it casts on, the incohere~ce ofpolicy-making in the Bush adininist~ation tat4er 

than any conspiracy to pilfer America~ secrets for Israel. 

There" is a crucial background to the FBI's investigation ofFranklin, who has come-under suspicion for 

supposedly passing a classified presidential policy directive about Iran to a leader ofthe American Israel· . 

Public Affai~s ,Committee who allegedly passed the material on to an Israeli official. 

A neoconservative colleague ofFranklin in the Defense Department, Harold Rhode, and the' neocon 

promoter Michael Ledeen had been involved in secret back..chaJ:!llel meetings in Paris starti~g as early as 

l)ecember 2001 with th~ shady Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, a key.figure hi the 

Reagan-era folly r~membered as the Iran-Contra affair~ 

The CIA had long since proscribed'dealings wit!t Ghorbanifar. The agency had hi~ classified as'a 

chronic liar. When a US ambassador in Italy got wind ofthe meetings, he and the CIA station'chiefin . 

Rome notified superi~rs at the.State Depai1Ipent and the CIA. George Tenet, the" fonner CIA director, in 

turn persuaded the number two official on the National Security Couit9il, Stephen Hadley, to prohibit 

further meet~I.lgs with the Iranian a.nps merchant and the, so-called Ir~nian dissidents he was presenting to 

neocons avid for regime change in Tehran. 

This White House prohibition against the back-channel meetings arranged' by Ghorbanifar was to no 

avail. There were at l~ast two and possibly several more m~etings. Ghorbanifar, living up' to his . 

. reputation for indiscreet gabbiness, has boasted about further meetings to reporters for the Washington 

Monthly. 

This is the outline ofa policy quarrel that one faction has Qeen ~aging surreptitiously. Not only ~he FBI 

but also the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have been investigating the neocons' secret 

me~tings inParis to promote regime change in Tehran., 

The regime in Tehran does pose a threat by virtue ofits nuclear program, its sponsorship ofthe Lebanese 

Shi'ite militia Hezbollah, and its meddling in Iraq. The Bush administration, however, has"been unable to 

settle on a coherent strate~ to cope with the challenge from Tehran. 

It is quite possible that no ,prosecution will result from the FBI's in~~rest in Franklin's suspected. 

disclosure ofclassified infofuatiQn about President Bus~'s Iran policy, as it is unlikely Israel would 

"permit an intelligence operation that targeted the Bush adrninistration.•ButifBush does ~ot take control 

of h~s own adn;linistration's policy-making process, the nation could be 4rawn into another Gulfwar by 

one faction ofthe conservative constellation in his own administration. 

loft 

8131(2004 2:08 PM 

... "

Espionage Intrigue 

" " t:. 

;It 

" 

.., 

• 

..,." UNCLASSIFIED - FOUO 

o 

hUp:l/WWWodi"O/adminlEARLYBIRDI04083I1s200408313164I6.html 

Baltimore Sun 

August 31, 2004 

Espionage Intrigue 



DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabllsg 

THE DENIALS are loud and resounding. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called 

allegations that the American Jewish lobby received secret information about U.S. poiicy on Iran from a 

Pentagon analyst, and passed it onto Israel, "baseless and false." The government ofIsrael· was just as 

emphatic about the charge: "false and outrageous. II The reported FBI investigation touched a nerve. It 

raised the specter ofdivided loyalties, Israel spying on its chiefally and benefactor, mudslinging at a 

pro-Israel presi4ent on the eve ofhis renomination. 

I 

There's plenty there to provoke alanning headlines, sharp rhetoric and legitimate cause for concern -- if 

the allegations prove true. Iran's nuclear program poses a threat to the United States and Israel, though for 

the Americans it's strategic and for the Israelis it's considerably more immediate. Tehran's insistence on 

producing Quclear material has pushed Israel to threaten a strike on an Iranian nuclear facility. In 1981, 

Israel took out Iraq's nuclear reactor to quell similar ambitions. 

Yet an'Iranian-Israeli face-offwould have devastating consequences for the West and for the Islamic 

world. 

The reports about Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin, who is at the center ofthe investig~tion, are 

contradictory. But the fact that he works in a policy office overseen by the ideological Douglas J. Feith 

clouds the issue. Mr. Feith is a controversial neo-conservative who trumpeted the fall ofSaddam Hussein 

as an engine for democracy in the Mideast. He was an ardent champion ofAhmad Chalabi, the 

discredited Iraqi expatriate now thought to have had links to Iranian intelligence. 

The contradictions also extend to Israel. President Bush is such an unabashed supporter ofIsraeli Prime 

Minister Ariel Sharon that it's unfathomable that Israel couldn't get information on U.S.-Iranian policy if 

it asked. Would it risk an espionage scandal like the Pollard affair of1985? 

What's ironi~ i~ that ifthe espionage allegations are true, Israel will have likely confirmed that the United 

States in fact has no coherent or cogent policy on Iran. And the need for one is urgent, given Iran's ' 

nuclear ambitions and its less-than-candid dealings with international atomic energy inspectors. The 

campaign ofDemocratic presideQtial candidate John Kerry has unveiled its plan to persuade Iran to give 

up its nuclear weapons capability -- itwould retain its nuclear energy plants in exchange for any nuclear 

bomb-making fuel. 

Mr. Bush has painted himself into a comer with his hm:sh position on Iran and its inclusion in the "axis of 

evil." The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected in early September to release its report on 

Iran's nuclear program. Mr. Bush should be prepared to respond with a substantive plan to engage Iran 

instead ofhis usual, polarizing rhetoric. 

I ofl 

8/3112004 2:08 PM

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

oALL IN:ORMATI~~ CONTAINED 0 



~unday,Sep.05,2004 

A Web OfIntrigue 

Inside the Israel espionage investigation 

By BR;IAN BENNETT, ELAINE SHANNON AND ADAM ZAGORIN 

TIl\1E MAGAZINE 

It was a hot, late August afternoon when the Iraqi exile got a call on his cell phone. Over the 

crackling line, the Iraqi says, the caller identified himself as Larry Franklin, an analyst for the 

Defense Department in Washington. Franklin rattled offa series ofquestions. He wanted to 

know ifthe Iraqi, who had spent, the past decade working with Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National 

Congress (I.N.C.), could recall whether anyone at the I.N.C. had discussed the U.S.'s ability to 

intercept and decode Iran's secret communications. The Iraqi, who knew Franklin's name but had . 

never met him, was startled by the call. "How about discussing Iranian codes with a drunken 

American? Had anyone ever done that?" Franklin wanted to know. For nearly halfan hour, 

Franklin quizzed him about Pentagon officials and Iranian spycraft. "That was 'really scary," 

recalls the Iraqi. "I told him, II don't remember anything."1 

That phone call, which the Iraqi described to TIME last week, seems to be an indication that two 

complicated spy cases have become linked. Several weeks ago, according to federal lawenforcement 

officials, Franklin, who had been under investigation by the FBI for giving 

classified information to the American ~srael Public Affairs Committee (AlPAC), agreed to 

cooperate in a probe into whether the pro-Israel group was passing sensitive U.S. secrets to 

Israel. . 

Franklin's call to the ex-I.N.C. man, who has provided Tllv.IE with credible information in the 

past, suggests that Franklin was also assisting the FBI in a separate inquiry into how highly 

classified details ofAmerica's ability to decode Iranian intelligence messages may have fallen 

into the hands ofChalabi's organization and been passed on to Iran in February. A U.S. law-· 

enforcement official confirms that the Iraqi's account ofthe conversation is consistent with the 

types ofcalls Franklin was making on behalfofthe FBI. 

According to law-enforcement officials, Franklin began cooperating with the FBI after agents 

first confronted him with evidence that he'had given classified material to AlPAC, one of 

Washington's most powerful· lobbying organizations. Israel and AlPAC have denied the spy 

allegations; neither the Pentagon nor Franklin would comment. The law-enforcement officials 

say Franklin was persuaded in recent weeks to make "pretext calls"-scriptedconversations 

monitored by FBI agents and designed to tease out incriminating evidence about other suspects. 

It was within this time frame that Franklin approached the ex-I.N.C. official who spoke to TIME. 

The two investigations are among the most politically charged espionage cases in years. Israel 

and the I.N.C. are longtime allies ofthe U.S., though the CIA has for years warned that Chalabi 

was not to be trusted. Allegations ofIsraeli espionage have been a hot-button issue since 

American naval intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was imprisoned for life in 1987 for passing 

U.S. military secrets to Israel. Ever since the Pollard affair, Israel has publiclyinsisted it no 

C/

, ." 

longer spies on the U.S. "I can tell you here very authoritatively, very categorically, Israel does 

not spy on the United States," Israel's U.S. ambassador, Daniel Ayalon said last week. "We do 

not gather infonnation on our best friend and ally." 

Federal law-enforcement officials say they re~ain on the lookout for signs that Israelis still 

pursue U.S. secrets. A fonner congressional official told TWE that in the 1990s Israelis in 

Washington were known to routinely seek copies ofclassified documents such as secret portions 

ofthe annual Javits report, a U.S. compilation on arms sales. 

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and her deputy Stephen Hadley were informed of 

the FBI's probe into AIPAC at least two years ago, according to a U.S. official. But that did not 

hinder numerous contacts between AIPAC and top Administration officials as well as 

congressional leaders ofboth parties. The lobbYing group derives its power from its backing 

among influential Jewish Americans. Just last May, President George W. Bush attended AIPAC's 

annual conference in Washington and thanked the organization for "serving the cause of 

America" and bringing to public attention the threat ofIran's developm.ent ofnuclear weapons. 

At that time, the FBI was alrea.dy deep into its investigation ofAlPAC. A former U.S. official 

interviewed by the FBI more than·a year ago told TIME that the bureau sought information on 

key AIPAC personnel, their meetings with White House and other national-security officials in 

Washington and ev.en details about their personal lives. At one point, the FBI was surveilling a 

meeting between an Israeli diplomat and an AIPAC official when the Pentagon's Franklin 

suddenly appeared, igniting concerns. Franklin, a former :Air Force Reserve officer, served 

briefly in the U.S. military attache's office in Israel in the late 1990s. Since the summer of2001, 

he has worked as an Iran expert for Douglas.Feith, the Pentagon's third ranking official, a 

neoconservative long in favor oftougher measures against Iran. In 2001 Franklin and a Pentagon 

colleague were dispatched to Rome for a meeting with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian arms 

dealer who had been a key figure in the 1980s' Iran-contra scandal. They were seeking 

inteliigence on Iran from him. But the CIA h3$ long considered Ghorbanifar unreliable, and the 

Bush Administration later cut offthe contacts. 

According to a former U.S. government source, the material Franklin passed to AlPAC included 

a draft ofa National Security Presidential Directive dealing with U.S. policy on Iran. The 

document, a source says, had gone through several ve~ions without ever achieving the status of 

official U.S. policy pecause ofdeep disagreements within the Administration over how to cope 

with Iran. A source familiar with multiple drafts ofthe document said it was a "glorified Op-Ed 

looking at how engagement [with Iran] doesn't work and how the U.S. needs a more robust 

strategy. II A former senior U.S. official who also saw the drafts told TIME the directive did not 

explicitly call for regime change in Tehran and left open the possibility ofcooperation with the 

Iranians on matters ofmutual interest. 

. Meanwhile, a former case officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency says that when he was 

questioned in thel.N.C. case, the FBI seemed fntstrated in that investigation. That case officer, 

who worked alongside I.N.C. intelligence gatherers at the time ofthe alleged breach, says he was 

interrogated and polygraphed by the FBI. He contended to TIME that the allegations against the

"F --:-------- - --------------- 

o 

ALL 

INF0RMtTION CONTAINED 

HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED f"!!'\ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc ba~J13g 

September 6, 2004 

Spy Case Renews Debate Over Pro-Israel Lobby's Ties to Pentagon 

By JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON 

ASHINGTON, Sept. 5 - Itbegan like most national security investigations, with a squad of 

Federal Bureau ofInvestigation agents surreptitiously tailing two men, noting where they went 

and whom they met. What was different about this case was that the surveillance subjects were 

lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and one oftheir contacts turned out 

to be a policy analyst at the Pentagon. 

The ensuing criminal investigation into whether Aipac officials passed classified infonnation 

from the Pentagon official to Israel has become one ofthe most byzantine counterintelligence 

stories in recent memory. So far, the Justice Department has not accused anyone ofwrongdoing 

and no one has been arrested. 

Aipac has dis·missed the accusations as baseless, and Israel has denied conducting espionage 

operations in the United States. 

Behind the scenes, however, the case has reignited a furious and long-running debate about the 

close relationship between Aipac, the pro-Israel lobbying organization, and a conservative group 

ofRepublican civilian officials at the defense department, who are in charge ofthe office that 

employs Lawrence A. Franklin, the Pentagon analyst. 

Their hard-line policy views on Iraq, Iran and the rest ofthe Middle East have been controversial 

and influential within the Bush administration. 

"They have no case," said Michael Ledeen, a conservative scholar at the American Enterprise 

Institute and a friend ofMr. Franklin. "Ifthey have a case, why hasn't anybody been arrested or 

indicted?" 

Nearly a dozen officials who have been briefed on, the investigation said in interviews last week 

that the F.B.I. began the inquiry as a national security matter based on specific accusations that 

Aipac employees had been a conduit for secrets between Israel and the Pentagon. These offi~ials 

said that the F.B.I.,.in consultation with the Justice Department, had established the necessary 

legal foundation required under the law before beginning the investigation. 

A halfdozen people sympathetic to Aipac and the civilian group at the defense department said 

they viewed the investigation in different terms, as a politically-motivated attempt to discredit 

Aipac and the Pentagon group. Supporters ofAipac have said the organization is being dragged 

into an intelligence controversy largely because ofits close ties to a Republican administration 

and the Israeli government ofPrime Minister Ariel Sharon. . 

Friends and associates ofthe civilian group at the Pentagon believe they are under assault by 

adversaries from within the intelligence community who have opposed them since before the war 

in Iraq. The Pentagon civilians, led by Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, and

o 

Douglas 1. Feith, the unders~cretary for policy, were among the first in the immediate aftermath 

ofthe Sept. 11 attacks to urge military action to topple the regime ofSaddam Hussein in Iraq, an 

approach favored by Aipac and Israel. 

Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. Feith were part ofa larger network ofpolicy experts inside and out ofthe 

Bush administration who forcefully made the case that the war with Iraq was part ofthe larger 

fight against terrorism. 

The Pentagon group circulated its own intelligence assessments, which have since been 

discredited by the Central Intelligence Agency and by the independent Sept. 11 commission, 

arguing that there was a terroristalliance between the Hussein regime and Al Qaeda. 

The group has also advocated that the Bush administration adopt a more aggressive policy 

toward Iran, and some ofits ~embers have quietly begun to argue for regime change in Tehran. 

The administration has not yet adopted that stance, however, and the Pentagon conservatives 

have been engaged in a debate with officials at the State Department and other agencies urging a 

more moderate approach·to Iran. 

To Israel, Iran represents a grave threat to its nation~l security. Pushing the United States to adopt 

a tougher line on Tehran is one ofits major foreign policy objectives, and Aipac has lobbied the 

Bush administration to support Israel's policies. 

Mr. Franklin was an expert on Iran in the office ofMr. Feith and among the material he is 

suspected ofturning over to Aipac is a draft presidential policy directive on Iran, which would 

have provided a glimpse at the Bush administration's.earIy plans. 

But skeptics ofthe case have said that the United States and Israel routinely share highly 

sensitive information on military and diplomatic matters under an officially sanctioneq 

understanding. In addition, most ofthe contents ofpolicy drafts ilffecting either country are well 

known to people outside the government who follow American-Israeli affairs. 

As a result, some ofMr. Franklin's associates regard his efforts as an attempt to obtain Aipac's 

help to influence the Bush administrationrather than an effort to provide Israel with information. 

They believe the case is the latest in a series ofassaults by intelligence and Jaw enforcement 

agencies, who they believe are determined to diminish the influence ofconservative civilians at 

the Pentagon. 

In their view, there have been other attempts to embarrass them. In May, American officials said 

that Ahmed Chalabi, the leader ofthe Iraqi National Congress and a longtime ally ofthe 

Pentagon conserva~ives, had told Iranian intelligence officials that the Unit~d States had broken 

Iran's communications codes. 

The F.B.I. began a still-open investigation to determine who in the government had told Mr. 

Chalabi about the secret code-breaking operation. The investigation, which has included the use 

ofpolygraph examinations, has focused on Defense Department employees who both knew Mr.

' ...-.=----. II-~ 

o 

Chalabi and knew ofthe highly classified code-breaking operation. 

The F.B.l's inquiry ofthe Chalabi leak may overlap with the Pranklin case because some ofthe 

same Defense Department officials had access to infonnation that was believed to be 

compromised. 

But officials who have briefed on the case say they remain two separate inquiries being 

conducted by separate teams ofinvestigators, one with jurisdiction over Iranian matters and one 

with jurisdiction over Israel issues. 

The focus and direction ofthe Franklin investigation, which was publicly disclosed Aug. 27, 

remains unclear. The officials said the inquiry first focused on A~pac, but later became more 

intense after F.B.I. agents gathered evidence indicating that Aipac officials had obtained 

classified information from Mr. Franklin, which was turned over to Israel. 

But it is unclear who, ifanyone, is likely to be charged with wrongdoing and whether the 

government is more interested in Aipac, Mr. Franklin or the Israelis who may have received the 

classified material. Officials say Mr. Franklin has been cooperating with the F.B.I. since being 

confronted by agents several weeks ago. 

Two officials at Aipac, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, have also been interviewed by the 

bureau. 

ItI know that this is part ofa campaign against us," said MichaelMalo04 a former Pentagon 

analyst who worked in a special-intelligence unit created by Mr. Feith after Sept. 11. Mr. Maloof 

lost his security clearances because ofan investigation that he believed was unfair. 

He now believes that Mr. Franklin is being unfairly targeted as well. "They are picking us of~ 

one by one," Mr. Maloofsaid. 

But leading critics ofthe Pentagon hard-liners have repeatedly argued that Mr..Wolfowitz, Mr. 

Feith and others have used the Sept. 11 attacks as a pretext to pursue issues that in some ways 

mirror the interests ofIsrael's conservative Likud government. 

One piece ofevidence repeatedly cited by the critics is a 1996 paper issued by the Institute for 

Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, an Israeli think tank, calling for the toppling ofSaddam 

Hussein in order to enhance Israeli security. Entitled "A Clean Break," the 1996 paper was 

intended to offer a foreign policy agenda for the new Likud government ofBenjamin Netanyahu. 

The paper argued: "Israel can shape its strategic environment, incooperation with Turkey and 

Jordan~ by weakening, containing and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on rell)oving 

Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq - an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right - as 

a means offoiling Syria's regional ambitions.': 

Among those who signe~ the paper were Mr. Feith; David Wunnser, who later worked for Mr.

o 

I '6 • • 

-.-..;.-- 

Feith at the Pentagon and now works for Vice President Dick Cheney; and Richard Perle, a 

leading conservative who previously served as chainnan ofthe Defense Policy Board, a group of 

outside consultants to Secretary ofDefense Donald H. Rumsfeld. 

In the Reagan administration, Mr. Feith served as Mr. Perle's deputy at the Pentagon.

Page 1of3 

\1101 HEREIN 

DATE 

_ ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED 

IS U!IICLASSIFIED 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg' 

dmJ Print This Story 

BEHIND THE HEADLINES 

7 Used to working behind the scenes, 

I 

AIPAC suddenly thrust into limelight 

By Matthew E. Berger 

NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (JTA) -In its outreach to potential supporters and to the 

media, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee touts its access to the 

highest levels of government. 

Now it's,that very access that has thrust the pro-Israel lobby, accustomed to 

working behind the scenes; into the limelight. 

Accusations that AIPAC officials received classified information from a Pentagon 

staffer and forwarded it on to Israel broke on the eve of this week's Republican 

National Convention in NewYork, where AIPAC is hosting several policy forums 

for Republican contributors. 

According to media accounts" a non-Jewish officer on the Iranian desk at the 

Pentagon, Larry Franklin, is being investigated for passing at least one classified 

document to AIPAC officials, which may then have been forWarded to Israeli 

officials in Washington. 

Reports have suggested that Franklin could face charges ranging from 

espionage to the mishandling of classified information. 

The Jerusalem Post reported that the AIPAC officials involved were Steven 

Rosen and Keith Weissman, and that they h~ve spoken to federal investigators~ 

Rosen is AIPAC's director of research and considered one of the most influential 

people in the organization. He has been with AIPAC since 1982, and mentored 

both Howard Kohr, AIPAC's current executive director, and Martin Indyk, the 

former U.S. ambassador to Israel. 

Weissman is deputy director of foreign policy issues and specializes in relations 

with Iran" Syria and Turkey. 

AIPAC would not confirm or deny the reports. 

New reports also suggested that Naor Gilon, minister of political affairs of the 

Israeli embassy in Washington, was the subject of an FBI investigation on 

suspicion of espionage for Israel when Franklin came to the investigators' 

attention more than a year ago. - 

Both Israel and AIPAC deny any impropriety in the case. Many U.S. Jews 

believe, or hope, that no charges will be filed and that the issue will fade from 

the headlines in coming days., 

But the charges, and their prominent play in the media, have reopened 

questions about the way 'AIPAC does business with the U.S. and Israeli. 

-- governments. 

http://www.jta.orglpage-print_story.asp?intarticleid=14440 8/31/2004

ITA Print News 

o 

AIPAC's grassroots ~dvocacy and political lobbying departments get most of the 

attention. but the organization also has a thriving think tank that works to 

influence Middle East policy at the highest levels of government. 

To those who work with AI PAC in Washington, or have worked for the 

organization itself, the idea of information being passed from government 

officials to AIPAC st~ffers to Israelis seems almost commonplace. 

After all, these people see each other on almost a daily basis, at think-tank 

lunches and policy meetings throughout the capital. Information is exchanged 

and each participant tries to show his importance by touting what he knows and 

whom he has access to. 

-The easiest thing to learn in Washington is that no one likes to be surprised," 

said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official. -AIPAC doesn't like to be 

surprised and nobody wants to surprise AIPAC.,· 

In that sense, AIPAC is like any other policy organization in Washington. 

-Information is the currency in Washington," said Morris Amitay. AIPAC's 

executive director from 1974 to 1980. MAIPAC meets regularly with officials at 

the State Department and Defense Department, trying to find out what's going 

on:' 

It's unclear how much of the information AIPAC receives is forwarded to Israeli 

officials, but the coordination between the Jewish state and its advocates in 

Washington is considerable. 

Most Israeli officials who travel to Washington meet with AIPAC and exchange 

information. But Israeli officialS also have strong ties to the Bush administration, 

and receive much information directly from American governmental sources" 

without need of intermediaries. 

One congressional staffer said it was understood in Washington that AIPAC had 

access to the highest sources in both the U.S. and Israeli governments, and 

could get most information it wanted. 

-They are very astute at knowing who will know what they would like to find out,· 

said the staffer., who spoke on condition of anonymity because the FBI 

investigation is ongoing. -It's simply understood, based on the success they've 

had: 

But because of the issues AIPAC deals with. policy discussions can easily cross 

into areas of national security. increasing the chances that classified information 

will be passed., 

-There's always a real possibility that in giving a briefing. certain information that 

is classified could come out by the government briefers: said Neal Sheri who 

served as AIPAC's executive director from 1994 to 1996 and formerly worked in 

the U.S. Justice Department. -The lines are real blurry.· 

But Sher said the briefer would be the one committing the illegal act, not the one 

who gets the information. 

-Anyone with half a brain. ifsomeone is giving you a classified document. would 

say, 'I don't want to look at it.' • Amitay said. -Because it could be a sting: 

According to Newsweek. that's what occurred in the current case. Franklin 

reportedly tried to give documents to an AIPAC staffer, who wouldn't take them 

but asked for the information to be summarized orally. 

o 

Page 2 of3 

.http:/7wwwJta.orglpage-print_story.asp?intarticleid=14440 8/31/2004

JTA Print News 

When it comes to documents, federScials wHh security clearances are given 0 

little leniency.}Most desks have two computers; one for classified material and 

one for unclassified. The e-mail systems are separate and diskettes are not 

allowed to be inserted into the classified system. 

Page 3 of3 

But there's a lot more leeway when government officials brief outsiders. 

MHow far you go in telling people what's going on in a classified environment is a 

decision you have to make every daY,1II Alterman said. -There is a perception 

that you can trust the people you're talking to. III 

The congressional staffer added that much of what is classified already has 

been reported by the media. 

The recent focus on AIPAC's business practices is counter to the way the 

organization likes to work. AIPAC likes to shift focus away from its own 

professionals and onto the lay leaders and lawmakers pUblicly expressing 

support for the Jewish state. 

But that hasn't always been easy. Because Israel is such a heated topic in 

Washington and around the world, and because AIPAC has been successful in 

its mission" the group often is at the center of questions regarding U.S. support 

for Israel. 

~ Print This SlolY 

Back to top" 

http://www.jta.org/page-print_story.asp?intarticleid=14440 

8/31/2004



DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sq 

_IHomepage 

News Updates Tue., August 31,,2004 Elu114. 5764 

~ 

. .. . 

:. 

HAARETZ 

-Weekly Digital 

Edition 

Dlre~t to your 

printer 

Click.here 

Print Edition 

News 

Business 

Editorial & Op-Ed 

Features 

Sports 

Art & Leisure 

Books 

Letters 

Food &Wine 

Tourism 

'Real Estate 

Cartoon 

Friday Magazine 

Week's End 

Anglo File 

W. Bank fence ruling 

Disengagement plan 

Shopping service 

Previous Editions 

'Select Day , 0 

~.."..........,...., ............... "-'"' - 

9 Q t!Q\§j 

- . 

I ~ 

I ~ 

l......... _.....-...-.......,............. 

mm~ 

T~:': 

Israel won't ask U.S. to clarify why 

official was being tailed 

By Nathan Guttman 

WASHINGTON· Larry Franklin, the Pentagon'data 

analyst suspected of funneling classified documents 

to Israel through the Jewish I~bby AIPAC, had been 

helping with the investigation for several weeks before 

the story broke in the media, the New York Times 

reported yesterday citing sources familiar with~ the 

case. 

ii!i_~~!P.ii 

(See'IHT for further ,details) 

Safar, the details available point to 

Naor Gilon, political adviser at the 

Israeli embassy in Washington, as 

the FBI surveillance target that led 

investigators to Franklin. 

Israeli sources could 'nqt say 

~~~~IrIIiG.D yesterday why Gilon had been 

til 

under surveillance, but Israel does 

not intend to seek clarifications or protest in the 

matter. lilt's neither the first nor the last time diplomats 

have been tailed in this town," an Israeli official said 

yesterday. 

Another source said there is nothing unusual in the 

FBI monitoring meetings of diplomats, but said it's 

unlikely this was mundane surveillance, so it's 

possible there was suspicion ~f some kind about 

information reaching the Israeli embassy. Gilon knew 

Franklin and kept an ordinary working relationship 

with him as part of his job. 

The Israeli embassy declined comment on the affair 

yesterday and banned Gilon from talking to the media. 

An embassy official yesterday repeated.the line that 

these are "groundle~s and vicious allegations." 

Embassy sources were worried reports on the affair 

could hamper Gilon's duties as the main official in 

charge of political ties to U.S. administration officials 

by making them wary of meeting him. 

Gilon's meetings with Franklin and other 

administration representatives have been described 

by the embassy as the .daily routine of diplomats in 

that post. "It's exactly what all diplomats in 

Washington do, it's their job," an Israeli source said. 

A communique released by embassy officials said "as 

representatives of th~ state, we conduct an intensiv~ 

ThiS Day In. Haaretz dialogue on an'array of.topic~ wi!h o~r colleagues, in. 

Today's',Papers - -- all,branch~s,~~f ~,h~ a~ministrati~n~ !h~S ~i~l~gue takes 

http://www.haaret?:.comlhasenispages/4J.1370.html 

[AD] 

Search site r"--~--"-~"''''''ra:J 


~ Print 

B 

Send bye-mail 

@-send response 

Top Articles 

Page lof2 

Westward, ho 

This week, the voice of 

architect Moshe Safdie was 

heard for the first time in 

the stormy debate over the 

West Jerusalem plan that 

he conceived and that 

bears his name. 

By Es~er zandberg 

An expiration date 

In a few months. when 

American magazines list 

the great movie hits of 

2004, not only "Spiderman 

2" and "Shrek 2" will star at 

the top of the list. So will 

one documentary., 

By Uri Klein 

.. .- 

Hey'S,. 

• I 

1 

~ 

I 

8/30/2004

Haaretz - ISrael News - Israel WO~ U.S. to clarify why official was beOtailed 

Map of Israel 

Useful Numbers 

In-depth 

About Haaretz 

Tech Support 

Paper in PDF format 

Headline Newsbox 

place in a responsible, credible, professional, and 

completely transparent manner, as befits the nature of 

relations between Israel and the.United States." 

Still, the question remains as to why Gilon was being 

watched. One possibility mentioned is that the FBI' 

obtained information that administration documents 

were being leaked to Israel and wanted to track route 

ofthe leak. 

Another possibility is that elements opposed to Israeli 

[ AD] policy tried to set up Gilon and Israel on false 

accusations. Gilon, who was on vacation for a family 

event in Israel, has returned to Washington and is 

back at work. 

Israeli sources said the embassy staff, Gilon included, 

will continue meeting as usual with administration and 

congressional representatives and with Jewish 

community leaders. 

The FBI has applied to neither Israel norits U.S. 

based representatives for any information on the affair 

and it has not come up in meetings with U.S. officials. 

Page 2 of2 

., :.; 

». 

y 

n 

Meanwhile, the America Israel Public Affairs 

Committee is also presenting a business as usual 

face. The powerful Jewish lobby noted with pride that 

all its events scheduled for the current Republican 

National Convention in New York are attracting 

capacity crowds. 

Shalom: Mole story has been exaggerated out of 

proportion 

A Foreign Ministry investigation of the Larry Franklin 

affair indicates that Israel's embassy in Washington 

acted completely according to procedure. 

lilt never violated the rules of diplomacy and good 

dialogue that we maintain with the United States.," 

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said yesterday. 

Referring to Naor Gilon, the embassy's political 

attache, Shalom said: "He meets senior administration 

officials in the course of his work, and there's nothing 

unusual about that. The fact [the FBI] is following him 

shows this matter has been blown completely out of 

proportion." (Aluf Benn) 

[AD] 

Home INews IBusiness IEditorial & Op-Ed IFeatures ISports IBooks ICartoon ISite rules I 


http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/spages/4713 70~html 

8/30/2004

Jerusalem Post IBreaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World 

..-~- ----- 

Page 1of3 

I.ll9JJ!. IJ.O.JI!" 0 14 Elul 5764, Tuesday, August 31, 20 

IM.AiN::;; _ONLINE EDITION 

JERUSALEM POST 

ALL INFORliATION CONTAINED 

HEREIN IS tTNCLASSIFIED 


America's Voices JPost Fran~als International JP SMS Alerts Personals Media Kit Shopping Advertise 

'---__,1StarcfiI 

SERVICES 

Classlficds 

Subscribe 

Archives 

SECTIONS 

Home 

News 

Opinion 

Columns 

Business 

Features 

Living 

Real Estate 

Travel&. Tourism 

Jewish World 

Books 

Sports 

Sci-Tech 

In Jerusalem 

Current Poll 

Cartoons 

Readers' Letters 

Q&.A 

Audio Programs 

Financial Tables 

Weather 

Shabbat Times 

JPost.com »~ » SeGurity·PlplQmacv ~ Article 

Aug. 31, 2004 0:55 

Diplomat-tied to alleged mole returns to US 

By tiEBS KEINON ANQ lANltlE ZACHABIA 

~a;~~:("~i ~l»'; 

~ • .It ......,'...~,\.;...,. J"" ~ 

Naor Gilon, the diplomat at 

Israel's embassy in Washington 

who reportedly had contact with 

alleged Pentagon "mole" Larry 

Franklin. returned to the US on 

Sunday after spending a 

vacation in Israel. 

Foreign Ministry officials said 

Gilon, the political affairs 

minister and number three at the 

embassy, returned to 

Washington because he "did 

nothing wrong," and "had 

nothing to hide:' 

Advertisement 

Ads by Google 

FBI ~areers 

Increase your salary with a career in the FBI. Free info 

pack. 

WVM'.criminaIJustiee-degrees.com 

FBI lraining Online 

Build your career in the FBI with an online aiminal justice 

degree. 

www.apU$ edu 

Fbi Agents 

Article in BusinessWeek Read it online. Free Triall 

\YWW.KeepMedla.com 

Newsweek reported on Sunday 

that FBI agents monitoring a lunchtime conversation between an Israeli embassy official, 

believed to be Gilon, and a lobbyist for AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs 

Committee), discovered Franklin when he "walked in" to the lunch out of the blue. Franklin, 

according to Newsweek, soon became a subject of the FBI investigation as well. 

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom responded publicly on Monday to the allegations for the first 

time, calling them "media nonsense" that has been blown way out of proportion. 

I~l 

UmorMangl 

Youth Aliyat 

Strikes Gold 

I,Was Able t 

ControlorM 

With a Uttle 

Friends - 

August-Top' 

"Israel would not do anything that could harm our best friend, the US," Shalom said at a 

joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. 

liThe government of Israel categorically rejects the accusations that it spied or is spying on 

its best friend, the US," he said. 

JPost Guides 

Israel programs 

~ritableFunds 

Dating &. 

Relatlonshlpl 

tnlng with Tragedy 

Shalom said that meetings between embassy and US Administration officials are routine, 

ordinary, and part of the regular diplomatic work in Washington. He said that similar 

meetings and exchanges ofinformation take place in Israel among US Embassy and Israeli 

government officials. 

Shalom said Gilon is a "dedicated worker who - as part of his job - met with administration 

officials, there is nothing unique or extraordinary about this. I think this has been blown out 

of proportion•." 

- - 

http://www.jpost.comlservlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1093835912... 8/30/2004

Jerusalem Post IBreaking News~ Israel, the Middle Ea.st and the JewibWOrid 

Page2of3 

Specials 

Shalom said~Foreign Ministry has been dealing with this case since Friday afternoon. 

:::t;! Estat..Q before the allegations were air~~ on CBS. Israel, Shalom said" has a firm policy that it has 

Coming to New York City 

.September 4 &. S. 

JDate.com N.t.W. 

The only Jewish dating 

site you'll ever need. 

not strayed from of not conducting any espionage activities in the us. 

Shalom said he believes there are reasons for the timing of the leak about the investigation 

of Franklin, but refused to say what he thinks those reasons are. 

EI AI Online 

Information, special 

services, e·tlcketlng &. 

online booking. 

However, other Israeli officials over the last two days have said th~ allegations, coming on 

the eve of the Republican National Convention, are meant to embarrass US President 

George W. Bush, and are part of an ongoing poliCy battle in Washington being waged 

among officials in the State Department, CIA, and Pentagon who are at odds over US policy 

in Iraq. 

Asked whether Israel was concerned that one ofits senior diplomats was being trailed by 

FBI agents, Shalom replied "you don't know if he was being followed." Other minister 

officials in the Foreign Ministry said that the "tail" on Gilon should not come as any surprise, 

and that the operative assumption of most diplomats abroad is that they are under a certain 

degree of surveillance., 

In New York on Monday, Sen. Gordon Smith (R·Oregon) told the Anti-Defamation League's 

New York regional board that the allegation of espionage made little sense. 

"It doesn't add up to me because I know how closely we share with the State of Israel now," 

said Smith, "and there is no reason for there to be any espionage operations either way. I'm 

very skeptical'and I've got a lot of questions to ask when we get to the appropriate 

hearings." 

One House Democratic staffer said: "My impression is that the Justice Department is 

backing off." 

VVhile CBS news originally reported'on Friday that the Justice Department was poised to 

"r~1I up" some agents as early as this week, the New York Times reported on Monday that 

no arrest appears imminent since authorities are unsure if Franklin even broke the law. 

Continued 

11~1~ 

SECURITY-DIPLOMACY 

o IAF botches killing of Aksa M.arjyrs fugitives 

o IAE_ to target Kassam launch crew~ a-"~ factories 

• ~ir ~its are rare. i!l West Bank 

• Fourt..h suspect arrested for fo~cing strike 

o Bomb-sniffing dogs use~..f9r Jerusale~ city buses 

JPost Sites: JPost Audio· Shopping' Pers~mals • International JP_· ~8e'p',com 

Sections: ~. Busioess • Features· .Qpinion •LMng • Jpost Erao~i§ ~ .sR.o..rD. •Books' Irayel & Iourism • Real Estate· 

Te9h •Jewish Wod~ ~ In Jerusalem· Maps o! Israel, Looking Bac!S • ~artoons • America'~ Voice~ • Supp'lements 

Services: Print Edition· Jposl CD·Rom • SUbscriptions' print Classifieds •Online CI~ssif!eds • erinl Servi~s N~I . JPo_st 

~~v~rtisem -. I~rael Programs' JPosl CbagUe§ • Readers' Lettet§ 

http://www.jpost.comlservletlSatellite?pagename=JPostlJPArticle/ShowFuU&cid=1093835912... 8/30/2004

Jerusalem Post IBreaking NewserIsrael, the Midd1~ East and the Jewit:)0rld 

Page3"of3 

I~formatfon: l\bout Us . feedback . Medja Kit •~ . Staff E·mails • Pfivacy ~tatem_eot· CORYright 

~iriks: 'Cbicago Sun:-Times 

Travel Deals: Hotel Beservations • Rating§ of HC?tels • event Tickets . g~oDea!,-Lodging . ~..J:JQ..tU 

@'""995 ! 20041he Jerusalem Post. AU rights reserved. 

~ I~ I AdvertIse wilbJJS I !?ubscdbe I COntact Us 

http://www.jpost.com/~ervletlSatellite?pagename=JPostlJPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1093835912... 8/30/2004

e, 

[AD] 

Page-Iof2 

_IHomepage 

News Updates Sun., August 29, 2004 Elu112. 5764 

Print Edition 

News 

Business 

Editorial &Op-Ed 

Features 

Sports 

Art &Leisure 

Books 

Letters 

Food'& Wine 

Tourism 

Real Estate 

Cartoon 

Friday Magazine 

Week's End 

Anglo File 

W. Bank fence ruling 


Arab snapshots 

Shopping service 


SelectQay- .," ....i:J~ 

gg~98.1~J 

r"~'1o"'110~"""''''''''''.:a... ......~ 

I ~ 

Analysis I Damage done - true9r 

not 

By AmicQren 

Acting Foreign Ministry Director-General Ron 

Prushauer called two senior intelligence officials 

Friday night: Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Yehiel 

Horev. the defense establishment·s chief of secu~ty. 

Both gave him the same answer: No, we are not 

involved in the Larry Franklin affair. 

Advertisement .Prushauer gave half a sigh of relief: 

, '~'k~~=:xl"'~ If ~agan and Horev.are to be 

·"{'·~~~f~;. ~ beheved, and there IS ~urrently no 

.;,\¥:~.,,,,~ 

..: ),." reason not to. then neither the 

; ::~;'_;/,/(-\ ..J: Mossad nor Horev's Malmab unit - 

ti·::.:4~· .~.; which. in its previous incarnation. 

• was responsible for running 

Jonathan Pollard - is involved in the 

• ' affair. which threatenes to 

·'..;,'.. HelJ ,t..Mnl-, .:'. reawaken all the old demons. 

-; Q ' 

But it was only haifa sigh of relief, because the 

Foreign Ministry's own internal investigation has no~ 

yet ended. Thus documents could yet be uncovered 

for which Franklin served as a source, whether 

directly or indirectly. Moreover. as the investigation 

progresses. suspects' confessions or polygraph tests 

could implicate Israel. In that case. Israel would 

appear to be a liar. even if its denials now are 

genuinely based on the best currently available 

information. And should Israel eventually hand over 

evidence against Franklin. it would appear to be a 

double traitor - first against its benefactor, the U.S., 

and then against its agent. 

Finally. even if official Israel proves innocent, the pro 

Israel lobby in Washington. AIPAC. has already be~n 

hurt. 

Search site l--..--·...·.. -"-~ 


Q 

Print 

B. ~end bye-mail 

@-Send response 

Top Articles 

Chutzpah: Class 101 

Sarah Augerbraun knew 

she wasn·t in Florida 

anymore when standing in 

line at her local 

supermarket, a man tried to 

cut in front of her. "I 

realized I had two options"· 

recalls the former Hebrew 

teacher. ·'1 could have 

either yelled at him or just 

ignored it." 

~y Daphna Bennan 


In a few months, when 


the· great movie hits of 

2004. not only "Spiderman 

2·' and "Shrek 2" will star at 

the top of the list. S'o will 

one documentary•. 

By Uri Klein 

r 

1 

~ 

I 

i 

This Day in H~aretz 

Today's Papers 

Map of Israel 


In-depth 

About Haaretz 

Tech Support 

Paper in PDF .format 

'Headline Newsbox· 

The importance of the Franklin affair goes far beyond 

the importance of the information that he allegedly 

gave to two AIPAC members, who in turn allegedly 

transmitted it to Israel. The documents, which 

included a draft decision by President George Bush, 

were all the type of staff work that is routinely . 

discussed by Israel·s diplomatic attaches and U.S. 

officials.· Indeed. getting information from U.S. officials 

is one of the diplomatic attaches' main jobs., 

Moss~d representatives and military attaches also 

maintain ties with American officials. The Military 

Intelligence representative is responsible for ties with 

the Defense Intelligenc~ Agency, which is the 

.Defense,Department's intelligence,arm and Franklin's 

fOJ!r1~r ~mp"loyer: . -. . ,. . 

" 

J 

~ 

. http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/spages/470420.html 8/30/2004

Haaretz - Israel News - AnalYSiS(;5amage done - true or not 

[AD.] 

o 

Under certain circumstances, any of the above 

embassy officials could have had reason to speak 

with someone working, as Franklin most recently did, 

for DougJas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for 

policy. 

Feith was one of the leading administration advocates 

of a tough line on Iran, the war in Iraq and strong 

support for Israel. Others include Undersecretary of 

State John Bolton, Vice President Richard Cheney" 

Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, and Deputy 

Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. This group is 

opposed on all three issues by the CIA, Secretary of 

State Colin'Powell and other State Department 

officials. 

Page2of2 

1 .. 

y 

Thus Israel has been caught in the crossfire of a 

policy war within the U.S. administration - one unlikely 

to end even if Bush is reelected in November. 

Wolfowitz, whom Bush likes, would probably have 

trouble getting Senate confirmation for a promotion; 

Feith was considered a leading candidate for ouster 

even before the Franklin affair; Bolton's status has 

been undermined; and the entire group viewed Bush's 

nomination of Porter Goss for CIA director as a blow, 

as Goss has close ties with the agency and its 

outgoing head, George Tenet, the group's long-time 

rival. 

Another agency whose battle for survival is liable to 

hurt Israel, albeit unintentionally, is the FBI, whose 

signal failure to prevent the September 11, 2001 

attacks led both to the creation of the Department of 

Homeland Security and to calls for removing 

counterterrorism from the FBI's aegis and transferring 

it to a new agency, similar to Britain's M15. The FBI is 

thus determined to prove to be outstanding at the top 

two items on its new agenda: preventing terrorism and 

preventing espionage. 

The man who is heading the FBI's investigation 

against Franklin, Dave Szady, has repeatedly said 

that he views no person, agency or country as above 

suspicion. In his view, Israel, along with Taiwan, 

France, Japan, India and others, is on the list of 

friendly countries that "nevertheless try to steal our 

secrets. n He once stated in an interview that only the 

prevention of mass-casualty terror attacks is more 

important than counterespionage. He added that 

today, it is not only America's enemies, but also its 

allies that try to steal its secrets - and while 

embassies and consulates remain the bases for such 

activity, he continued, foreign governments today also 

employ stUdents" scientists and nfront n companies. 

~ 

~OD 

[AD] 


o Copyright 2004 Haaretz. All rights reserved 

http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/spages/470420.html 

8/30/2004

Jerusalem Post IBreaking Newst:r Israel, the Middle East and the Jewi~Or1d 

Page 1of2 

J.&lsL.In.I ~...nt 14 Elul 5764, Tuesday, August 31, 20 

.16"&LM ONLINE EDITION 

JERUSALEM POST ALL 

INFORMATION CONTAlr~D 


DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsq 

America's Voices JPost Fran~ais International JP SMS Alerts Personals Media Kit Shopping Advertise 

SERVICES 

Classifieds 

Subscribe 

Archives 

SECTIONS 

Home 

News 

Athens 2004 o..Q.9 

Opinion 

Columns 

Business 

Features 

Living 

Real Estate 

Travel 8c. Tourism 

Jewish World 

Books 

Sports 

Sci-Tech 

In Jerusalem 

Current Poll 

Cartoons 

Readers' Letters 

Q8cA 

Audio Programs 

Financial Tables 

Weather 

Shabbat Times 

Aug. 29, 2004 22:08 I Updated Aug. 30, 2004 19:00 

Background: Not AIPAC's first controversy 

By CAl.E\I BEN-DAYIQ 

'a,flgt~ Si·i)·= 

~ .... ' ..... 1> ,,_ ... _.~. 

"A lobby is like a night flower; It 

thrives in the dark and dies in 

the sun." 

So wrote Steven Rosen, AIPAC 

director of foreign policy issues, 

in an internal organizational 

memo several years ago. 

[AD] 

www.wketehup.com 

Advertisement 

Ads by GOOQle 

Unfortunately for the influential 

,pro-Israel lobbying group, this 

new affair is turning far too much 

of the media spotlight on an 

organization that prefers to work 

behind the scenes on Capitol 

Hill. But it is hardly the first time 

AIPAC has found itself at the 

center of public controversy, although never in such a serious matter as receiving classified 

security material. 

In 1988, the investigative show 60 Minutes ran a critical piece on AIPAC using information 

supplied by its former communications director (and ex-Jerusalem Post reporter) Barbara 

Amouyal. Among the material supplied by Amouyal was an internal memo suggesting that 

the media be fed stories regarding Jesse Jackson's private life. 

Also induded in the 60 Minutes report was another internal memo which seemed to direct 

how political action committees should donate money to specific pro-Israel ca~didates, a 

possible violation of federal law forbidding lobby groups such as AIPAC from directly 

involving themselves in elections. A subsequent investigation by the Federal Elections 

Commission deared AIPAC of any violations., 

lAPI 

lImor Mangl '\I 

Youth Allyar 

~trlkes Gold 

I Was Able t 

Control of M 

With a Utt'e 

friends 

August Top 

JPost Guides 

I~rael P~ogrjlms 

Djltlng &. 

Relationships 

~,-ng with ~raged~ 

Nonetheless, AIPAC continues to face accusati()ns that it unduly interferes in the electoral 

process, especially'from politicians who credit their defeats at the polls to the organization's 

efforts., The most notable example in recent years was the 2002 congressional race, in 

which two Georgia Democrats, incumbents Cynthia McKinney and Earl Hilliard, were 

defeated in party primaries by contenders perceived as more pro-Israel. McKinney 

subsequently commented: "Despite the fact that I easily won the Democratic vote, 40,000 

Republicans maliciousl~ crossed over and overtook the Democratic Primary. And because 

AIPAC had telegraphed in newspaper arti~esJhat they wer~ goinJJ to target ~oth Earl 

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?p.agename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1093750152... 8/30/2004

Jerusalem PostIBreaking Newse:; Israel, the Middle East and the Jewi~h World, 

Specials Hilliard and me, the Democratic Party was paralyzed." 0 

Israel Real Estate 

Sh.oi'£W 

Coming to New York City 

September 4 & 5. 

JDate.com N&Wl 

The only Jewish dating 

site you'll ever need. 

EI AI Online 

Infonnatron, spedal 

services, e-ticketlng & 

online booking. 

AIPAC has sometimes even found itself on the receiving end of criticism from the Israeli 

governments whose positions it is charged to support. This was especially so during the 

early years of the Oslo Accords. when an organization viewed by many on the Jewish left 

as traditionally more right-leaning, seemed slow to adjust itself to Israel's sudden political 

shift. 

In 1992. newly elected prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, in a closed-door meeting with AIPAC 

leaders in Washington" reportedly told them in harsh terms they had gone too far in 

antagonizing the Bush administration in the battle to gain loan guarantees sought by the 

previous Shamir govemment. The next year AIPAC vice-president Harvey Friedman 

referred to deputy foreign minister Yossi Beilin in the presence of a reporter as a "little 

slimebaU:' after Beilin had complained that Friedman had spoken approvingly of transferring 

the Palestinians. Friedman SUbsequently left AIPAC as the organization sought to improve 

ties with the Rabin govemment., 

AIPAC's efforts to keep a low media-profile have also led to accusations that it has put 

undue pressure on journalists, especially from the Jewish press, who cover it critically. 

Among them is Washington Jewish Week reporter larry Cohler, who earlier this year told 

an Internet site: ''Their mission statement doesn't say anything about them mucking around 

in Jewish newspapers. 

Page 2 of2 

AIPAC tried to get me fired, [and editor)'Andy [Silow-Carrol] fired [from The Washington 

Jewish Week in 1992]." (AIPAC has denied those charges.) 

Given its task, it is inevitable that AIPAP will serve as a perennial whipping-boy for anti 

Semitic Jewish conspiracy theorists. and as the phantom spoiler by disgruntled anti-Israeli 

politicians who fall short at the ballot box. But its reported involvement in the Pentagon-leak 

story will force it to handle mainstream-media damage control of the like the organization 

has not yet known. 

SECURITY-DIPLOMACY 

o I~~ ~otches killing ofAksa Martyrs fugitives 

o rAE to ta!get~~ssam launch cre~s and fact0!ies 

• N[hits are rare in West Baok 

o Fou~h suspect arrested (or forcing strike 

o Bomb-sni~ng ~ogs used for Je~u~alel!l city buses 

(~J 

JPost Sites: J'post Audio· Shopping· Personals· Intematio~al J~ !' JRep,corp 

Sections: ~. Business • Features!' QRin19.n •living .. J~ost Fran@is •~ • Books· Travel &Tourism ,. Real Estate· 

Jech • Jewish Wodd -In Jerusalem ~ Maps of Israel· Looking Back • Cartoons· America:s Vgis:§s • ~"p-Iemeg~ 

Services: Print Edition' JPost CD-Rom· ~tions • Print Classifieds . Online Classifieds • Print Services N~WI .• JPost 

Advertisers • Is@el Programs· JPgst ChaO!les -; Readers' Letters- - - - 

Information: ~bout Us • E~edback • Media Kjt •~. Staff E-mails·priv.acy Statement • ~..Y!i9bJ 

Links: Chicago Sun-:Times 

Travel Deals: Hotel Reservations· Rating~ o~ Hotels· Event Tickets· European Lodging' Cheap' Hotels 

@ 1995 - 2004 The Jerusalem Post. All rights reserved. 

~ I~ I Advertise wjtb Us I, Subscdbe I CoQtact Us 

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1093750152... 8/30/2004

Haaretz - Israe.l News - Making't:runtain into a molehill 

:p~age-l 

qf2 

- ~ 

. ISRld 'MuttClNJ!!j 

..~.....~-- . ALL INFOrorATION CONTAINED 

:~..., :OneClick HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

" ..... ~~.. Hundreds 

r: '~:;I,.,t of Deals!' DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabjlsg 

fid_3:::::=:~:l;Zr.::t~~· DHomepage 

Mon., August 30, 2004 Elul13, 5764 

News Updates 

Print Edition 

News 

Business 

Editorial &Op-Ed 

Features 

Sports 

Art & Leisure 

aooks 

Letters 

Food &Wine 

Tourism 

Real Estate 

Cartoon 

Friday M~gazine 

Week's End 

Anglo File 

W .. Bank fence ruling 


Arab snapshots 

Shopping-service 


S~Da~; ~-tTI1 

•. 0-0"101 

_QJ.Q~ ..~ 

I 

• 

, i---~. 

-this Day in Haaretz 

Today's Papers 

Map of Israel 


In-depth 

About Haaretz 

Tech Support 

Paper ill PDF format 

Headline Newsoox 

-..,. ...... "',~ - ... - _.:- .~ .. 

Searc~ siter 

Making a mountain into a molehill 

By Aklya Eldar 

It now looks by all accounts like Larry Franklin will. at 

worst, be tried for mishandling sensitive material. In 

other words, he'li be charged with leaking information 

to the pro.;.lsraellobby AIPAC. "Sensitive" data of this 

sort, or of an even more s~nsitive nature, is routinely 

conveyed during meetings between American officials 

and Israeli diplomats under the bright lights· of upscale 

restaurants in th~ heart of Washington,' D.C. 

Advtrtlstmtnt 

.The real problem threatening Israel- 

'.t-:~. ..7 '..A'i~'~'" , u.s. relations and the Jewish 

.~~~\~~ . ~ community does not reside in this 

~~ ~~..;;1.~~:~::. ~ small-fry from the Pentagon and the 

.1- ~. ~~;Ii ~ ~~:.::J classification grade of the leaked 

t~l1'~ ,f.~:I":': ;; document, but rather in the 

• suspicion of something fishy at the 

top. The murky waters of this affair 

will provide ample fishing grounds 

for political rivals and conspiracy 

~...;.z;:l .........~~,;wbuffs. First they'lIland Franklin's 

boss, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas 

Feith, and thenthey'll hook the entire group of 

neoconservatives of which he is one of the leaders. 

That is the' group of Israel's friends, inclUding many 

Jews, that pushed President Bush to go to war in Iraq. 

Th~ best form of defense being offense. 

spokespeople for the Israeli government insinuated 

that anti-Israel elements are behind the affair. 

Republican representatives point to "Democratic 

agents" among senior FBI officials who want to spoil 

things for Bush on the eve of his party's convention. 

They may be right. But you don't need Franklin and 

the classified Iranian document to draw fire at the 

conspiracy to take over Iraq. As members of think 

tanks several years ago. Feith and his. friends 

volunteered an open document' in which they laid bare 

their Israeli-American plot to change the face of the 

entire Middle East. In 1996, a conservative Israeli 

American research institute invited Feith and others, 

including Richard Perle who headed an advisory 

panel to the Pentagon known as the Defense Policy 

Board, to put together a strategic manual for the 

incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu., 

Feith is responsible for the following paragraph from 

that document: "Israel can shape its strategic 

environment. in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, 

by weakening, containing, and even rolJing back 

Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam 

Hussein fr9m power in Iraq - an importar)t Israeli 

strategic objective in its own right'- as'a means of 

""foiling Syria'sregional ambitions." 

[AD] 

Israel Time:, 02:19 (GMT+3) 

~ Print 

B Send bye-mail 

@-Send response 

Top Articles 

~hutzpah: Class 101 

Sarah Augerbraun knew 

she wasn't in Florida 

anymore when standing in 

line at her local 

supermarket. a man tried to 

cut in front of her. "I 

realized I had two options," 

recalls the former Hebrew 

teacher. "I could have 

either yelled at him or just 

ignored it." 

By Daphn~ Bennan 


In a few months, when 


the great movie hits of 

2004, not only "Spiderman 

2" and "Shrek 2" will star at 

the to·p ofthe list. So will· 

one documentary. 

By Uri Klein 

http://www.haaretz.comlhasen/$pages/470871.html 8/30/2004 

I 

1 

f 

I 

I

Haaretz - IsraelNews - Making ~ountain into a molehill 0 

Page 2 o£.2 

[AD] 

The document goes on to state that "Jordan has 

challenged Syria's regional ambitions recently by 

suggesting the restoration of the Hashemites in Iraq ... 

Since Iraq's future could affect the strategic balance in 

the Middle East profoundly, it would be 

understandable that Israel has an interest in 

supporting the Hashemites in their efforts to redefine 

Iraq." 

Six years later, members of that same group 

supported the half-baked idea to crown Jordan's 

Prince Hassan as Iraq's ruler. 

If anyone was looking to use Franklin to sock Feith in 

the weak spot of dual loyalty, in order to hurt Bush, 

they could have located its sources in that very same 

open document. Its authors provided the head of a 

foreign government tips on manipulating U.S. 

members of Congress. They suggested that he take 

advantage of the period remaining before the 

November '96 presidential and congressional 

elections to obtain "a benign American reaction" for 

his/their policy. In exchange for the free advice. they 

asked for Netanyahu's help in recruiting members of 

Congress who "care 'Very much about missile 

defense" to counter an agreement with Russia on 

reining in proliferation of long-range missiles. 

Feith and his friends promised in that document that 

Israeli support for the missile plan would assist efforts 

to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to 

Jerusalem. That initiative, sponsored by the 

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, was the 

brainchild of the neoconservatives and their friends at 

AIPAC., It utterly contravened the view held by 

president Bill Clinton and prime minister Yitzhak 

Rabin that initiatives of that sort do not help build trust 

between Israel and the Palestinians. Perhaps that is 

the strongest proof of all that the neoconservatives 

and Jewish lobbyists do not serve two masters. They 

serve themselves, and that's the trouble. 

[AD] 



http://www.haaretz.com/hasenlspages/470871.html 

8/30/2004

-'4 - '.., 0 ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED I!!"\ 

.."'f' .... _J\ HEREIN IS TJ1.JCLASSIFIED ~ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg • 

~lran-Sonira 11'/" b~ Joshua Micah M~rshall, Laura Roze... http://www.wasftingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/041 ..... \ 

nji;ni]iiIE~fl!m5i1Era 

Nev~.r#r!lis~.a:.Sin~~~ ~~~~e 

Subscribo ol>fit'le 

&save 33% off' 

_ne\'Vs51oltdimce 

Respond to this Article September 200,. 

Iran-Contra II? 

Fresh scrutiny on a rogue Pentagon operation. 

By JosbuaMicab Marsball, Laura Rozen,·and Paul Glastris 

i __'_ .....1x:;zs -4ZS;;;:_ 

= 

azaSA : _ U_S ;SQ............. t 

On 'ri~a~ tv¢rUn~, ~as N¢\VS t¢pOt1~d. ttiat Jf)~ FlU i~ Jny~sJi~aUh~ a~u~peqt~d 

mole intlie Department ofDefeiise wlio allegedlY passed to Israel, yilt apro-ISraeli 

Ip~bYiiig otgatiii.iltl~ii, classifled Am~i¢~ iiittiUlg~ttc~ abQit~ Iron. Tne fp~U~ (Sflhe 

iIive~tigiUiofi, according to u.s. government 6fficiiUs, is Larry VtanIdhi, aveteran 

Oe&"s~ Int~mg~n~ A&e~¢y Itati ~~IY$t tiQW wotk!t\g bi Ui¢ olli\:e. b.fthe 

Pentagon's nuiiiber tliree civilian official, UlidersecreWf ofDefeiiSe for PoJic~ 

Douglas Feith. .. 

The investigation ofFranklin is now shininB. a bript lig,ht on a shadowy struggle 

within the Bush adminislration over the direction ofU.S. policy toward Iran. In 

partic~J1ar, the FBI is lookin~ with renewed interest at an unauthorized back-chann~l 

between Iranian dissidents and advisers in Feith's office, which more senior 

administration . officials first tried in vain to shut down. 

and then later attempted to 

cover up. 

ftanlUin, a,IOiig Witlt at\~tlt~t coU¢,{igU¢ f(iPi F¢Uh's ~Uli¢~, Bp9.lyg)QI Midgl~ EftSt 

expert name(f Harold Rhode, were tlie two offichils involved in tfie back-cliiiiiiiel, 

wJii~h ifivolv¢d on-going m~~tjng~ iUl4 ~6fi~c~ \YUh h1lmaii ijnn~ d¢aler Manucher 

Glioi'biiiiifar and other Itaiiian eXiles, dissidentS and government officials. 

QhQrbsmif(\r- i$ nsfQri¢(j figUf~ WI'4$5 PI4ye.

':lran-Contralrr by Joshua Micah Marshall, Laura Roze... 

.~.~ ~ ~' b 

http://www.washingtonmonthly.comlfeatures/2004/041 ... 

Q 

WMhlngtQl1 Miilltl11y 

admhustiilUQi) PoJicY-ttiftKlng. And an UiVestigaQQn,by 1'h~ 

m6ludiiig a tareS ililehriew willi Ghorb8.iiifar - adds w6iglit to those concerns. The 

tftc.¢tlngS {\1m Qut to hAve ij~eil (clt·m6i~ E}xten~UV9 (lp(l mU9h l¢s~ "tidefW"it~ 

House ~onti'61 tlian otigmally reponed. One ofthe meetingS, wliich Pentagon 

Qfli4ilU~ lia.Y~ long 9bc)ia¢t~ii~d AS metely (l "Qhl\il

'~Iran-Gmtra II?" by Joshua Micah Marshall, Laura Roze... 

~--~ . 0 

http://WWW.WaGgtonmOnthIY.COmlfeaturesl2004/04l... 

A~¢~tdin~ tQ u,s! ~QV~tntnent $()yt

'i,ran-C,ontra ll?" by Joshua Micah M\U'Shall, LauraRoze... 

J2~. ,••.~ • O. 

'.. 

.' http://www.was~gtonmonthly.comlfeaturesl2004/041... 

nckiioWI~dg~d U1¢ $~~Qnd tij¢etifig jn P.C\ii~ tti JlJn~ ?o.OJ, ~UI msi~te(l. that It \v~ the 

resUlt ofa ",cliaiice encoiJiiter" betWeen Gli6i'baiiifar and a P.eii~6ii omci.tU. The 

administration has,kept to the "chance encounter" story to this day. 

Ghorbanifar, however, lau~s offthat idea. "Run into each other? We had a prior 

arrangement," he told The Washington Monihly.: "It involved a Jot ofdiscussion and 

a lot ofpeople." 

9y~r !he J~t Y~!I'; th~ ~~q~tc: JtJ,eIJjg~n9~ ~9mf!lj~~~ ~!lS _con~!1c~~9 1imjt~9 in.q!1iry 

into the meetln~, inoluding interviews with Feith and Ledeen. But under terms ofa 

QQmpt9mi~~ agr~~4 to ~y "9th P~i~i @wit inv~tigtltiqn intQ th~ fn;~!ter WM nl!t off 

until after the November eleotion. Republioans on the committee, many of whom 

$YR1P~!p.f~ wjqt th~ tt~gi.l!le ~h~g~ri·~gen~~ ..l!t ~Q.D, P~v~. JJ~n 1~~1~.~! .!9&~':lth 

investigations, calling them an election-year fishing expedition. Democrats, by 

~'. ,LEXIS®-NEXIS® View Prin~e Page 

. ... 

~ ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED 



Page 1 of4 

\ 

Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times 

All Rights Reserved 

Los Angeles Times 

September 3, 2004 Friday 

Correction Appended 

Home Edition 

SECTION: MAIN NEWS; National Desk; Part A; Pg. 1 


HEADLINE: TijE WORLD;. 

Israel Has Long Spied on U.S., Say Officials 

'" 

BYLINE: Bob Drog~,n and Greg Miller, Times StaffWriters 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON 

BODY: 

Despite its fervent denials, Israel se

LEXIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page 

Page 2 of4 

. . () 

'''They undertake a wide range oftechnical operations'and human operations," the former official said. 

"People here as liaison ... aggressively pursue classified intelligence from people. The denials are 

laughable.II 

Current and former officials involved with Israel at the White House, CIA, State Department and in 

Congress had similar appraisals, although not all were as harsh in th~ir assessments. A Bush 

administration official confirmed that Israel ran intelligence operations against the United States. "I don't 

know ofany foreign government that doesn't do collection in Washington,1I he said. 

Another U.S~ official familiar with Israeli intelligence said that Israeli espionage efforts were more 

subtle than aggressive, and typically involved the use ofintermediaries. 

But aformer senior intelligence official, who focused on Middle East issues, said Israel tried to recruit 

him as a spy in 1991. 

"I had an Israeli intelligence officer pitch me in Washington at the time ofthe first Gulf War," he said. "I 

said, 'No, go away,' and reported it to counterintelligence." 

The U.S. officials all insisted on anonymity because classified material was involved and because ofthe 

political sensitivity ofIsraeli relations with Washington. Congress has shown little appetite for vigorous 

investigations ofalleged Israeli spying. 

In his fust public comments on the case, Israel's ambassador, Daniel Ayalon, repeated his governmen~'s 

denials this week. til can tell you here, very authoritatively, very categorically, Israel does not spy on the 

United States," Ayalon told CNN. "We do not gather information on our best friend and ally." Ayalon 

said his government had been "very assured that this thing will just fizzle out. There's nothing there.II 

In public, Israel contends it halted all spying operations against the United States after 1986, when 

Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy analyst, was convicted in U.S. federal court and sentenced to life in 

prison for selling secret military documents to Israel. 

U.S .. officials say the case was never fully resolved because a damage-assessment team concluded that 

Israel had at least one more high-level spy at the time, apparently inside the Pentagon, who had provided 

serial numbers ofclassified documents for Pollard to retrieve. 

The FBI has investigated several incidents ofsuspected intelligence breaches involving Israel since the 

Pollard case, including a 1997 case in which the National Security Agency b'pgged'two Israeli 

intelligence officials in Washington discussing efforts to obtain a sensitive U.S. diplomatic document. 

Israel denied wrongdoing in that case and all others, and no one has been prosecuted. 

But U.S. diplomats, miljtary officers and other officials are routinely warned before going to Israel that 

local agents are known to slip into homes and hotel rooms ofvisiting delegations to go through 

briefcases and to copy computer files. 

"Any official American in the intelligence' community or in the foreign service gets all these briefings on 

all the things the Israelis are going to try to do to you," said one U.S. official. 

. At the same time, experts said relations between the CIA and Israel's chiefintelligence agency, the 

Mossad, were so close that analysts sometimes shared-highly classified "code-word" intelligence on 

sensitive subjects. Tel Aviv routinely informs Washington ofthe identities ofthe Mossad station chief 

and the military intelligence liaison at its embassy in America. 

https:/lwww.nexis.com/researchlsearchlsubmitViewTagged 10/6/2004

LEXIS®-NEXIS® View Pri

• LEXIS®-NEXIS® View PriesePage 

nuClear threat from Iran. 

(;) 

Page 4 of4 

Washington and Tel Aviv differ on their assessments ofIran's nuclear weapons development. Israel 

considers Iran's nuclear ambitions its No. 1security threat, and the issue is the top priority for AlPAC. 

The Bush administration takes the Iran nuclear threat seriously, but its intelligence estimates classify the 

danger as less imminent than do the Israeli assessments. 

What mystifies those who know AIPAC is how one ofthe savviest~ best-connected lobbying 

organizations in Washington has found itselfemrieshed in a spy investigation. 

Although never previously implicated in a potential espionage case, AlPAC has frequently been a 

subject ofcontroversy. Its close ties to Israeland its aggressive advocacy ofIsraeli government positions 

has drawn criticism that it should be registered as an agent ofa foreign country. Others, noting its ability 

to organize significant backing for or against candidates running for national office, have demanded th~t 

it be classified as a political action committee. 

So far the group has avoided both classifications, either ofwhich would impose major restrictions on its 

activities. 

Three years ago, Fortune magazine ranked AIPAC fourth on its list ofWashington's 25 most powerful 

lobbying groups -- ahe~d ofsuch organizations as th~ AFL-CIO and the American Medical Assn. 

Times staffwriters Mark Mazzetti and Tyler Marshall in Washington contributed to this report. 

CORRECTION-DATE: September 05~ 2004 

CORRECTION: 

Lobbying group -- An article in Friday's Section A about allegations ofIsraeli spying in the United 

States misidentified the American Israel Public Affairs Committ~e, a pro-Israel·lobbying group, as the 

American Israel Political Action Committee. 

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: DENIAL: Daniel Ayalon, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., says his nation doesn't 

spy here. PHOTOGRAPHER: Neal Hamberg Associated Press 

LOAD-DATE: September 5, 2004 

https://www.nexis.com/reseaichlsearchlsuomitViewTagged 10/6/2004

The sloe Sentinel 

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

ALL INFOP~TION CONTAINED . 

~REIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

_~ 

~ATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/5~ 

Page 1 of2 

Pentagon A~~lyst St

The SlOe Sentinel 

But officials also have said that the draft, which originated at the Pentagon's Near.East and South Asian 

Affairs office, where Franklin worked, contained little in the way ofsensitive secrets that had not been 

reported by the media already. In-addition, after more than two years ofdebate among top U.S. 

officials, an NSPD on Iran has yet to be agreed upon by top officials and signed by the president. 

G 

Page 2 of2 

- .... - - - - .. 

http://30.5.100.249/documentsiintranetlinformationlSentine1l2004/0ctober/06.htm 10/6/2004

\ 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAIJmD 

~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED () 

~ 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/3ab/l~ ' 

D~n~~~ ~yalon, to correct myself. Mr. Ambassaddr, ~e's al~ over the 

p~ess this week, the FBt js·invest~9ating an official of tbe Defense 

. Depar~ment, Lawrence Franklin, tor allegedly passing classified 

documents or materials or data from the White House that the White 

House plans ~e9a~din9, Iran the Wh~te House's plan~ on I~an and 

Israel. . 

ls Franklin spying tor your coun~ry? 

AMB. AYALON:. No, not. at. all, John. I. can tell you here. -- and thank you 

~o~ giv~ng me this opportunity to $ay categorically and very 

authoritatively, lsrae~ does no~ spy on th~ United States, no~ do we 

gather any intelligence on the U.S~ We do not do it because it'$ our 

best friend and ally. And secondly, we don't really need it because we 

a~e in such close, close xelations -~ strategic, polibical -- and we 

see eye to eye on most of the ~ssues t~ave~;ng the M~dd~e ~ast, whether 

;~'s ter~or or weapons of ma~s destruction, or Iran that we just talked 

about. 

And also, John, you emp~asi~ed i~'s press repQrts. Let me a+so say here 

that I'm not going to contend with or argue with some anonymous leaks 

or some faceless allegations o~ $ources. I can tell you here ~lS9 ~ha~ 

in al~ my contacts with the U.S. government, there was no way that 

formally or ~nfo~mally we were di~cussing any of tpese alle9ations. 

So it's in the press. 4 don'~ know the motivations of i~. I hope jt 

will be revealed because there is nothing there wha~soever. 

MR. MC~UGHLIN: There's no grand jury that's been impaneled? 

AMB. AYALON: I ha~e no details on that, and no~ am I conce~ned becaus~ 

we know exactly wha~ ~he facts are. And whoeve~ is leakjng, whoeve~ is 

feeding the press on ~hat, l would say ~t could be tWQ ~eason~. Eithe~ 

it'~ $ome incompetence of not unde~standing reality o~ misunderstanding 

or misin~erpretin9 the activities that we engage ~n witb the U.s. 

government, or maybe ev~n a malicious intent. I don't. know. 

~~t I can t~~l you ag~;n, 9;~~gi.ally we-have not heard anything, 

.neither formal.J.y nor' i.l'lformally. - - 

M~. MC~U~~L1N: So we q~n ~e9a~Q.this as an oF~ic~al denial on the par~ 

of the government of I$rael, what you're saying? 

~B, AY~OH: Yes. Ye$. And I would say it'$ more than that; for us it's 

a non-issue. 

LI 

, t. ? 

MR. MCLAUGH N: I t s a non-~ssue. 

AMB. AYA~ON: Exactly. 

M~. MC~UGHLIN: Now, you a~e aware, with ali due ~espect, Mr. 

Ambassador, that Israel Qenied that Jonathan Pollard was a spy for 13 

years, and then ~t. concu~red after that tha~he·was a spy. 

~a. ~YhtON: That wasn't qu~te t.he case. We too~ ~esponsib;l~ty -- ;t 

w~~ a sad ca~~. It was ~ $ad qase. And i~ w~~ an ~solated, ve~y unique 

case o£the ~as~ ove~ 20 years ago, and w~ all bore the consequences 

,.. 

b6 

b7C

o 

for.:- it. 

MR t MCLAUGHLlN: Well, I think the gene~al assumption is tha~ nations 

sPY on each other'whethe~ theY'~e friendly or not. 

AMB. AYALON: Absolutely. 

.MR. MCLAUGHLIN: And there isn't ve~y much doub~ in my mind tha~ we have 

our spies, if they are earn~ng some o~ that $40 billion that we pu~ out 

for CIA, et cetera, ~here are spies in your government working for us. 

Absolutely? . 

AHB: ~Y~ON: ~o~lr~ fi9h~ ~h~t -- no, y~yl~~ ;ig~t ~nqt n?~~O~$f even 

friendly ones, do spy on each othe;-. 1his .is a common, .let.ts say, 

understanding. But 'afte~ Pollard, l can t~ll you he~e aga~n that rs~ae~ 

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: The Pol~ard case. 

AMa. AYALON: After th~ Pollard case fro~ 20 so y~ars agQ, we took .~ 

lsrael tQok ~ strategic defense -- strategic -decision nQt. to do any 

kind ot intelligence gat.hering of ~hat. ~ype on the United States, and 

we adhere to i~ and we don't. want even anytning which will be remotely 

c10se to such activ~ty because o£ the unique relation$hip between 

Israel and the United States. The relationship is un1que jn te~ms of 

clos~ness. . . 

MR. .MCLAUGHLIN; 

And preciou.s. 

AMB. ~YALON: Not just. ~Qe pres~ur~. 

MR. MCLAUGH~IN: Precious. 

AMB. AYALON: Not just -- very precious, ¥oulre right. Very precious. We 

cherish it. We wil~ not do anyth~ng to ~mpair ~t. And a9ain, no~ do we 

MR: MG~UGHL~N: I ~hin~ thQs~ genia~s a~~ ~eassu~~99. lIm not. $ure it 

clears my hurd~e of that people in yo~r station are required by the 

circumst~nces ot your dtp~6matic status to automatica11y d$ny 

everything, but I think you've gone a ~tep beyond that. - 

~. _ _. w __ 

~yt ~ nav~ ~ que~t;09 w;th ~~9a~9 ~o ~IPA9. AI~~C ~~ ~ f~0~~i~~in9 qnd 

very successful lobby. It. does exce~l~nt. work 9n the par~ of Israel, 

but ;it. is -- i~ appears that. AIPJ\C is functioning as an intermedia~y, 

a~ this sto~y has been d~~eloped and pu~ forward. Now AI~AC den~ed any 

involvement, but 1 want to reaq you the lan9uage: . 

"Any al_legatio~ of criminal. conduct. by J\IPAC OL: ou~ employees is false 

and baseles~. Ne~the~ AIPAC no~ any of its employees bas vio!a~~d any 

laws o~ ~ules, nor has ~~~~G 0;- its employees ever rece~ved ~nformat;on 

they believed was secre~ or classified." 

Does that sound like ~ 

categorical denial to you? 

AMB. A¥ALON: I think so. 1 cannot. speak, ot cQu~se, .foL: AIPAC. I think 

it's a very, very g09d American organizati9n, and we very much ,

o 

appre9~ate ~ts aqtivity on be~alf of the u.s. -- American ~trategiq 

alliance. I~ is ve~y impor~ant. 

~~: M9~UGH~~~: ~gt ~~ ~t ~9t. cu~;o~~ th?t ~h~E~ ~~ ~ig9*e ~09~ in that. 

statement, and the operat.tve words are "they believed was sec~et or 

classified?" Th.is puts the monkey on Wl;. franklin's back. AIPAC doesn't. 

deny passing the information on to Israeli it denies that. it. did so 

knowing that the information was classif~ed. They didn't know it was 

cla~si~ied. So a~e you putt.ing -- a~e ~ou putting Franklin out to d~y? 

~~. AY~tO~: l w6u~q -- yo~ ~now, ~o~n, was~~n9ton is a place, ~~k~ any 

other cap~tal, of jnformation shar~n9. Obviously, we do meet. with ~IPAC 

¢n a ~egular basis, like we do meet w~tn ot.her think tanks ~- 

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Well, he --Frank~in -- 

AMB. AYALON:~ -~ and wit.h administrat.~oo people 

MR. MG~QGH~~N: ¥eah. 

~B. ~YALON: ~~ CQngre~speople, academi~ people, media people. ~heY'~e 

all meeting and talkin9~- 

~ don't ~hin~ th~~e w~~ ~~yth~ng w~~ng~~th tn~~, and ~e ~;+l continue 

to do that. And r thin~ that the statement. speak$ for itself. ~ don't. 

have a~¥thin9 to add. r'm not. a ~pokesman for t.hem~ 

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: But yo~ understand how t.hat "they believed" prQvides 

that. wi9gle ~oom? Can you see that? 

AMB. AYALON: ,}: .-- .no( I'm not. sur~. t.ha~ I t~.l.ly ~ndel;stand, you .know, 

tb1s legal~~tiq language~ 

I can tel~ you that. -- 

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: But AIPAC is presenting itself as possiply'an unwitting 

recipient. of clas~i~~ed ~nformation, whicb it ~ay have pa~sed on.

t rint Article-American ProspOOnline 

ALL INFORliATION CONTAINED 

HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED F'\ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324~aW/Sab/13g 

Page 1 of6 

Cloak and Swagger 

The Larry Franklin spy probe reveals an escalating fight over control ofIran policy. 

By Laura Rozen and Jas~n Vest 

Issue Date: 11.02.04 

Pr~nt ~riendly IEmail Article 

. 

To Washington's small and sometimes fractious community ofIran experts, it was becoming 

obvious: What to do about Iran and its fast-developing nuclear program was set to.rival Iraq as the 

most pressing foreign-policy challenge for the person elected president in 2004. By the spring and 

early summer ofthis year, the city was awash in rival Iran task forces and conferences. Some 

recommended that Washington engage in negotiations with Tehran's mullahs on the nuclear 

issue; they drew scorn from the other side, which preached regime change or military strikes. 

In late·July, as this debate raged, a Pentagon analyst named Larry Franklin telephoned'an 

acquaintance who worked at a pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs 

Committee (AlPAC). The two men knew each other professionally from their long involvement 

in the Washington Iran and Iraq policy debates, A Brooklyn-born Catholic father offive who put 

himselfthrough school, earning a doctorate, as an Air Force reservist, Franklin had served as a 

Soviet intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency until about a decade ago, when he 

learned, Farsi and became an Iran specialist. At their July meeting, Franklin told the AlPAC 

employee about his frustration that the U.S. govemmentwasn't responding aggressively enough 

to intelligence about hostile Iranian activities in Iraq. As Franklin explained it, Iran had sent all of 

its Arabic-speaking Iranian agents to southern.Iraq, was orchestrating attacks on Ir~qi state oil 

facilities, and had sent other agents to northern Iraq to kill Israelis, believed to be operating there. 

Iran had also transferred its top operative for Afghanistan to the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. The 

move, Franklin implied, signified Tehran's intention to cause more trouble in Iraq. 

A couple ofweeks afteJ;' this meeting, in mid-August, the AIPAC official was visited by tWo FBI 

agents, who asked him about Franklin. From the line ofquestioning, it wasn't clear to the AlPAC 

official whether Franklin was being investigated by the FBI for possible wrongdoing or ifhe was 

simply the subject ofa routine background investigation for renewal ofhis security clearance. 

But on August 27, when CBS broke the story that the FBI was close to arresting an alleged 

"Israeli mole" in the office ofthe Pentagon's No.3 official, Douglas Feith, it became clear that 

Franklin was in trouble, News reports said that the FBI had evidence that Franklin had passed a 

classified draft national-security presidential directive (NSPD) on Iran to AIPAC. What's more, 

reports said, the FBI wasn'tjust interested in Franklin. For the past two years, it had been 

con~ucting a counterintelligence probe into whether AlPAC had served as a conduit for U.S. 

intelligence to Israel, an investigation about which National Security Adviser Condoleez:?:a Rice 

was briefed shortly after the Bush administration'came into office. 

?JJ'- 

In the flurry ofnews reports that followed, the scope ofthe FBI investigation seethed potentially 

enormous. Citing senior U.S. officials, The Washington Post reported that "the FBI is examining ") .\(,. 

whether highly classified material from the National Security Agency ... was also forwarded to 

~t' 

Israel," and that the investigation Of.Franklin was "coincidental" to that broader FBI probe. Time "'£n'lJ\ 

magazine reported that Franklin had been enlisted by the FBI to place a series ofmonitored ,"p~ b 6 

.telephone calls (scripted by the FBI) to get possible evidence on others, including allies ofAhmad .b7C 

Chalabi, a favorite ofPentagon neoconservatives, Chalabi was alleged to have told his Irtu"""·........-~~ 

file:/{C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\sdougl~\Local%20Settings\Temporary%20Inte 

~ 

... ~l~~~r--¢t

IPrint Article-American Prosp~Online 

o 

Page 2 of6 

intelligence contacts that the United ~tates had broken'their commun!cations codes -- a breach 

that prompted a break in U.S. support for Ch.alabi last spring -- and the FBI wanted to know who 

had shared that highly classified information with Chalabi. What's more, an independent expert 

on Israeli espionage said he had been interviewed by the FBI in June and in several follow-up 

calls, and that the scope ofthe senior FBI investigators' questioning was broad and extremely 

detailed. 

In the wake ofthe first news reports, AlPAC strongly denied that any ofits employees had ever 

knowingly received classified U.S. information. Israel also categorically denied that it had 

conducted intelligence operations against the United States since the case ofJonathan Pollard, a 

U.S. Navy intelligence analyst who was convicted ofspyi~g for Israel in 1987. 

At the time the CBS report aired in late August-- incidentally, on the Friday evening before the 

opening ofthe Republican national convention -- custody ofthe Franklin investigation was being 

transferred from the head ofthe FBI counterintelligence unit, David Szady, to U.S. Attorney Paul 

McNulty, a Bush appointee, in Alexandria, Virginia, as the case moved to the grand-jury phase.. 

And then, in mid-September, news ofthe Franklin investigation went dark. 

*** 

The classified document that Franklin allegedly passed to AlPAC concerned a controversial 

proposal by Pentagon hard-liners to destabilize Iran. The latest iteration ofthe national-security ) 

presidential directive was drafted by a Pentagon ci~ilian and avid neocon, Michael Rubin, who .--1 

hoped it would be adopted as official policy by the Bush administration. But in mid-June, Bush's 

national-security advisers canceled consideration ofthe draft, partly hi response to resistance from 

some at the State Department and the National Security Council, according to a recent memo 

written by Rubin and obtained by The American Prospect. No doubt also contributing to the 

administration's decision was the swelling insurgency and chaos ofpostwar Iraq. 

Rubin, in his early 30s, is a relative newcomer to the neoconservative circles in which he is 

playing an increasingly prominent role. Once the Iraq and Iran desk officer in the Pentagon's 

Office ofSpecial Plans and later a Coalition Provisional Authority adviser in Iraq, these days the 

Yale-educated Ph.D~ hangs his hat at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and serves as editor 

for controversial Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes' magazine, The Middle East Quarterly. 

In an article published in the Republican-oriented quarterly Ripon Forum in June, Rubin suggests 

that the administration resolve its Iran warning by turning against the current regime. "In 1953 

and 1979," he wrote, "Washington supported an unpopular Iranian government against the will of 

the people. The United States should not make the same mistake three times." In other words, 

President Bush should step up his public condemnation ofthe Iranian regime and break offall 

contact with it in hopes ofspurring a swelling ofthe Iranian pro-democracy movement. In short, 

Rubin, like his fellow Iran hawks, urges the administration to make regime c~ange in Iran its 

official policy. 

This invocation of"moral clarity" has a long intellectual pedigree among neoconservatives. It's 

the same argument they made to Ronald Reagan about the Soviet Union more than 20 years ago. 

"Ifwe could bring down the Soviet empire by inspiring and supporting a small percentage ofthe 

people," Michael Ledeen, a chiefneoconservative advocate ofregime change in Iran and freedom 

scholar at AEI, recently wrote in the National Review, "surely the chances ofsuccessful 

- _.~ 

~ 

. 

- - 

file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\sdouglas\Local%20Settings\Temporary%20Inte... 10/22/2004

•Print Article-American prospoOnline 

Page 3 Of9 

revolution in Iran-are more likely.u 

Was it to this end that Franklin was allegedly observed by the FBI passing the ~raft NSPD on Iran 

to AIPAC? Was he trying to inform AIPAC, or Israel, about the contents ofthe draft NSPD? Or 

rather, and perhaps more plausibly, was he trying to enlist the powerful Washington lobbying 

organization in advocating for a Iran-destabilization policy? In other words, is the Franklin case 

really about espionage, or is it a glimpse into the ugly sausage-making process by which Middle 

Eastpolicy gets decided in Washington and, in particular, in the Bush administration? 

*** 

Arguably past the apogee ofits power, AIPJ\C nonetheless remains one ofWashington's most 

influential organizations. Successor to the E!senhower-era American Zionist Council ofPublic 

Affairs, AIPAC came into its own during the Reagan years, thanks largely to the efforts offormer 

Executive Director Thomas Dine. When Dine assumed his pqst in 1981, the organization had an 

annual budget ofa little more than $1 million, about two dozen employees, and 8,000 members; 

when he left in 1993, a budget of$15 million was being administered by a staffof158, and the 

committee had 50,000 members. 

' 

An assiduous networker and fund-raiser, Dine also quickly became indispensable to the Reagan 

White House as a promoter ofvarious neoconservative foreign-policy initiatives. He also forged 

alliances between AlPAC and other interests, including the Christian right. (Another former 

AlPAC executive director, Morris Amitay, has long been active in neoconservative ventures, ~ 

both a business partner to Feith and Richard Perle and co-~ounder, with Michael Ledeen, ofthe 

Coalition for Democracy in Iran.) By the mid-'80s, AlPAChad been a prime mover in the defeat 

or crippling ofinitiatives and legislators not to its liking, and the passage ofbillions in grants to 

Israel., It had also taken on an increasingly pro-Republican (and pro-Likud) tilt. 

While many regarded AlPAC's power as lessened during the Clinton administration, since 2001 

AlPAC has been powerful enough that even the Bush administration couldn't get the committee 

and its congressional allies to tone down language in a 2002 resolution in support ofIsraeli 

military actions against the Palestinians. AIPAC's 2002 annual conference included 50 senators, 

90 representatives, and more than a dozen senior administration officials; this year's conclave 

boasted President Bush h~mself, plus ~ouse Majority Leader Tom DeLay and an array ofState 

and Defense department officials. 

But while AlPAC is a powerhouse, It is not clear that it would have been the perfect vehicle for 

the kind ofIran-destabilization lobbyi~g that some in Washington have been pushing. There are a 

wide variety ofIsraeli positions on how to deal with Iran. Many ofWashington's Middle East 

hands who are pro-Israel believe destabilization will not likely succeed, and they fear it will not 

deal with what they consider the real threat from Iran: nuclear weapons. 

"Ifyou mean trying to promote the peaceful overthrow ofthe regime in Iran, I think the prospects 

-for success are highly uncertain,u says Patrick Clawson, deputy director ofthe Washington 

Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank. Pro-Israel activists in Washington want to 

make sure that the United States considers Iran's nuclear program first and foremost, an American 

.problem, the response to which could include, ifnecessary, air strikes against Iran's nuclear 

facilities. Iran's nuclear prgram, one such activist recently told the Prospect, "has to be seen as 

Washington's problem." 

... .. 

. - ... - 

file:/IC:\Documents%20and%20S~tti~gs\sdouglas\Local%20Settings\Temporary%20Inte... -10/22/2004

•Print Article-American PrOSPOOnline 

o 

Page 4 of6 

There are other competing positions within the Israel-policy community. One Isra~1i official i!l 

Washington this summer for diplomatic -meetings discussed regime change in Iran with a reporter 

from The American Prospect on the condition th!lt his identity not be disclosed. He believes that 

Iran is ripe for democratic revolution, that it has one ofthe most pro-Western populations in the 

region, and that Iranian opposition forces would be electrified by a vigorous show ofU.S. 

presidential support. But he believes that any sort ofmilitary intervention in Iran would set back 

copsiderably these promising regime-change forces. Still'another group ofIsraeli policy-makers 

seem more inclined toward a military option, as evidenced by Israel's well-publici~edpurchase of 

500 "bunke~-buster" bombs from the United States in September and its failed efforts to launch a 

spy satellite to monitor Iran's nuclear-program developments. 

Yet another policy position became evident in Seymour Hersh's article in The New Yorker in 

June, in which Hersh reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, sensing that the U.S. 

created chaos in Iraq could leave an opening for anti-Israel efforts in Iran, was pursuing a "Plan 

B" that had Israeli operatives covertly training and equipping Kurds in Iraq, Iran, and Syria for 

possible future covert action to counter any such measures. As Hersh reported: "Israeli 

intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for 

Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel's view, running covert operations inside 

Kurdish areas oflran and Syria.... Some Israeli operatives have crossed the border into Iran, 

accompanied by Kurdish commandos, to install sensors and other sensitive devices that primarily 

target suspected Iranian nuclear facilities." 

The Israeli government insisted the story wasn't credible, and that it was sourced by Turkey, 

which is panicked, as ever, about foreign designs on Kurdistan. But a source told the Prospect 

that Franklin expressed the conviction that the United States has intelligence that affirms Hersh's 

report to be largely accurate. A second fonner U.S. diplomatic official who recently visited the 

area told the Prospect that there are Israeli intelligence officials·operating in Kurdish Iraq as 

political advisers, and others under the guise ofbusinessmen. 

All ofwhich raises questions, like what exactly was in the draft NSPD that Rubin wrote and 

Franklin allegedly shared with AlPAC? And does the destabilization plan pushed by 

neoconservatiyes in the draft NSPD in fact advocate that the United States or its proxies ann the 

Iranian opposition, including the Kurds, as part ofits efforts to pursue regime change? 

The public sfatements by the neoconservatives emphasize that regime change in Iran would not 

require U.S. military force. Then again, the neoconservatives' inspiration for the Iran plan has its 

roots in Reagan-era NSPDs that, while providing nonmilitary support to Poland's Solidary 

Movement, also had the CIA aggressively arming and training the Afghan mujahideen, the 

NicaraguanContras, and other anti-communist rebels. There's also no denying that some ofthe 

chief advocates ofthe Iran regime plot come out ofthe Pentagon, America's military command 

center. And some ofthose same Iran hawks have discussed the Iran regime-change issue, for 

instance, with Parisian-based Iran Contra arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar -- not exactly the 

kind ofgo-to guy for a nonviolent regime change plan, one might think. 

*** 

Whatever the nuances, the neocons are facing one oftheir biggest challenges in Washington 

today: persuading the administration to adopt their regime-change policy toward Iran even while 

their regime-change policy in Iraq appears to be crumbling. Since the Iraq invasion, Feith's office 

has come under the intense scrutiny ofcongressional investigators, investigative journalists, and 

- 


•Print Article-American prospoOnline 

o 

Page 5 of6 

Democratic critics for its two controversial prewar intelligence units, the Office ofSpecial Plans 

and the Policy Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group. It was those units that had helped convince 

the Bush White House ofan operational connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda -- a 

claim since disproved by the independent September 1'1 commission, among others. Those 

secretive intelligence units had also been among the administration's strongest champions of 

Cbalabi, who allegedly told Iranian intelligence agents that the United States had penetrated 

Iranian communications channels. 

An FBI counterintelligence investigation ofwho had leaked this information to Chalabi was 

reportedly under way by spring 2004, and many ofChalabi's neocon allies were incredibly 

anxious: Misjudgment about Chalabi's virtues or postwar Iraq planning was one thing; passing 

secrets to another nation would be an accusation ofan altogether graver magnitude. 

All ofthese investigations put Franklin and other neoconservatives associated with Feith at the 

white-hot center ofa raging controversy: What would any second-term Bushforeign policy look 

like? Would controversial neocon figures like Feith remain in power? Or would it mark the rise of 

pragmatists and realists? For the neoconservatives, the fight to clear-Franklin and themselves has 

become a fight against their internal administration rivals. And they're fighting it in classic 

neocon fashion: dirty and disingenuously. 

Among intelligence professionals, it's hardly a state secret that even nations whose relationships 

go beyond mere alliance and constitute friendship spy on one another. That's one reason nations 

have counterintelligence capabilities as well. As such, investigations ofespionage and 

mishandling ofclassified documents are not uncommon in Washington; the Bush administration',s 

Justice Department, for example, has opened investigations to probe allegations ofChinese, 

Taiwanese, and Saudi espionage, including ones that involve ranking officials at the FBI and State 

Department. With the investigations into AIPAC and Franklin, the Justice Department has 

renewed its interest in snooping by our ally, Israel. 

Since the Pollard case, U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement sources have revealed to the 

Prospect that at least six sealed indictments have been issued against individuals for espionage on 

Israel's behalf. It's a testament to the unique relationship between the United States and Israel that 

those cases were never prosecuted; according to the same sources, both governments ultimately 

addressed them through diplomatic and intelligence channels rather than air the dirty laundry. A 

number ofcareer Justice Department and intelligence officials who have worked on Israeli 

counterespionage told the Prospect oflong-standing frustration among investigators and 

prosecutors who feel that cases that could have been made successfully against"Israeli spies were 

never brought to trial, or that the investigations were shut down prematurely. This history had led 

to informed speculation that the FBI -- fearing the Franklin probe was heading toward the same 

silent end -- leaked the story to CBS to keep it in the public eye and give it a fighting chance. 

But the pro..lsraellobby and some neoconservatives, fighting for their poiiticallives, have turned 

the leak on its head. They claim that the AlPAC and Franklin investigations have nothing to do 

with the substance ofthe Iran-related leaks. Rather, they say, investigators are going after Jews. In 

the current probes ofFranklin and AlPAC, Michael Rubin has led the strident charge. On 

September 4, during the media flap over the investigations, Rubin sent an e-mail memo - 

obtained by the Prospect -.. to a list offriendly parties targeting two ofWashington's more 

respected mainstre~m journalists, calling them key players in an "increasing anti-Semitic witch 

hunt." The memo fingered Deputy Secretary ofState Richard Armitage as one likely source ofthe 

leaks about the investigation, and also urged that, ifthe accusations had any merit, the White 


,. •Print Article-American prospoOnliJ;le· 

o 

Page 6 of6 

House demand the evidence be made public. "Pm increasingly c,oncemed about the l~a~s 

spinning offfrom the Franklin affair,u Rubin wrote. celt was bad enough when the White House 

rewarded the June 15,2003, leak oy canceling conside~ation ofthe NSPD. Itshowed the State 

Department that leaks could supplant real debate.... Bureaucratic rivalries are out ofcontrol. u 

Rubin's memo showed up in a similar form almost a month later in the op-ed pages ofThe 

Washington Times under the byline ofNational Review staffer Joel Mowbray, and echoes ofit can 

be seen in the pages ofthe neocon-friendly Jerusalem Post. 

Meanwhile, FranKlin was involved in some pushback ofhis own. In late August, the Franklin case 

was referred from Szady to U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty, a Bush-Ashcroft appointee who heads 

the U.S. District COU!! for the Eastern District ofVirginia. A grand jury was seated on the case in 

September and had subpoenaed at least some witnesses to testify about Franklin. Then, on 

October 1, The New York Sun reported that Franklin had fired his court-appointed attorney (whom 

he had·presumably retained for financial reasons), halting grand-jury proceedings while he found 

new couns~l. On October 6, the Los Angeles Times reported that Franklin had stopped cooperating 

with the FBI entirely. He had hired ~ high-profile lawyer, Plato Cacheris (ofAldrich Ames and' 

Robert Hanssen fame), and had rejected a proposed plea agreement whose terms Franklin 

considers "too onerous,u according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Who pushed Franklin -- who for months seemed vulnerable -- to stop'cooperating? And wQo is 

paying for his expensive new lawyer? At this writing, we do not know, Also unknown is the 

status ofthe larger FBI counterintelligence probe ofalleged Israeli espionage into which Franklin 

stumbled. But we do know that his recent decisions would seem to immensely help any ofthe 

people against whom he could have testified. At least for now, that~s a rQund won by a clique 

intent on pushing freelance crypto-diplomacy to its limits. 

Laura Rozen reports onforeign-policy and national-security issuesjrom Washington, D,C. Jason 

Vest is a Prospect senior correspondent. 

' 

Copyright © 2004 by The American Prospect, Inc. Preferred Citation: Laura Rozen and Jason 

yest, "Cloak and Swagg~r'_',_The ~f!lerican Prosnect OnUne,_Nov 1, 2Q04, This article may not be 

resold" reprinted, or redistributed for compensation ofany kind without prior written permission 

from the author.'Direct questions about permissions to nermissions@nrosnect.org. 

. . 


Document . . 

Results 


~HERE IN IS UNCLAS SIFIED ~ 

~DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/s~g 

Page 1of2 

-search Within Results: 1_--_=_"--..,-,....,-.......-...."",.,,,,..,...__,,,,,,:,,,,,,,,,J mmm· 


.Pri~~ I Do,,:,nload - 

View: ~ I Full < Prey Document 10 of 14 next > 

~ Tag for Print &. Download r;r:s:t). 

o 

Copyright 2004 Los Angeles limes 


Los Angeles limes 

April 4, 2004 Sunday 

Home Edition 

SECTION: OPINION; Editorial Pages Desk; Part M; Pg. 1 


HEADLINE: Iraqi Democrats Feeling Sidelined 

BYUNE: Michael Rubin, Michael Rubin Is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was 

a governance team advisor for the Coalition Provisional Authority In Iraq. 

' 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON 

BODY: 

Last summer, as Iraqis sweltered outside, the Coalition Provisional Authority met in the marbled 

corridors and air-conditioned offices of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces to hash out how to fund 

political parties. The State Department was adamant, insisting that the CPA should maintain "an even 

playing field" and should not favor one party over another. Parties affiliated with the Iraqi Governing 

Council's militant Islamists and liberal secularists should receive the same treatment. There should be no 

special consideration given to groups seeking to unite Iraqis rather than dividing them by ethnlclty or 

sectarian affiliations. - 

This may sound like the way to ensure fair elections•. But while the CPA has maintained its neutrality, our 

adversaries have shown no such compunction. 

Until recently, I worked for the CPA, living in a nondescript house outside Baghdad's Green Zone. I 

traveled the country with Iraqi friends, paying spot checks on borders, political parties, shrines and 

markets. Because I was not In a convoy or traveling with heavily armed guards, Iraqis could easily 

approach me. Professionals, politicians and religious figures telephoned at all hours for meetings, 

knowing they would not have to wait at the fortified gates of the palace complex. I quickly learned that 

most political business In Iraq happens not at Governing Council sessions, but In private homes between 

9 p.m. and 3 a.m. 

One February evening, a governor from a southern province asked to see me. We met after dark at a 

frlend's house. After pleasantries and tea, he got down to business. "The Iranians are flooding the city 

and countryside with money," he said. "Last month, they sent a truckload of silk carpets across the 

border for the tribal sheikhs. Whomever they can't buy, they threaten." The following week, I headed 

south to Investigate. A number of Iraqis said the Iranians had channeled money through the offices of 

the Dawa Party, an Islamist political party, led by Governing Council member Ibrahim Jafarl. On separate 

occasions In Baghdad and the southern city of Naslrlya, I watched ordinary Iraqis line up for handouts of 

money and supplies at Dawa offices. The largess seems to be having an effect: Polls Indicate that Jafari 

is Iraq's most popular politician, enjoying a favorable rating by more than 50 % of the electorate. 

The CPA's evenhandedness may be well-intentioned, but to a society weaned on conspiracy theories, the 

United States' failure to support liberals and democrats signals support forthe Islamists~Equal 

https:l/w3.Iexis.comllawenfsolutions_securedlsearchfonnsldoBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=.... 11/16/2004

Document Results 

,\ 

o 

o 

Page2of2 

opportunity may exist In Washington, but not in Baghdad. Why, Iraqis ask, wouid the ,CPA ignore the 

Influx of Iranian arms and money into southern Iraq if It had not struck some secret deal with Tehran or 

did not desire the resulting increase in militancy? Why would the Iranian border be largely unguarded a 

year after liberation? 

Iraqi liberals are especially sensitive to signs of support for Shiite politician Abdelaziz Hakim, leader of 

the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution In Iraq, whose visit official Washington welcomed in January. 

Students affiliated with the Badr Corps, Hakim's militia, roam Basra University, forcing women to wear 

the veil. Signs proclaiming the supremacy of Hakim are affixed to doors across the university, and 

professors say they are afraid to remove them. In Naslriya and Karbala, Iraqis lament they can no longer 

speak openly, lest they become the subject of retaliation by Iranian-funded gangs. 

While Sense John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and carl levin of Michigan demand yet another government 

audit of the Iraqi National Congress (previous audits have found no wrongdoing), radical-clerics find their 

pockets full, their Iranian sponsors more Interested In mission than political cannibalism. last month, I 

Visited a gathering of urban professionals in Najaf. They repeatedly asked why ti:'e CPA stood ~y while 

followers of firebrand Shiite cleric MUQtader Sadr invaded homes, smashed satellite dishes'and meted 

out punishment in ad hoc Islamic courts. We may dismiss Sadr as a grass-roots populist, ~ut his rise 

was not arbitrary. Rather; his network.lS"'based:~pon~ample~fundlna he'receives through Iran-based" 

cleric Ayatollah Kazem al Haerl, a close"'assocfate"orrranian·Supreme LeaderAyatollah All Khamenei.·, 

In signing the bill authorizing $87.5 billion for reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan in November, 

President Bush called the massive campaign to rebuild bottl nations "the greatest commitment of Its kind 

since the Marshall Plan'!." There is daily progress. Shops have opened. Roads are repaved. But, the CPA 

remains hampered by a strategic communications strategy geared more toward Washington than Iraq. 

American newspapers may report our $5.6 billion Investment in Iraq's electrical infrastructure 1 but what 

Iraqis see are signs such as a billboard of Hakim, the radical politician, affixed to a newlY'refurblshed 

Ministry of Electricity office in Baghdad. 

On March 26, a team of United Nations election specialists arrived In Baghdad to prepare the country for 

elections following the scheduled June 30 transfer of sovereignty. Iraqis may welcome elections, but It 

would be an abdication of American leadership If we do not support our allies, especially as Iraq's 

neighbors fund proxy groups and radicals with goals Inimical to democracy. 

We should not be more willing to help our adversaries than our friends. Democracy Is about not only 

elections, but also about tolerance, compromise and liberty. Twenty-five years ago, Ayatollah Ruhollah 

Khomeinl, leader of the Islamic Revolution In Iran, declared "the first day of God's government." In a 

rushed referendum supervised by armed vigilantes, Iranians voted for theocracy. For a quarter century, 

they have struggled to undo their mistake. It would be a betrayal of'Bush's vision as well as 24 million 

Iraqis if we replicate It In Iraq. 


I View: ~ I Full < p,re~ Document 10 of 14 next > 

Edit-Search I New Search 

.e.o.nt I pownload 

privacy Policy 

Copyrlgbt 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed· Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

About LexisNexls I Terms and Conditions I 

https:l/w3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_securedlsear~hfoITIls/dqBrowse.~p?SearchlnfoID=... 11/16/2004

DocumentResults 

Search Within Results: 1.."..,,-- 

O 

ALL 

INFORliATION CONTAINED 


DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/~lSg • 

- ""'.--'-'=-"",,-_:__---==-', mmm 

Page 1of3 


PrIn~ I Downlo.ad - 

View: ~I Full < JmlUt Document 2 of 2 

.:- Tag for Print &. Download 

o 


'r:rmDl 

Copyright 2004 IPS-Inter Press Service/Global Information Network 

IPS-Inter Press SelVice 

April 9, 2004, Monday 

HEADLINE: IRAQ: NEO-CONS SEE IRAN BEHIND SHIITE UPRISING 

BYLINE: By Jim Lobe 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Apr. 9 

BODY: 

Neo-conservatives close to the administration of President George W Bush are pushlng'for'retribution 

aga,~~st Iran for; they'say, sponsoring this'week's'Shiite uprislng'in'Iraq'led by radical'cleriC"Moqtada~al~ 

s-a~t 

Despite the growing number of reports that depict the fighting as a spontaneous and indigenous revolt 

agains~ the U.S.-led occupation, the influential neo-cons are calling on Bush to warn Tehran to·cease its 

alleged backing for al-Sadr and other Shla militias or face retaliation, ranging from an attack on 

Iraniap' nuclear facilities to covert action designed to overthrow the government. 

But independent experts say that while Iran has no doubt provided various forms of assistance to Shia 

factions In Iraq since the ouster of former President Saddam Hussein one year ago, its relations with 

Sadr'have long been rocky, and that it has opposed radical actions that could destabJllse the situation. 

"Those el~ments closest to Iran among the ShIIte clerics (In Iraq) have been the most moderate through 

all of this," according to Shaul Bakhash, an Iran expert at George Mason University here. 

Many regional specialists agree that Iran has a strategic Interest In avoiding any train of events that 

risks plunging Iraq Into chaos or civil war and partition. 

Neo-conselVatives centred in Vice President Dick Cheney'S office and among the civilian leadership in the 

Pentagon have strongly opposed any detente with Iran, and have frequently blamed it for problems the 

United States has encountered in both Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Neo-conselVatives outside the administration, such as former Defence Policy Board chairman Richard 

Perle and his colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Michael Ledeen and Reuel Marc 

Gerecht, called even before the,Iraq war for Washington to support Indigenous efforts to oust the 

"mullahcracy" in Tehran, which Is seen as an arch-enemy of both the United States and Israel. 

Some neo~conservatives have seized on Sadr's uprising ~s a ,new opportunity both to raise tensions 

against Iran and to divert attention from Washington's bungling of relations with the Shia community in 

Iraq. . 

Top U.S. officials both here and in Iraq have not yet named Iran as the hidden hand behind Sadr, 

although a senior reporter at the right-wing 'Washing~on_llmes~, Rowan Scarborough, quoted 

unnamed:"militarv.'.sources~WednesdaY'as"te1lifig~hinltthat:SadG:ISihelnQ;!ldea;;:direetly:bY;-lran~s· 

Revoliitr{fnaIYGiiard;';:_and:I:iy:Hezbolrah~ciir'iraniari~created terrorist'group-:bijseC:l:rn':tetianon~ 

Unnamed "Pentagon offidals" gave a similar account to the 'New York Times', although 1lmes reporter 

James Risen stressed that CIA offidals disagreed with that analysis, adding, som~ intelligence officials 

Iittps:/Iw3 .1eXis.comllawenfsoluti6iis_sectiredlsearchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=.... 11/16/2004

j, •, 

p 


believe that the Pentagon has·been eager to link Hezbollah to the violence in Iraq to link th~ Iranian 

regime more closely to anti-American terrorism". 

o 

Page 2 of3 

The Iran hand was first raised In connection with Sadr's revolt by Michael Rubin, who just returned as a 

"governance team advisor" for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) In Iraq to his previous 

position as a resident fellow at ~EI. 

In a column published In the 'Los Angeles TImes' on Sunday, he complained that Washington and the 

CPA had failed to provide liberal and democratic Iraqi leaders with anything like the kind of support that 

Iran was supplying to radical Shla leaders and their "gangs". 

Rubin said that on a Visit to the Shla-domlnated south he found that Iranians were pouring money and 

arms to key Islamlst parties,.Including the Da'wa, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution In Iraq 

(SCIRI), and Sadr himself, whose rise over the past year, according to Rubin, is explained by the "ample 

funding he receives through Iran-based cleric Ayatollah Kazem al Haeri, a close associate of Iranian 

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamelni". 

Another'senior CPA adviser,.Larry: Diamondi·a'neo=,conservative·who:speclalisestin'democratlsatl~~:at.the~ 

CalifornIa-based Hoove...Instltution:-told'IPS:thr~weerc-that Sadr's' Mahdi ArmYi,;.and~othe~Shiaimll~~as,~_ ' 

are'beIng' armed. and.financed by'Iran with the:alm·of.·lmposlng:"anothe,...rrai1laiFstyletheoCracy~- - 

"Iran is embarked on a concerned, clever, lavishly-resourced campaign to defeat any effort for any 

genuine pluralist democracy in Iraq," said Diamond. "The longer we wait to confront the thug, the more 

troops he'll have in his army, the more arms he'll have and financial support -- virtually all coming from 

Iran -- the more he will Intimidate and kill sincere democratic actors in the country, and the more 

Impossible our task at building democracy will become". 

"I think we ,should tell the Iranian regime that if they don't cease and desist, we will play the same 

game, that we will destabllise them," he added. 

On Tuesday, the 'Wall Street Journal's editorial page took up the same theme, arguing that Sadr has 

talked "openly of creating an Iranian-style Islam!c Republic In Iraq (and) has visited Tehran since'the fall 

of Saddam•••• hl~ Mahdi militia is almost certainly financed and trained by Iranians," the editorial 

continued, adding, "Revolutionary Guards may be Instigating some of the current unrest".• 

"As for Tehran, we would hope the Sadr uprising puts to rest the iIIuslon,that the mullahs (In"Tehran) can 

be appeased. As Bernard Lewis teaches, Middle Eastern leaders interpret American restraint as 

weakness. Iran's mullahs fear a Muslim democracy in Iraq because Is It a direct threat to their own 

rule." 

"If warnings to Tehran from Washington don't Impress them, perhaps some cruise missiles aimed at the 

Bushehr nuclear site will concentrate their minds," the Journal suggested. 

On Wednesday, 'New York Times' columnist William Safire asserted'the existence ofan axis Involving 

Sadr, Iran, Hezbollah and Syria. "We should break the Iranian-Hezbollah-Sadr connection in ways 

that our special forces know how to do", he wrote. 

But this line of reasoning appears particularly curious to Bakhash, who notes that the Sadr family, 

including Moqtada himself, is precisely the kind of Iraqi Shiite who would be deeply suspicious of Tehran. 

"Sadr's father was a strong Iraqi nationalist, like Moqtada himself", he told IPS. "He often used to 

question why there were in Iraq ayatollahs who spoke Arabic with. a Persian accent." 

Uke other experts, Bakhash believes that Iran has Indeed been heavily Involved with the Iraqi Shla 

community, but sees the leadership providing far more support to SCIRI and Its·Badr brigades than to 

Sadr, who, from Tehran's point of vieYl, is seen as untrustworthy. 

Bakhash also questions the neo-conservatlve assumption that Iran wants to destabilise Iraq now. 

"Obviously the Iranians are not unhappy to see the Americans discomfited in Iraq, but I don't think it's 

the policy of theIranian government to destabilise Iraq right along its own border," he said. 

Middle East historian Juan Cole of the University of Michigan also questions the notion of a link between 

.https:/lw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secure~searclifonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoJD=:... 

11/16/2004' 

------------- - . ---_._-------


o 

o 

Page 3 of3 

,I Iran and Sadr in the current uprising. While Sadr's views on theocratic government are consistent with 

, those of Iranian hardliners, according to Cole, his outspoken Iraqi nationalism poses a major challenge to 

Khameini's claim to authority over all Shiite religious communities, including those outside Iran. 

Contrary to the Journal's assumptions, adds Cole, Sadr'did not receive much encouragement from the 

Iranians leaders he met in Tehran. "The message he got •••was that he should stop being so divisive and 

should cooperate more with the other Shiite I~aders". 

Geoffrey Kemp, an Iran specialist at the Nixon Centre and Middle East adviser on former president 

Ronald Reagan's National Security Council staff, says he has little doubt the Iranians have Influence with 

several different Shiite groups, and that there might even be "rogue elements" inside Iraq who back 

Sadr. 

But he agrees that Tehran's strongest ties are with SCIRIand the Badr Brigades, who were trained by 

the Revolutionary Guard inside Iran during Hussein's rule. "TIle situation is far too complex to: make 

simplistic statements about what Iran is or is not doing," Kemp told IPS. "But to suggest that-this is 

an Iranian-inspired insurrection is a stretch". 

"The neo-conservatives are all so heavily invested In the success of Iraq.that instead of blaming the 

Pentagon for some extraordinary blunders, they want to blame everyone else -- the State'Department, 

the Iranians,4the Syrians for the mess that was partly of their own making." 


View: Us.t I Full < I!I:U Document 2 of 2 

edit Search I New Search 

f.r!nt I Download 

About lexlsNexl#! I Terms and Condition#! I Privacy POlicy 

.

"I 


ALL 

INFORl'1ATION CONTAI~~D 

"HEREHI IS UNCLAS SI FIED 

~~ATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/S~Sg 

search Within Results: I~~:_::__ :: ----.=-==-_--="1 LDlI 

Page 1of2 


I!.tnt I D0".Vnload 

View: list I Full 

M Tag for Print a. Download 

o 

Copyright 2004 Federal Information and News Dispatch, Inc. 

Voice of America News 

< prey Document 6 of 14 n~ > 

April 19, 2004 

SECTION: RADIO SCRIPTS - BACKGROUND REPORT 5-55191L 


HEADLINE: IRAN I IRAQ 

BYLINE: GARY THOMAS 

TEXT: WASHINGTON 

INTRO: An attempt by Iran to mediate an end to the fight in neighboring Iraq between the forces of a 

radical Muslim cleric and U-S troops was not successful. But, as correspondent Gary Thomas reports, the 

effort underscores Iran's bid to wield some clout In postwar Iraq. 

To Iran, the United States Is still, officially speaking, the Great Satan. And from the U-S perspective, 

Iran Is one of the two remaining members of what President Bush famously termed an axis of evil. But 

Iran sent a delegation to Iraq to try mediate an end to the standoff between radical Shl'lte Muslim cleric 

Moqtada al-Sadr and the U-S occupation authority - and the United States made no move to stop the 

effort. 

An Iranian diplomat was gunned down In Baghdad during the visit and the mediation subsequently broke 

down. Nevertheless, say analysts, the Iranian effort In Iraq was symptomatic of a broader political 

struggle In Iran for influence, power, and International legitimacy. 

Just how. much clout Iran has In Iraq - and just who In Iran wields it - Is murky. 

Juan Cole, a professor of Middle East and South Asian history at the University of Michigan, says the 

Iranian mission to Iraq is part of an effort by, President Mohammad Ali Khatami and his fellow reformists 

to regain some Influence they had lost'to the hardliners. President Khatami has pointedly distanced 

himself from Mr. al-Sadr. 

[COLE ACT] 

That faction has been under enormous pressure inside Iran. Of course, it was sidelined in the recent 

elections by the hardliners. And so reaching out and playing this kind of positive role in the region may 

be one way for the reformiSts to break back out of their isolation. 

[END ACT] 

But Michael Rubin, who was until last month a political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in 

Baghdad, says the Iranian role in Iraq was anything but positive. He says Iran is meddling and trying to 

set up Its own cells in Iraq. 

[RUBIN ACT] 

~ ~hlnk having Iranian Involvement In Iraq is like having the arsonist volunteering to put out the fire. 

https:llw3.1exis.comJlawenfsolutions_secured/~earc.hfo~s/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=~.. 11116/2004

n 


o 

Page2of2 

[END ACT] 

Moq~da al-Sadr .. the cleric tumed Insurgent - is believed to have strong backing from the hardllne 

elements-in Iran. His mentor, say analysts, Is Ayatollah Kazem al-Husselni al-Hairi, a senior Shi'ite cleric 

in the Iranian holy city of Qom .. although how much Influence he actually exerts on Mr. al-Sadr Is not 

c1e~a:. And while supreme leader Ayatollah All K~amenei has welcomed the forced departure of Saddam 

Hussein .. who led a bloody decade-long war against Iran .. he has sharply condemned the U-S-Ied 

occl:lpation of Iraq. 

Mr. Rubin says Iran is actively helping'Mr. al::"Sadr's forces. 

[2ND RUBIN ACT] 

The Iranians have-been funding some of the radicals with arms, with Revolutionary Guards. The Iranian 

charge d'affaires In Baghdad is actually not a diplomat. He is a member of the Qods force,.which Is the 

unit of the Revolutionary Guards dedicated to the export of the Islamic revplutlon. The last.thing Iraqis 

want is for us to Involve non-Iraqis In this matter. 

[END ACT] 

But Professor Cole says Iran's role In Iraq is not as pervasive as Mr., Rubin and like-minded analysts 

portray. 

[2ND COLE ACT] 

There are persistent reports that Iran has, and the hardliners in Iran have, provided material support ~o 

Moqtada and his faction. I personally think those reports are overblown. I think this is largely an 

indigenous Iraqi movement, but it may have gotten some money. Lots of Iraqi groups.have gotten 

money from Iran, including some of the more secular politicians. 

[END ACT] 

Analysts.say Iran Is not likely to allow its once-powerful neighbor to be reconstituted without trying to 

have some influence over t~e matter. (SIG!'IED) 

NEB/GPT/RH/RAE 


View: !J§t I Full < prey Document 6 of 14 next > 


f.rJ.Dt I Download 

About LexisNexl$ I Terms and Conditions I privacy policy 

s:opyr,gbt 2004 LexlsNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights re~erved• 

. h!tP~:lIwj.lexis.con1llaweiifsottitlOlis_securedlsearcbfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID===..., 11/16/2994 

- - -- - -

·. 

search Within Results: 

, ALL INFOm'~TION CONTAIlmD 

~REIN IS TJMCLASSIFIED ~ 

'-JbATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/s~g 

r ? 

__"';'".,..,,¥!..... 

"""_=_~__"""=-"-' 

---~J Bmm 

Page 1 of2 


~nt I Download 

View: Yi$. I Full < ~ Document 2 of 14 ~ext > 

M Tag for Print & Download 

o 

r;m;t). 

Copyright 2004 The News and Observer 

Th~ News &. Observer. (Raleigh, North Carolina) 

, 

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A26 

June 6, 2004 Sunday 

Anal Edition 


HEADLINE: Ustening post; 

Ideas and issues under discussion in the Triangle 

BODY: 

llred of losing? Stay the course 

COMMENTARY 

From Carolina Journal, a publication of the John Locke Foundation, a commentary by editor Richard 

Wagner'!, 

"If you ever have a player who's afraid he's going to lose, take him out." A legendary baseball-managerin 

my hometown uttered that advice to a protege about 40 years ago. The statement, seemingly simple, 

actually embodies a much deeper philosophy of commitment, success and leadership In everyday life. 

That advice can be applied also to the nation's morale and the war on terrorism being waged, for now, In 

Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The losers in our society say we can't win in the Mideast. They say President Bush duped Americans Into 

thinking Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein' had weapons of mass destruction. They say we have entered a 

"quagmire" In Iraq, like we did in Vietnam. They said the same thing before U.S. troops liberated 

Afghanistan. 

The losers are the same people who refuse to recognize the simple fact that terrorism is nothing new. 

Islamic terrorists have been at war with the United States for about 30 years. Observers of recent 

history remember that the long string of terrorism began with the hijacking of airlines, the taking of 

hostages and the slaughter of innocent victims in the 1970s. 

Then it progressed, among other events, into the bombing of U.S. military barracks, U.S. embassies, the 

USS Cole and the World Trade Center. 

Then came Sept. 11 •. Until then, the terrorists were at war with us, but we weren't at war with them. 

Americans woke up when al-Qaeda terrorists flew airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the 

Pentagon. Only a few years later, the losers lulled themselves into a false sense of security, closed their 

eyes ~nd went b~ck to sleep. 11ley're stili asleep today. . 

Now, according to some national surveys, the losers are infecting others with their disease. More 

Americans are beginning to doubt themselves and to lose their will to fight. 

file://C:\DOCUME-l \agbmkram~QCALS-l \Temp\H9DE4R6D.htm 11/16/2004

Some leaders, however, are slapping the nation with some cold facts. One of them, retired Lt. Gen. 

Thomas·McInemey, a military analyst for Fox News Channel, spoke at a recent luncheon sponsored by 

the John Locke Foundation. Some of his revelations were: 

- Syria got $300 million from Saddam Hussein to hide Iraq's weapons of mass destruction; 

o 

Page2of2 

- The recent outbrea~othostilitie&l!Nthe.:last..ga~p.e.~y....the radical Islamists to ensure that we do not get 

a successfurtumover in Iraq and Iraq becoming a growing democracy"; 

- Iran is sponsoring and funding Muqtada al-Sadr in the recent fighting In Iraq; 

- Terrorist organizations,. such' as Hezbollah and Hamas, are an arm of Iran and Syria; 

- Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Ubya, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and North Korea form a "web of terror" 

that supports terrorism. "If these web of terror nations did not support terrorism, terrorism Withers," he 

said. Ubya and Afghanistan are no longer on the list. . 

- Sadr, too, remembers Vietnam. One of his objectives is to sow discord in the United States so we will 

lose our resolve. . 

I believe McInerney and the president. 

For some Americans, losing Is a way of life. To them, America, likewise, is always a loser. They made 

Vietnam a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now they want to do the same in Iraq. 

If the losers are allowed to endure, sure enough, we will allow freedom to be held hostage again~ Our 

nation eventually not only could surrender, it could succumb. The enemy this time has entered our back 

yard and prepa[es to torch our home. 

LOAD-DATE: June 6, 2004 

View: ~ I Full < p~ev Document 2 of 14 n~t > 


~dnt I Download u 

About WIsNexfs I Terms and Conditions I privacy PAU~ 

CgRy(ight 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., 

file:IIC:\D9CUME-l\agbmkram\L9CAL~""'1\Temp\H9DE4R6D.htrn 11/16/2004

.... 

t" 


search Within Results: c- 

o HEREIN 

ALL INFOR!lATION CONTAI~mD 

IS U1iICLASS IFIED ~ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/~/1Sg 

-- - _:: ] mmm· 

Page 1of2 


- P!1nt I Download 

~ew: 

Ust I Full 

Document 1 of 5 ~~ > 

~ Tag tor Print a. Download 

o 

Copyright 2004 U.P.I. 

United Press International 

June 8, 2004 Tuesday 


HEADLINE: Analysis: Despite Iraqi gains, Sadr remains 

BYLINE: By GAOl OECHTER 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) 

BODY: 

Despite a recent spate of positive political news Iraq-watchers of diverse stripes·agree that renegade 

cleric Moqtada Sadr remains the critical thorn in the country's side, and not likely to be extirpated any 

time soon. 

Incoming Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawl formally outlawed on Monday the defiant Shiite cleric's Mahdi 

Army, a private militia of 2,000..3,000 fighters that has repeatedly clashed with U.S. forces in recent 

months, and barred Sadr and his lieutenants from holding public office for three years. 

The order is an exception to a new Iraqi policy of Including private militias and their leaders in a postwar 

political process In exchange for their disbanding and pledging to work with the new government, which 

is scheduled to take over sovereignty from coalition forces on June 30. Nine other Iraqi political parties 

and movements pledged on Monday to comply with the order. 

Juan Cole, a University of Michigan history professor and frequent commentator on the Middle East said 

that banning Sadr from mainstream Iraqi politics would only endanger the fragile truce between the 

Mahdi Army and U.S. forces in the holy ShIIte cities of Najaf and Kufa, a cease-fire that has held since 

Friday. 

"I think there Is every prospect of drawing (Sadr) Into the political process," Cole told United Press 

International Tuesday. "(Sadr's) forces can be potentially drawn off into the regular army and it Is better 

to do that than confront him." 

Among the obstacles to Sadr's Inclusion in mainstream Iraqi politics Is an outstanding warrant for his 

arrest Issued In April by an Iraqi jUdge, on charges that Sadr allegedly murdered a rival cleric last year. 

A State Department spokesman said Monday it believes Iraqi authorities should prosecute SadrI 

"It Is our view that Moqtada Sadr Is a subject of Iraqi law and that law should be applied to him, as well 

as to any other Iraqi citizen who has been accused of violating the law," Adam Erell told a briefing In 

Washington. 

But the Iraqi government could take advantage of the transitional nature of Iraqi politics to amend 

Sadr's current fugitive status, said Cole. 

"The charges ~galnst (Sadr) were arbitrary anyway, since no grand jury has met and had him charged. 

They could be allowed to lapse or given over to the clerics to handle Internally," he said. 

Turning the outlaw cleric into a legitimate political player would not necessarily neutralize him as a 

security th~at,.and may In fact increase his power; according to Amatzia Baram, a senior fellow at the 

https:llw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secu~d/searc.hfonnsl4oBr~)\_lVse.~p?Sear~hInfoID=...11/16/2004


o 

o 

Page2of2 

United States Instltut~ of Peace, a federally funded think tan~. 

"can (Sadr) be bought off? He can be bought off, yes. But only as a stepping-stone to total power. 

Namely, he'll do the same thing that Saddam Huss~in has done, that Hitler has done. He'll cooperate up 

to a point and then he'll try to take over and replace the system," said Baram, who Is also a professor of 

Middle Eastern history at the University of Haifa In Israel. 

"Unless Sadr is captured or killed he will remain a thorn In the side of the new Iraqi government," agreed 

,Nimrod Raphaell, a senior analyst at the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute, an organization that 

monitors and analyzes Middle East media reports. 

Whatever strategy the new Iraqi government ultimately pursues, experts agree that disbanding the 

Mahdi Army,. whether by force or persuasion, Is a practical challenge of ~Imost overwhelming difficulty. 

Unlike Kurdish militias and the Badr Corps -- the armed force of the Supreme Council for Islamic 

Revolution In Iraq, or SCIRI, which Is one of the groups that has reportedly agreed 'to disband -- Sadr's 

militia Is undisciplined and may not respond even to their leader's commands to lay down weapons. 

liThe Mahdi Army Is not a militia in the same way that the Badr Corps Is, and cannot be disbanded. It's 

just a congeries of ShIIte ghetto youth gangs, mainly from ,East Baghdad," said Cole. "They are like the 

Crlps and the Bloods in Los Angeles. As long as there are ghettos and as long as the poverty-stricken 

young men In them are armed, they will be something of a problem." 

Moqtada Sadr, 30, Is the fourth son of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Muhammad Baqlr Sadr, a Shiite 

leader who was killed, along with two of his children, by agents of Saddam Hussein In 1999. The Sadr 

family traces Its origins to the prophet Muhammad and Is one of the most venerated In ShIIte Iraq. 

His fiery serm9.ns are characterized by Intense anti-American hostility and.afundamentallst 

Interpretation of Islam.similar to that promulgated by the Iranian government, from-whom he is believed 

to receive funding. . 

"His vision for Iraq is probably a government similar to that of Iran," said Raphaell. 

After Sadr's weekly paper, AI-Hawza, was dosed by the Coalition Provisional Authority on March 28, his 

forces took over holy ShUte shrines in the cities of Najaf and Karbala and declared open rebellion against 

the U.S.-led occupation. Fighters In the Mahdi Army occupied buildings and mosques In as many as six 

Iraqi cities In April, holding out longest in Najaf and Kufa. 

Those cities have been relatively quiet for about a week, following a cease-fire between American and 

Sadr forces mediated by mainstream ShIIte authorities. U.S~ forces appear to have given upon their 

threats to "capture or kill" Sadr and have reportedly decided to let the new Iraqi prime minister decide 

how to handle the rebellious cleric. 

LOAD-DATE: June 9, 2004 

View: !J$. I Full Document 1 of 5 nmsl > 


-- ~rint I Download 

Privacy POlicy 

Copyright 2004 LexlsNexls, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc~ All rights reserved. 

About LexlsNexls I Terms and Conditions I 

https:llw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11116/2004 

I'

. . - 

a 

ALL 

Search Within Results: 1;....":.,,,;,.-,....."_.......-~"".-"_~-.,,,,..--'l 

INFOP.RATION COIJTAINED 


DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw. J1sg 

IDDI 

Q 

Page 1 of9 


_~~t I Downloa~ 

View: Ust I Full 

_ Tag for Print &. Download _t:II!I!&Il 

o 

Copyright 2004 U.S. News a. World Report 

U.S. News&' World Report 

Document 1 of 2 ~ > 


SECTION: SPECIAL REPORT; COVER PACKAGE; THE IRAN CONNECTION; Vol. 137 , No. 18; Pg. 34 


HEADLINE: Special Report: The Iran Connection 

BYLINE: By Edward T. Pound; Jennifer Jack 

BODY: 

In the summer of last year, Iranian intelligence agents in Tehran began planning something quite 

spectacular for September 11, the two-year a'nnlversary of al Qaeda's attack on the United States, 

according to a classified American intelligence report. Iranian agents disbursed $ 20,000 to a team of 

assassins, the report said, to kill Paul Bremer, then the top U.S. civilian administrator In Iraq. The 

Information was specific: The team, said a well-placed source quoted In the intelligence document, would 

use a Toyota Corona taxi and a second car, driven by suicide bombers, to take out Bremer and destroy 

two hotels In downtown Baghdad. The source even named one of the planners, Hlmin Bani Shari, a hlghranking 

member of the Ansar ai-Islam terrorist group and a known associate of Iranian intelligence 

agen~. . 

The alleged plan was never carried out:- But American officials regarded Iran's reported role, and Its 

ability to make trouble In Iraq, as deadly serious. Iran, said a separate report, issued in Nov~mber 2003 

by American military analysts, "will use and support proxy groups" such as Ansar ai-Islam "to conduct 

attacks in Iraq in an attempt to further destablize the country." An assessment by the U.S. Army's V 

Corps, which then directed all Army activity In Iraq, agre~d: "Iranian intelligence continues to prod and 

facilitate the infiltration of Iraq with their subversive elements while providing them support once they 

ar~ in country." 

With the Pentagon's stepped-up efforts to break the back of the Insurgency before Iraq'S scheduled 

elections in late January, Iran's efforts to destabilize Iraq have received little public attention. But a 

review of thousands of pages of Intelligence reports by U.S.' News reveals the critical role Iran has played 

In aiding some elements of the anti-American· insurgency after Baghdad fell--and raises Important 

questions about whether Iran will continue to try to destabilize Iraq after elections are held. The 

classified intelligence reports, covering the period July 2003 through early 2004, were prepared by the 

CIA; the Defense Intelligence Agency; the Iraq Survey Group, the 1,400-person outfit President Bush 

sent to Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction; the Coalition Provisional Authority; and various military 

commands and units in the field, Including the V Corps and the Pentagon's Combined Joint Special 

Operations Task Force. The reports are based on ,Information gathered from Iraqis, Iranian dissidents, 

and other sources inside Iraq. U.S. News also· reviewed British Intelligence assessments of the postwar 

p~ase in Iraq. 

' 

$ 500 a soldier. Many of the reports are uncorroborated and are considered "raw" Intelligence of the type 

seldom seen by those 'outside the national security community. But the picture that emerges from the 

sheer v~lume of the reports, and as a result of the multiplicity of sources from which they were 

generated, leaves little doubt about the depth of Iran's involvement in supporting elements of the 

insurgency and In positioning Itself to move quickly In Iraq Ifit believes a change In circumstances there 

dictates such action. "Iran," wrote an analyst with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations on Dec. 

5, 2003, "poses the greatest long-term threat to U.S. efforts in Iraq." An analyst at the V Corps 

summarized m~tters this way: "Iranian intelligence agents are conducting operations in every major city 

file:/IG:\DOCUME-l\agbmkram\LOCALS-l~Temp\Cl 06ZEQF..htlt! _ 

l1/i612004

o 

o 

Page2of9 

with a significant Shla population. The counterintelligence threat from Iran Is assessed to be high, as 

locally employed people, former military officers, politicians, and young men are recruited, -hired, and 

trained by Iranian Intelligence to collect [Intelligence] on coalition forces." 

Even as Bremer's Coalition ProVisional Authority and the U.S.-led military were pressing last year to 

consolidate their grip on Iraq, the intelligence reports Indicate, the seeds of the Insurgency were 

growing, In some cases with funding and direction from Iranian government ~actions. "Iranian 

Intelligence will not conduct attacks on CF [coalition forces] that can be directlY linked to Iran," wrote' a 

senior Army analyst, "but will provide-lethal aid to subversive elements within Iraq ••• in the form of 

weapons, safe hOUSes, or money." In an interview, David Kay, the former chief weapons inspector for the 

Iraq Survey Group, said he believes that factions within the Iranian government have been plotting with 

and funding some insurgency groups. "I think we are In an intelligence war with Iran," Kay said. "There 

are Iranian lntellfgence agents all over the country [Iraq]." Another former American official, Michael 

Rubin, who worked for the Pentagon and the Coalition Provisional Authority, agrees. "Iran feels It should 

be the predominant power In the region," Rubin said. "With the U.S. out of there, they [will] have no real 

competition.n 

The Intelligence reports reViewed by U.S. News appear to supportthose assessments. Examples: 

Iran set up a massive Intelligence network in Iraq, flooding the country with agents In the months after 

the U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein's regime. Sources told American intelligence analysts that 

Iranian agents were tasked with finding information on U.S. military plans and Identifying Iraqis who 

would ,be willing to conduct attacks on U.S. forces that would not be linked to Iran. 

Iranian Intelligence agents were said to have planned attacks against the U.S.-led forces and supported 

terrorist groups with weapons. Iranian agents smuggled weapons and ammunition across the border Into 

Iraq and distributed them "to Individuals who wanted to attack coalition forces," according to one report, 

citing "a source with good access." SeparC!tely, an Iraq Survey Group report said that Iranian agents 

"placed a bounty" of $ 500 for each American soldier killed by insurgents and more for destruction of 

tanks and heavy weaponry. " 

Iran trained terrorists and provided them with safe havens and passage across the border Into Iraq, 

several of the reports say. The Iranian-supported Ansar ai-Islam began carrying out bombings and other 

attacks against coalition forces and Iraqi citizens in tile summer of 2003. One report, describing an 

interview with a source, said: "There were approximately 320 Ansar ai-Islam terrorists being trained In 

Iran ••• for various attack scenarios including suicide bombings, assassinations, and general subversion 

against U.S. forces In Iraq." The reports linked Ansar ai-Islam to al Qaeda and to Abu Musab Zarqawl, 

the most wanted terrorist In Iraq. "Among the more capable terrorist groups operating in Iraq," an 

analyst wrote In another report, "are al Qaeda, the al Zarqawl network, as well as Ansar ai-Islam." 

Iran.has.been·a·prlncipal supporter of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric whose black-clad Mahdl 

Army fighters have clashed often with U.S.-led forces. Months before the worst of the insurgency In 

southern"Iraq began last April, U.S. intelligence officials tracked reported movements of Iranlan·money 

and arms to forces loyal to·Sadr. According to a V Corps report written In September 2003, "There has 

been an increase of Iranian Intelligence officers entering" Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Basra, and Amarah. 

Sa"dr's fighters later engaged in fierce battles wl~h coalition forces In each of those cities. 

"Double game." Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations In New York did not respond to repeated 

requests for comment from U.S. News. In a sermon given last April, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi. Rafsanjanl, 

a leading political figure In Iran, said that Americans were "a very effective target" but that Iran "does 

not wish to get involved In acts of adventurism." Separately,.In New York last September, Iranian 

Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi denied that his country had funded or armed Sadr's Mahdl Army. 

U.S. government officials, questioned about the Intelligence reports reviewed by U.S. News, say the 

evidence of Iran's destabilization efforts in Iraq is persuasive. "We certainly do have a lot of evidence of 

Iranian mischief making," a senior Pentagon official said In an Interview, "and attempts [at] building 

subversive Influence. I would never underestimate the Iranian problem••.• Iran Is a menace In a basic 

sense." 

Looking at the overall problem in Iraq, however, the official identifies Sunnl Muslim extremists as the 

"hard core" of the insurgency. They Include for:mer supporters of Saddam and some foreign fighters- 

most prominently Zarqaw', whos.e network has claimed responsibility for some of Iraq's bloodiest 

file:/IC:\DOCUME-1\agbmkram\LOCALS-l yr~mp\C! 06ZFQF.hfl!l 11/16/2004

o 

o 

Page 3 of9 

bombings and the beheading of American Nicholas Berg and other western captives. Some terrorists, the 

official noted pointedly, are also using Syria as an outpost and safe haven. 

More than a year ago, the Defense Intelligence Agency reached similar conclusions In a secret analysis 

headlined "Iraq: Who·Are We Fighting?" The analysis cited foreign jlhadlsts as· "potentially" the most 

"threatening." An analyst with the- Iraq Survey Group concluded that "[a]s time passes and more and 

more terrorists and foreign fighters come into Iraq, the situation will become more dangerous because 

you will get a more experienced enemy, with more training, resources, and experience. II 

Iran has obvious interests In Iraq. In the 1980s,. Iran and Iraq fought a brutal eight-year war that 

claimed more than a million casualties. Despite the hostilities, the ShIIte communities of both countries 

have deep ties. Shiites compose the majority of the population In both Iran and Iraq, accounting for 60 

percent of the latter's 25.4 million people. Iraq Is home to some of Shiite Islam's most important holy 

sites, and thousands of Iranians have taken advantage of newly opened borders to visit them. During. 

Saddam's three decades of repression, Iran provided support and refuge for many of Iraq's Shiite 

religious leaders. Patrick Clawson, a leading expert on Iraq and Iran at the Washington Institute for Near 

East Polley, says It is not surprising that Iran Is heavily Involved In Iraq. "It only makes sense that the 

government of Iran would want to have a network of contacts with the Insurgents, develop friends, 

develop Intelligence sources, provide them Information about American assets and capabllities," he said 

In an interview. " ••• It is In their national Interest." At the same time, Clawson says, Iran Is playing "a 

double game"--stirrlng up trouble In Iraq while publicly professing support for Iraqi elections. 

Understanding Iran's precise motives In Iraq Is no simple matter. Ahmed Hashim, a professor of strategic 

studies at the U.S. Naval War College, says that the Islamic regime In Tehran does not always speak With 

one voice. "I think Iran has Its hand In a lot of what's going on [In Iraq], but we shouldn't assume the 

government Is unified," he says. "When you look'at th~ Iranian system of government, if you say Iran, It 

could actually be the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the [charitable] foundations, or various 

agencies of the government. They act almost independently." Another Iran expert, Kenneth Pollack, who 

served In the Clinton White House as director of Persian Gulf affairs on the National Security Council 

staff, ,believes Iran does not want chaos in Iraq. "The Iranian leaders are terrified of chaos In Iraq," he 

says, "and the spillover" aspect. Iran, PoHack adds, wants a stable, "Independent" government headed 

by ShIItes. 

Whatever Its objectives In Iraq, Iran has a well-documented history of supporting terrorist groups. For 

years, the State Department has Identified Iran as the.world's pre-eminent state sponsor of terrorism. 

American officials say the regime has provided fundin'g, safe havens, training, and weapons to several 

terrorist groups, Including Lebanon-based Hezbollah.,The commission Investigating the 9ill attacks said 

In Its final report that al Qaeda has long-standing ties to Iran and Hezbollah. Iran favors spectacular 

attacks, officials say, citing Its alleged role In the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers In Dhahran, Saudi 

Arabia, that claimed the lives of 19 U.S. servicemen. Six of the Hezbollah terrorists Indicted In the attack 

"directly implicated" senior Iranian government officials "In the planning and execution of this attaCk," 

former FBI Director Louis Freeh wrote last year. 

A wolrs claws. F~eeh named two Iranian government agencies, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, 

or MOIS, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite fighting unit and enforcer for the clerical 

regime. As the Insurgency developed in Iraq,·both played central roles In planning and funding some of 

the attacks on coalitionJorces, according to the Intelligence reports reviewed by U.S. News. Early on, 

MOIS and the revolutionary guard corps were tasked with the job of creating instability In Iraq, the 

reports say. In some cases, Iran's agents allegedly worked with former Saddam loyalists, an odd 

marriage but one that shared a common goal: to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq. The reports detail how 

Iranian agents sought to recruit former regime loyalists and how one former Iraqi Intelligence Service 

officer, who had close ties to Saddam's late son, Uday, reportedly setup a front company for Iranian 

Intelligence operations In Baghdad. 

Only weeks after Saddam was ousted, In April 2003, Iran publicly signaled support for Violence against 

the coalition. In a sermon on May 2, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannatl, secretary general of Iran's powerful 

Council of Guardians, called on Iraqis to stage suicide attacks to drive U.S.-led forces from Iran. The 

Iraqi people, he said, "have no other choice but to rise up and stage martyrdom operation~•••• The 

Iraqi people were released from the claws of one wolf and have been caught by another wolf." Two 

months later, U.S. News has learned, coalition forces uncovered a document describing a fatwa, or 

religious edict, that had reportedly been Issued In Iran for Its ShIIte supporters In Iraq. The fatWa urged 

"h~ly fighters" In Iraq to get close to the enemy--the U.S.-led troops. These fighters, the fatwa said, 

file:IIC:\DOCUME~1\agbmkram\LOCALS-l\re~p\G106Z¥QF..~tm 11/16/2004

" 

o 

Page4of9 

should "maintain good-relations with the coalition forces" but afthe same time create "a secret group 

that would conduct attacks against American troops." U.S. analysts could not confirm that the ruling was 

issued by Iranian clerics, but they believe it was credible. Wrote one analyst: "It seems that they [the 

Iranians] want them [Iraqi Shiite supporters] to be close to the coalition forces and outwardly respect 

them so that they can gather Intelligence that will assist them in their mission." 

Before long, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security stepped up Its Intelligence operations In Iraq, 

many of the Intelligence reports suggest. Agents set up "significant" Intelligence cells In key Iraqi cities, 

several reports said, Including Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Kut, Basra, and Klrkuk. MOIS agents also.set up 

a "listening post" In a city In southeastern Iraq to monitor the activities of U.S. forces. In southern Iraq, 

10 Iranian agents reportedly began operating out of two rooms at a Shiite mosque. Iran, according to 

the reports, also sought to place spies within Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority, then running Iraq's 

affairs, and they followed and photographed coalition forces. Four Iranians, believed to be MOIS agents, 

were detained In late July 2003 for photographing a hydropower plant near the central city of Samarra. 

Power plants became a frequent target of insurgents. In one case, U.S. Intelligence officials learned that 

a MOIS agent, a man named Muhammad Farhaadl, videotaped coalition operations In Karbala, a city 

south of Baghdad, then took the tape 'back to Iran. 

During the summer and fall of 2003, U.S. analysts' reports describe how MOIS and Its operatives sought 

to develop information from ShIItes In the south and from Sunnls in the north on the activities of U.S.-led 

forces. In the fall of 2003, an analyst for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations wrote: "Iranian 

intelligence has infiltrated all areas of Iraq, posing both a tactical and strategic threat to U~S. Interests." 

Bribes and border crossings. MOIS also sought to cultivate former Iraqi Intelligence officers who might 

help develop Intelligence on the plans and activities of the Coalition Provisional Authority and U.S.-led 

forces, several reports said. "Former lIS [Iraqi Intelligence Servlce]offlcers are highly sought-after 

targets by U.S. intelligence," said an October 2003 report issued by the Air Force Office of Special 

Investigations, "not only for their current and former knowledge of Iraqi activities but also because many 

US officers will likely have a wealth of Intelligence information on Iran. Iran knows this and will striveto 

recruit former ns officers before the U.s. Is able to do so. The environment is ripe for double-agent 

operations, and loyalties can never be certain. n 

The Intelligence reports detail precisely what Iran was after. Its "collection priorities" included finding out 

what weapons U.S. troops were carrying and what kind of body armor they were wearing. Iranian agents 

also sought Information on the location of U.s. Army and intelligence bases; on the routes travel.ed by 

U.S. convoys; on the operations of the Special Forces' elite Delta Force; and on the plans of the U.S. 

military and Intelligence Inside Iraq. A military report said a source had reported that the Iranians were 

pressing to find out whether the Israeli Intelligence agency, Mossad, was active In Iraq. According to the 

report, MOIS directed its agents "to collect Information on the Israeli Intelligence presence In northern 

Iraq." Iran's "primary objective In Iraq," wrote another analyst, citing a good source, "Is to create 

Instability so coalition forces will focus on controlling the unstable situation rather than concentrating on 

reconstruction efforts." 

MOIS agents carried cash, reports said, to bribe Iraqi border pollee In order to obtain safe passage Into 

Iraq. In reality, however, all the IranJans had to do was walk across the border at any number of 

crossing points, where they could blend In amid Iranians coming to Iraq to visit relatives, do business, 

and worship at ShIIte shrines, according to the Intelligence reports and several senior Army officers 

Interviewed by U.S. News. "The borders were wide open," says one senior officer. "It suggests that 

terrorists could come over pretty easily. My God, there were busloads of Iranians crossing· the border 

without Interference." Another U.S. Army officer was so concerned that Iranian spies and Islamic 

jlhadlsts were crossing Into Iraq that he visited a border site in a mountainous region northeast of 

Baghdad last January. "I saw over 1,200 people come over [to Iraq] In an hour, and there were no 

[coalition] troops there," the officer recalls. "I did not see them armed, but then a lot of them came 

across in carts and some In vehicles and donkeys, and you wouldn't know. Ifonly 1 percent of them 

were combatants," he adds, "you can see the problem." 

Iranian agents f.1ad plenty of help waiting Inside Iraq. Numerous Intelligence reports say that members of 

a ShIIte militia group In Iraq known as the Badr Corps aided Iran In moving agents, weapons, and other 

materiel Into southern Iraq--sometlmes under the cover of humanitarian organizations. The Badr Corps 

has served as the armed wing of one of the most popular Shiite political parties In southern Iraq, the 

Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI. The leaders of both SCIRI and the Badr Corps, 

which now calls Itself the Badr Organization, have maintained close ties to Iran for about two decades. 

file:/IC:\Do.CUME-l\agb~kram\LOGALS-l\Temp\Cl 06ZFQF .~!m "1 1116/2004

o 

o 

PageS of9 

Iraqis associated with SClRI and Badr opposed Saddam's regime and fled to Iran In ~he ea~ly 1980s, 

where their organizations were established. They began returning to Iraq in droves after U.S.-led troops 

invaded Iraq in March 2003, prompting Defense Secretary Donald .Rumsfeld to warn the Badr Corps not 

to Interfere In Iraq. Badr leaders say they have no hostile Intentions toward U.S. forces, but their 

loyalties remain much In doubt. Just last month, Iraq's national intelligence chief, Mohammed al 

Shahwanl, accused the Badr Organization of killing 10 of his agents on orders from Iranian leaders. Badr, 

which denied the charges, was said to have disarmed this past summer, as part of an agreement with 

the new Iraqi government that would allow its members to serve in the new Iraqi Civil Defense Force~ 

Yet Badr's historical ties to Iran, as described in U.S. and British Intelligence reports, offer little In the 

way of reassurance. While saying that SClRI and Badr have "made some attempts to emphasize 

independence from Iran," a British Defence Intelligence Staff report on "Armed Groups in Iraq," dated 

Nov. 21, 2003, says that the Badr Organization retains "strong links" to ,Iran's Islamic Revolutionary 

Guard Corps." The IRGC, the report says, "has funded, trained, and armed" the militia group, whose 

membership it estimated at between 18,000 and 20,000. The report says that some Badr members were 

unhappy with their leader, Abul Azlz ai-Hakim, who commands both SCIRI and Badr, and had returned to 

Iran. At the time, the report says, Badr was "well equipped" with "small arms, mortars and RPG s 

[rocket-propelled grenades]," T-55 series tanks and a "variety of artillery and antlalr pieces." Other 

intelligence reports say that an Iranian government agency--probably the IRGC--had provided Badr with 

global positioning systems to better target U.S.-led forces. 

Some of the most important Information on Iran has been provided by an Iranian exile group, the 

Mujaheddln..e-Khalq. The MEK fled Iran after the 1979 revolution and later relocated with Saddam's 

support to Iraq, where it continued to advocate the overthrow of the Iranian clerical regime. U.s~ forces 

now are guarding Its 3,800 members at Camp Ashraf, the MEK's sprawling compound northeast of 

Baghdad. Designated a terrorist organization by the State Department, the MEK neve.rtheless has 

provided American officials with Significant intelligence on Iran's nuclear weapons programs. The MEK, 

wrote one Army analyst, is "quite proficient at intelligence collection." Other analysts said that the MEK' . 

also had provided valuable on-the-ground intelligence to Army Special Forces after the invaslonlof Iraq. te: 

"The SF guys claim the [MEK] are a valuable intel asset," wrote an Army sergeant who had met'. 

frequently with the MEK, "and are generally reliable." At the same time, an Army team wrote that It.was.l' 

Important to be mindful that, given that its stated goal is to topple the government In Tehran, the MEK'stt' ~ 

reports "were designed to Inform as well as Influence American policy toward ••• the Iranian regime.~ ~ 

A red'truck. Relying on Its own agents inside Iran and other sources, the MEK has given Army personnel 

detailed reports on what it says have been Iran's efforts to destabilize Iraq. In its reports, some of which 

were reviewed by U.S. News, the MEK reported on the Intelligence-collection methods of Iran's MOIS, 

arms shipments from Iran to Iraq, and· the involvement In these operations of the Islamic Revolutionary 

Guard Corps's so~called Qods Force, or "Jerusalem Force." 

In December last year, MEK intelligence officers provided the Army with a detailed report and maps on 

what it called "a widespread network for transferring and distributing arms from Iran to Iraq" through 

the Ilam region in ~estern Iran. The MEK said its sworn enemy, the Badr Organization, was involved In 

the network. According to the MEK's operatives, both Badr and the Iranian command staff were based in 

Iran at the border town of Mehran. "In order to control and manage the intelligence and terrorist 

activities in Iraq," a MEK intelligence officer wrote, "the Qods Force has recently moved part of its 

command staff from Tehran to the border city of Mehran." His report also Identifed the areas In western, 

northwestern, and southern Iran where Qods Force commanders operated, along with the identities of 

more than a dozen commanders. 

The MEK's reports contain detailed information on arms shipments. On Dec. 4, ~003, the MEK reported, 

Iranian agents moved 1,OOO.rocket-propelled grenades and seven boxes of TNT from western Iran to 

Iraqi resistance groups. A week later, Iran's Qods Force moved "a number of Mirage submachine guns" 

into Iraq In a "truck loaded with cement bags under which the arms were hidden," according to another 

report. later that month, the MEK said, an Iraqi working for Iran drove a red fruit truck..-a "cover for a 

consignment of arms," including RPG s, mortars, and Kalashnlkov rifles--across the border into Iraq. 

The dissident Iranian group also provided American intelligence officers with information on how 

Hezbollah was aiding Iran In gathering Intelligence in I~q. Hezbollah, a bitter enemy of Israel with close 

ties to Iran and Syria, collected information on American and, British troops, photographed them, then 

sent the information to Qods Force commanders In Iran, according to MEK intelligence reports. 

J;ile:I/C~\DQCQlvJE-l)agb~Iq-am\LOCAL~-I.\Temp\Cl06ZFQF.htm 11/16/2004

o 

o 

Page 6 of9 

.' 

Intelligence officers for the MEK also said they had learned that Hezbollah had some 800 operatives In 

Iraq as of last January, including assassination teams. "The teams assassinate their opponents," a MEK 

intelligence officer reported, "and carry out sabotage operations." The MEK claimed that Hezbollah had 

assassinated an Iraqi man who had prOVided information to coalition forces. 

Other sources prOVided similar information, including Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. Mossad 

warned U.S. intelligence officials in October 4003 that Hezbollah planned to set up a resistance 

movement that would cause mass casualties, according to a report prepared by the Defense Intelligence 

Agency's Joint Intelligence Task Force--Combating Terrorism. Iran, the report said, was calling the shots. 

"Should such mass casualty attacks be considered," the task force wrote, "they [Hezbollah] must first 

receive approval from Iran." The Iranians "do not want the U.S. and the coalition to focus attention on 

Iranian support for terrorist networks or other anti-coalition activities they're involved with," said a 

report by an analyst for a U.S. Central Command support team in Iraq. "Iran Is also trying to ensure it 

has a great deal of influence in Iraq, and one way of doing that Is to supply weapons to anti-coalition 

groups." 

Iranian agencies put the intelligence they gathered to practical use, planning, funding, and training 

attackers, according to many of the intelligence reports reviewed by U.S. News. In November of last 

year, the Iraq Survey Group received information that Iran had formed small groups of fighters to 

conduct attacks in cities across Iraq. "Iran had reportedly placed a bounty on U.S. forces of U.S. $ 2,000 

for each helicopter shot down, $ 1,000 for each tank destroyed, and $ 500 for each U.S. military 

personnel killed," the Iraq Survey Group reported. Iranian agents were also suspected in the 

assassination of at least two prominent Iraqis. In the fall of 2003, there were two reported plots against 

Bremer, the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator. The Iraq Survey Group, citing a source who 

"has provided reliable information In the past," said a senior Iranian cleric in Tehran set up a special 100 

member army, known as al Saqar, which means eagle in Arabic, to assassinate Bremer and carry out 

other terrorist attacks. The Eagle Army, the Iraqi Survey Group was told, had trained for 30 days at an 

Iranian terJ:0rist camp. This alleged plot and others reportedly planned against Bremer came to nothing. 

There were many reported plots against Bremer during his one-year tenure in Baghdad, and throughout 

his time there he was prOVided with blanket security. He declined to be interviewed for this story. 

Mastermind. Jihadlsts saw Iraq as an opportunity. In a report quoting a source who was not otherwise 

characterized, a U.S. Special Operations task force wrote that "the lebanese Hlzballah leadership 

believes that the struggle In Iraq is the new battleground in the fight against the U.S." In fact, other 

analysts wrote, Hezbollah and Ansar ai-Islam were among the most active groups in Iraq, although al. 

Qaeda operatives also were believed to be operating there soon afterthe invasion. 

Ansar ai-Islam Is a small group of Arabs and Iraqi Kurds that Is believed to have figured in some of the 

most violent attacks in Iraq. American and British Intelligence, the reports show, concluded that Ansar al 

Islam was working closely with Iran, and alsoal Qaeda, In Its terrorist attacks against coalition forces. 

Military intelligence reports suggested that the group was believed to be linked to two horrific bombings 

in Baghdad last year--the attack on the Jordanian Embassy on August 7, In which 17 people were killed, 

and the August 19 bombing that devastated the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. That attack 

killed 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. Intelligence reporting Indicated that the 

mastermind of the U.N. attack was Zarqawi, the terrorist who has continued to bedevil coalition forces, 

and that al Qaeda operatives also played a role. A "reliable source with good access" said that Zarqawl 

had coordinated his plans for attacks in Iraq with Ansar ai-Islam's top leader, Abu Abdullah al-Shafii. The 

reports did not link Iran directly to either the U.N. attack or the Jordanian bombing. But one British 

defense,report noted pointedly: "Some elements [of Ansar ai-Islam] remain In Iran. Intelligence 

indicates that elements" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "are providing safe haven and basic 

training to Iran-based AI [Ansar ai-Islam] cadres." 

Funneling money. A separate report from the British Secret Intelligence Service, quoting a source who 

"has proved fairly reliable,., said that Iranian government agendes were also secretly helping Ansar al 

Islam members cross Into Iraq from Iran, as part of a plan to mount sniper attacks against coalition 

forces. There were also multiple American intelligence reports Identifying Iran as a chief supporter of 

Ansar ai-Islam. U.S. intelligence received information that an Iranian was aiding Ansar ai-Islam "on how 

to build and set up" Improvised explosive devices, known as lED s. An analyst for the'U.S. Central 

Command offered this assessment: "AI [Ansar ai-Islam] is actively attempting to'improve lED 

effectiveness and sophisticationt 

As might be expected, given the volume of the intelligence reports reviewed by U.S. News, some of the 

file:!!C:\DOCUME-l \agb~kraro~OCAL~-l\Tt!mp\C106~QF.hOO 11116/2004

o 

Page 7 of9 

information was contradictory. In some cases, Hezbollah, for Instance, was said to be planning direct 

attacks against coalition forces. In others, It was said to be working only behind the scenes in fomenting 

violence in Iraq. 

Perhaps Iran's most significant involvement.ln Iraq has been Its support for Moqtada al-Sadr, the .. 

radical, anti-U.S. cleric. His Mahdl Army militia engaged In a series of vicious battles with coalition forces 

in the holY.. southern.Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala, and in the teeming Baghdad slum known as Sadr 

City, between-Aprirand.Oetober:thfsqtear. Uke most of Its operations in Iraq, the Intelligence reports 

indicate that the Iranian regime has tried to mask Its support of Sadr. He visited Tehran in June 2003 for 

a ceremony marking the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinl, the spiritual leader of the 1979 

revolution, but it is riot known whether he received any commitment from Iran at that time. U.S. 

intelligence reports say thatIran used Hezbollah to train and,provlde.funds·to~Sadr·sMahdi:Army'and: 

may'also have used front·companies'to~funnel~money:to:him:'l'For-a.time; the·reports=suggest;;Sadr 

appeared to be getting funds'from-a"senior-Shiite religious leader living In Iran, the Grand Ayatollah 

Kazem al-Haeri, who advocates an Islamic state In Iraq. But by mid-October 2003, according to a special 

operations task force, Haeri withdrew his "financial support" from Sadr. The ayatollah later publicly cut 

his ties with Sadr. .. 

There.was no such break with Hez~ollah•.lhe first sign that the terrorist group planned to support Sadr 

is reflected"ln a-July' 29; 2003; U:S: intelligence,report. Citing~Israeli·military-intelligence,-the report says 

Hezbollah "military activists" were attempting to establish contacts with Sadr and his Mahdi Army. The 

next month they did. By late August, according to a report prepared by aU.S. military analyst, Hezbollah 

had established "a team of30 to 40 operatives" in Najaf "In support of Moqtada Sadr's Shia paramiltary 

group." The report, based on a source "with direct access to the reported information," said that 

Hezbollah was recruiting and training members of Sadr's militia. A later report, citing "multiple sources," 

said that Hezbollah was "buying rocket-propelled grenades ..• antitank missiles" and other weapons for 

Sadr's militia. 

Intelligence analysts also tied Sadr to Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah. "Reporting 

also confirms the relationship between •.•• Sadr and Hassan Nasrallah," an Army report said. The report 

cited unconfirmed Information indicating that a top adviser to Nasrallah, who Is based In Lebanon, had, 

delivered funds to Sadr In Najaf. 

Other reporting indicated that the Mahdi Army may have received support from former Saddam 

supporters .and other antlcoalition groups. Intelligence analysts were aware, as early as the fall of 2003, 

that Sadr could become a serious problem. At that time, there had been no confirmed attacks on 

coalition forces, only Sadr's tough rhetoric, in which he denounced the United States and called the Iraqi 

Governing Council Illegal. But, as a British defense intelligence report said, "stockpiling of heavier 

weapons, along with public antl-CF [Coalition Force] rhetoric, could indicate a willingness to take more 

direct action against CF." 

"111e honeymoon Is over." Dlrect.action ..was precisely what Sadr took, after Bremer ordered his Baghdad 

newspaper shut down, in March this year, accusing It of "inciting violence" against U.S.-led forces. Days 

later, after American soldiers arrested a Sadr aide, fierce fighting erupted between U.S. troops and 

Sadr's forces. In August, Sadr's Mahdl Army surrendered the Imam All Shrine in Najaf, and last month 

he reached a cease-fire with the United States and Iraq's Interim government. Sadr's fighters began 

turning in their weapons, as part of an agreement to disband, and Sadr signaled his Intention to get 

involved in the political process. He remains influential with many ShIItes, and American officials know 

that, if the Iraqi venture is to succeed, they must do everything they can to keep the majority Shiites 

happy.~ "Beware if we lose the goodwill of the Shl'ites. The honeymoon is over/' an Army captain wrote in 

October 2003, months before the battles with.Sadr's forces began. "Arresting Sadr, the son of a martyr, 

will only fuel Shiite extremists' animosity, and strengthen their recruiting efforts." 

Managing the Sadr situation, some government and intelligence officials say, is a microcosm of the far 

more difficult challenges America faces In responding to Iran's activities in Iraq. Iran clearly has the 

potential to stir up far more trouble than it has, partiCUlarly in the largely Shiite southern half of Iraq. 

But so far, as It continues its elaborate dance with the West over its ambitious nuclear program, the 

Islamic regime has yet to turn the heat up full blast In, Iraq, evidently secure in the knowledge that it can 

do so when and· if it sees the need to. "I would not put it past them to carry out spectacular attacks," 

says David Kay, the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, "to demonstrate the cost of a hostile 

policy. That Is the policy issue--can we learn to live with Iranian nuclear capacity?" 

file:I/C:\DO.CUME-l\a~bmJ«at.ll\L9CALS-l\Tell).p\C10~ZFQ~.htm 

1Iii6/2004

-0 

Page 8 of9 

The Ties to Tehran 

Agents from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps 

infiltrated several Iraqi cities (yellow) to collect Information on U.S.-led forces and work with insurgent 

groups after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Other Iranian agents crossed the long, porous, border with 

Iraq, intelligence reports said, to support t~e Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization. 

[MAP LABELS] 

IRAQ 

IRAN 

Tehran 

Iraq-Iran border crossings 

Hajj Umran 

Baneh 

Halabjah 

As Sulaymaniyah 

Khanaqln 

Mehran and Baramadad 

Chamsarl 

Hoveyzeh 

Darsiyah 

Shalamchah 

Khorramshahr 

Abadan 

Active Iranian intelligence cells 

Mosul 

Klrkuk 

Baghdad 

Karbala 

Kut 

Najaf 

Amarah 

Basra 

[LABELS-GLOBE INSET] 

IRAQ 

IRAN 

Area of detail 

Sources: U.S. intelligence and State.Department reports; United Nations 

Rob Cady--USN&WR 

AN UNHOLY ALUANCE 

BADR ORGANIZATION. This group served as the armed wing of a Shiite political party in Iraq known as 

the Supreme Council for IslalJlic Revolution. Members of the Badr group opposed Saddam Hussein's rule, 

and fled to Iran In the early 1980s. A British intelligence report says that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary 

Guard Corps "funded, trained, and armed the group, as well as assigning IRGC personnel in a support 

file:IIC:\DOCUME-l\agQJ!1~m\LO~ALS-!\Te~p\CI96ZFQ;F.htm 11116/2004

o ,0 

,'''' capacity." Members returned to Iraq after the coalition invasion in March 2003. 

Page90f9 

HEZBOLLAH (THE PARTY OF GOD) was created In 1982 after Israel invaded Lebanon. Hezbollah Is a 

Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim group inspired by the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late 

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinl. The organization is funded by Iraq. Syria also supports this group. 

ANSAR AL-ISLAM is a Sunnl Muslim group of Iraqi Kurds and Arabs established in December 2001. It is 

closely allied with al Qaeda and the terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence reports 

indicate that elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have provided safe haven and training 

for Ansar ai-Islam members. Reports also say that Ansar ai-Islam and al Qaeda have crossed into Iraq 

from Iran and Syria. Additionally, they suggest an Ansar ai-Islam tie with former members of Saddam 

Hussein's Fedayeen paramilitary force. . 

MAHDI ARMY. This is the armed militia group of the radical Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. Intelligence 

reportS say that Iran used Hezbollah to train and provide funds to Sadr's militia and may have also used 

front companies to fund Sadr's attacks against coalition forces. 

Sources: U.S. Intelligence and State Department reports, United Nations 

GRAPHIC: Picture, CARNAGE. After the bombing of the U.N. headquarters In Baghdad. Two groups with 

ties to Iran are suspected in the August 2003 attack. (GEERTVAN KESTEREN--AGENTUR FOCUS / 

CONTACT)j 'Picture, HOLY MAN. Iran's Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told Iraqis they have no other choice" 

but to rise up against U.S. forces there and drive them out. (VAHID SALEMI--AP); Picture, BEUEVERS. 

Members of Iran's elite Revoutiomiry Guard Corps. In Iraq, reports say, the guard helped plan and 

finance attacks on U.S.-led forces. (DAMIR SAGOU--REUTERS I CORBIS); Pictures: ALL HANDS. At 

prayers in a Shiite shrine in Karbala (left). A customs office on the Iraq-Iran border displays "terrorist 

"wanted" posters. (ABBAS--MAGNUMi HUSSEIN MALLA--AP); Pictures: TEHRAN TIES. Followers of 

Moqtada al-Sadr (left); Abdul Azlz ai-Hakim (right, with glasses), the head of the Supreme CoiJncii of 

Islamic Revolution in Iraq (PAOLO WOODS--ANZENBERGERj MURAD SEZER--AP); Picture, TARGET? 

Intelligence reports linked two alleged plots to ~iII Paul Bremer, the top U.S. official In Baghdad, to 

Iranian-backed groups. (GEERT VAN KESTEREN--AGEN11JR FOCUS I CONTACT); Picture, On the attack. 

A member of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army preparing to fire a rocket-propelled 'grenade at an American 

tank In Baghdad (KAELAlFORD--PANOS); Picture, Ansar ai-Islam fighters in Iraq (CHANG W. LEi;--THE 

NEW YORK TIMES); Map, The 'lies to Tehran (U.S. intelligence and State Department reports, United 

Nations; Rob cady--USN&WR) 

LOAD-DATE: November 15,2004 

View: Lls~ I Full Document 1 of 2 nm > 


~~n~ I Oownload 

About LtxisNexls I Terms and Conditions I Privacy Policy 

P>pyrlght 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

file:/IC:\pOCl!ME-l \ag~m~.m\LOtALS-l\Temp\C106ZFQF.htrn 11/16/2004

.- ". . 

f' 

• 

:pocument Results 

ALL INFORl·iATION CONTAINED 

- . HERE IN IS mJCLASSIFIED 1"-\ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc ba~/1sg 

0 

Pagelof2 

j:dlt...S.earc;t.ll r~,-ey!-S.e.a(cb. 

frlnt I .Q.o.wnlp.ac( 

View: .Lls,t I Full 

< prex Document 17 of28~!!X;t> 

M Tag ror Print &. Download 

Copyright 2003 Agence France Presse 

Agence France Presse -- English 

July 7, 2003 Monday 

SECTION: International News 


HEADLINE: Iran brings Israel within missile range, digs in on tougher UN nuclear probe 

BYLINE: SIAVOSH GHAZI 

DATELINE: TEHRAN, July 7 

BODY: 

Iran has conducted a final test of its Shahab-3 ballistic missile, the Iranian foreign ministry ,confirmed 

Monday, in a move that brings arch-enemy Israel well within range of the Islamic republic's armed 

forces. 

The announcement sparked Immediate alarm in Israel, and also came as Iran's clerical leaders dug in on 

their refusal to allow tougher UN inspections of their civil nuclear programme, seen by the United States 

as a cover for nuclear weapons development. 

"The test took place several weeks ago. The range of the missile is what we declared before," foreign 

ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporterS, adding the test was the final one before the 

missile was handed over for operation by the country's army. 

Officials here have previously said the missile -- based on North Korea's No-Dong and Pakistan's 

Ghauri-II -- has a range of 1~300 kilometers (810 miles). It can reportedly carry a warhead weighing up 

to 1,000 kllogrammes. 

In Farsi, Shahab means "meteor" or "shooting star". 

Asefi was reacting to a report in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper last week which said Iran had conducted 

the test just over a week ago and was now capable of hitting the Jewish state, American forces in~the 

Gulf or the Indian subcontinent. 

"This is nothing new," Asefi said. "Apparently the Israelis are a bit late with their Information." 

In Israel, government spokesman Avi Pazner told AFP that the Jewish state was "very concerned" at the 

development. 

"We are very concerned, especially since we know that Iran is seeking to acquire the nuclear weapon," 

he said. 

Iran has fiercely denied accusations it has a nuclear weapons programme, and asserts its missile 

development is· purely for its own defence. 

But confirmation of the test came as Iran was set to face more scrutiny over its nuclear programme, 

with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Mohamed EIBaradel set to visit Wednesday to 

press demands for tougher Inspections. - 

But Asefl again rebuffed mounting international demands to immediately and unconditionally allow 

https:/Iw3.Iexis.comllawenfsolutions_securedlsearchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchlnfoID=... 11/18/2004

Document ,Results 

o· 

Page 2 0(2 

tougher UN inspections of its nuclear facilities, asserting instead that drawn-out negotiat!ons may be 

necessary. 

"There is no have-to involved. We hope that in negotiations with Mr. EIBaradei, the two sides can cover 

subjects that allow us to build mutual trust,'· he said, adding that lIif not, negotiations must continue'·. 

The IAEA has been urging Iran immediately sign, ratify and implement an additional protocol to the 

nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that would allow its teams to conduct surprise inspections of 

suspect sites. 

So far the Vienna-based UN body is only allowed to,pay pre-arranged visJts to declared sites, but Iran 

has been urged to open up its nuclea·r programme amid widespread fears it is also seeking t9 acquire a 

nuclear arsenal. 

EIBaradei has been backed up by G8 leaders and the European Union. Individual states, Japan, France, 

Britain, Australia, Russia and the United States, have also echoed the demand. Foreign diplomats here 

have asserted they are not prepared to see lengthy negotiations on the issue. 

But Asefi said that for Iran, the additional protocol problem is "not a black and white Issue·'. 

IIFor every problem there is a solution, and for this problem we must negotiate and we are fully ready to 

listen,II he told reporters. 

In June, EIBaradei said the Islamic republic had not fully respected the NPT by failing to inform the IAEA 

of some of its nuclear activities, including the import of uran'um in 1991. 

Iranian officials have dismissed the criticism.s as technicalities, and have consistently asserted they are 

ready to allow a tougher inspections regime, but only on the condition that other,NPT signatories first 

assist its nuclear power programme -- one of their treaty obligations. 

Asefi also dismissed threats from some EU quarters that negotiations over a trade and cooperatiop 

agreement -- which the EU hopes will YJeld progress on political, human rights and military concerns in 

Iran -- could be torpedoed by Iranls intransigence on inspections. 

liThe commercial cooperation accord would be profitable for both -sides, so this cannot be used as 

leverage and the Islamic republic will not accept such pressure,'I he said. 

I'Sanctions against the Islamicrepublic have been ineffective. The Europeans should be careful about 

what they say and avoid using threats." 

sgh-sas/ps 

Iran-missile-nuclear-IAEA 

LOAD-DATE: July 8, 2003 

View: J..ls.t I Full < pte\{ Document 17 of 28 "~~t > 

Edit Sea'[ch' I New Search 

Pritlll D~Y{nlo~~ - 

all.Q.l!.LLexlsNexis I ~l!!!.s_cm.d_CondD:Loll~ I Privacy PoJL~ 

~_o.RY.d9J:g 2004 LexisNexls, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

https:/lw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchfonnsldoBrows~.asp?SearchlnfoID=... 11/18/2004

..... 'W 

l?ocument Results ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED 

~EIN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

~ 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/3ab/~ 

.Search Within Results: [ =::::: 

:..::=.3 mTmJ 

Page 10f4 

~dlt_S.ear.cb I .r:teYi_S.eatcU 

P.rJot I .Q,ownlo.a_d 

View: J..Ist I Full < p.t.ex Document 10 of 28 J1.ext > 

M Tag for Print &. Download 1Bm1 , 

[] Copyright 2003 Defense & Foreign Affairs/International Strategic Studies Association 

Defense &Foreign Affairs Daily 

SECTION: Vol. XXI, No. 111 


July 25, 2003 Friday 

HEADLINE: Iranian Clerical Leaders Continue to Defy Opposition, Causing Hardening of Position by its 

Allies 

BODY: 

Analysis. By Jason Fuchs, GIS staff. Iran's clerical leadership has begun to harden Its position against 

internal and perceived US-supported opposition following its successful suppression of the July 9, 2003, 

protests against the Administration. At the same time, the clerical leadership has embarked on a 

campaign -- which repeats a process successfully undertaken on several occasions In the past - 

designed to show that it was cooperating with the US and other states in the "war on terror" when, in 

fact, it continues to harbor major anti-Western terrorists.< 1> 

Reports on July 22, 2003, to the effect that it had detained ~enior al-Qaida leaders were almost identical 

to remarks made over earlier months to the US, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. No evidence has been provided 

that the Iranian claims were true, and nor have any such senior al-Qaida terrorists been handed over to 

Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as promised, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia had -- as part of a supposed 

reciprocal deal -'! handed over Iranian terrorists to the Iranian authorities. Suggestions that the Iranian 

clerics had detained, and would hand over, al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, were ridiculed by 

informed Tehran sources, following the hints by Iranian clerical sources to Western media that such an 

prisoner was being held. 

Sources in Iran indicated that the.psychological operations initiative had worked in the past to·suppress 

US support for the Iranian opposition, and they noted that senior Iranian Administration officials believed 

that it would work again; , , 

MeanWhile, the successful Iranian suppression of the mounting waves of Internal opposition, supported 

by the US, also gave encouragement to Iran's allies and other anti-Western states. 

In the wake of the st1:date Year="2003" Day="9" Month="7" July 9, 2003 'I demonstrations marking 

the fourth anniversary of the 1999 student demonstrations in Tehran, the Iranian leadership, satisfied 

with the outcome of its suppression of the protests, appeared resurgently defiant of US-Western 

demands for transparency regarding the indigenous Iranian nuclear program and, by late July 2003, 

Tehran's allies, both regional and otherwise, appeared to have taken note. The jamming of US-based 

satellite feeds into Iran that began on st1:date Year=".2003" Oay="S" Month="7" July 5, 2003 , 

reportedly from sites in Cuba, emphasized this. Cuba's blocking of the transmissions, which continued 

through July 24, 2003, served as a reminder to the US Bush Administration that states like Cuba, Syria, 

and Libya _.. referred to as the rrjunior varsity axis of evil" by a Bush AdministratioQ official in April 2003 

-- continued to look to Tehran as a barometer for their own dealings with the US. 

There was now also growing US concern over the status of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, 

following reports, reportedly confirmed by both US and Israeli Intelligence services, tha~ Pakistani 

nuclear weapons technology had now been acquired and had accelerated ~he pace of Iranian Indigenous 

nuclear development. 

Significantly, whil~ the North Korean (OPRK) Administration of Mar. Kim Jong-il out~tripped Iran in real 

militarY terms, it too had looked to Tehran in the aftermath of th~ US-led Coalition-Iraq War of Marchhttps:/Iw3.lexis.com/lawenfsolutions_securedlsearchforms/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 

11/18/2094

· .. :Oocument Results 

o 

Page 2 of4 

April 2003. Reports of a second DPRK nuclear facility In mid-July 2003 along with the North Korean 

declaration tnat it had· produced enough fissile material to build an additional six nuclear weapons had, 

by late July 2003, refocused international attention on the DPRK nuclear program, with the International 

Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) citing the the Kim Jong-il Administration as the greatest threat to world 

peace. The DPRK 's continuing diplomatic offensive against the US appeared to have been at least 

partially resultant of the continuing hard-line Iranian stance, Insofar as long-standing and continuing 

diplomatic and military understanding between Pyongyang and Tehran. Indications bystl:date 

Vear=1I2003" Day="24" Month="7 11 

July 24, 2003, were that Pyongyang would continue to heighten 

tensions on the Korean peninsula, parallel to the increasing US pressure on Tehran and Dama~cus • 

An exchange of fire between North and South Korean troops along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on July 

17, 2003, appeared to reaffirm this intent. 

GIS/ Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily had extensively reported on the North Korean military nuclear 

capability and related delivery systems. In a January 9, 2003 , report entitled Iraq, Iran, North Korea 

and WMD: Threat Activated, i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily noted: 

"Even by early 1994, it was known that the DPRK had 10 nuclear warheads of SOkt yield deployed on 

ballistic missiles, plus two additional SOkt devices suitable for vehicle or aircraft delivery. i style="msobidi-font-style: 

normalllDefense & Foreign Affairs sources believe that the number of warheads available 

to the DPRK would now be substantially higher, given the fact that it has had an additional eight-years to 

work on the program." 

As Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily reported in late June 2003, the Iranian leadership had evaluated the 

new realities of the post-Saddam Middle East and, increasingly threatened both by the neighboring US 

military presence In both Afghanistan and Iraq and demonstrations within Iran, decided to initiate an 

anti-Western offensive for the very survival of Iran as an Islamic Republic. A i style="mso-bidi-fontstyle: 

normal"Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily report on June 30, 2003, In particular noted the 

assemblage of a so-called l'Anti-July 9 Crackdown Committee" to suppress the planned July 9, 2003, 

anti-Government demonstrations. The fruits of these efforts were made evident by the Government's 

largely successful containment of the st1:date Year=1I2003" Day="9" Month=1I7" July 9, 2003, 

protests, which, though sizable in number [upwards of 10,000 according to reports] failed to act as any 

sort of catalyst to spur further Widespread support and/or action within the Iranian populace or military. 

While the protests of stl:date Year=1I2003" Day=1I9 11 

Month="7" July 9, 2003, may have played a key 

role In the anti-Government movement, it was decidedly not the decisive turning point that some within 

the Iranian opposition had hoped for. 

The result of this perceived success was that the ayatollahs appeared more willing than ever to oppose 

US and Western demands. For th~e Iranian leadership, the effective suppression of the protests had 

served as a much-needed victory against the US and the West. Whether the West actually saw events in 

these terms was immaterial; in the run-up to st1:date Year="2003 11 Day="9" Month="7" July 9, 2003 , 

particularly.during the protests of June 2003, state-run Iranian media made clear in stark terms that 

the anti-Government demonstrators did not represent the Iranian people and were instead agents of the 

US or other Western "dlsruptors". On st1:date Year="2003" Day="18" Month="7" July 18, 2003 , the 

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"Ayatollah 

Ahmad Jannatl had told worshippers attending Friday prayers at Tehran University that stl:date 

Year=1I2003 tl Day="9" Month="7- July 9, 2003, was "a day of disgrace for the US and its agents, as 

their efforts did not succeed" and characterized the July 9 protests as "minor" and "Insignificant"_. 

This style of rhetoric served more than one purpose for the Iranian Government. While these comments 

served to minimize the support base of the protestors they also gave the ayatollahs an opportunity to 

finally win a battle against the West. Iran had proved incapable of denying Western victories in 

Afghanistan or Iraq and appeared, by late July 2003, to have grown increasingly frustrated with the 

Islamic world's inability to respond to the US-led Coalition invasion of Iraq with significant attacks on the 

Western home front. Thus, while efforts to rectify these situations were well underway by June-July 

2003, the "defeat" of the stl:date Year="2003" Day="9" Month="7" July 9, 2003 , protests served as 

a welcome interim victory, and doubtless a morale booster amongst the Iranian leadership. 

Iran's aggressive strategic stance toward the US , Israel, and the West was emphasized on stl:date 

Year=12003" Day="20 11 

Month="7" July 20, 2003 , when the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali 

Hoseini-Khamene'i, officially Inaugurated the Shahab-3 ballistic missile. The Shahab-3 reportedly has 

a range of between 1,300 and 1,500 kilometers and Is capable of carrying a 1,000-760 kilogram 

https:/Iw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchforms/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11/18/2004

.. .. Document Results 

,. - 

o 

Page 3 of4 

" warhead. The Iranian Government and Western media had reported since early July 2003 that the 

missile had been successfully tested in June 2003. The July 20, 2003 , ceremony marked the 

missile's entrance into operational service, according to i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"Ayatoliah 

Khamene'I, who remarked: "Today our people and our armed forces are ready to defend their goals 

anywhere." 

However, the authoritative Middle Eastern web-based information service, Debka.com, which clearly has 

strong sources within the Israeli intelligence community, stated in astl:date Year="2003" Day="23" 

Month="7" July 23, 2003 , dispatch that the missile had, in fact, failed its most recent test. According 

to the Debka.com report, Iranian officials were, as of late July 2003, in North Korea attempting to 

expedite shipment plans for new engines in hopes of fixing the i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"Sh a 

i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"hab-3 's remaining defects. It remained unclear whether the 

st1:date Year="2003 1 ' Day="23" Month="7" JUly 23, 2003 , report of North Korean-Iranian missile 

shipments was linked to the arrival of a large Iranian cargo ship to a North Korean port at Haeju Harbor. 

in the Yellow Sea during early July 2003. On st1:date Year="2003" Day="9" Month="7" July 9, 2003 , 

an unnamed South Korean official had speculated to the South Korean JoongAng Daily that the Iranian 

cargo ship had taken on small patrol boats. [The Iranian Navy maintains at least/three Zafar -class 

(North Korean built Chasho -class) FAC(G) patrol boats purchased from North Korea in the early 1990s. 

Western intelligence agencies believed that an additional six patrol boats had been shipped to Iran In 

December 2002 in a package sale including two gunboats and five semi-submersibles capable of carrying 

two torpedoes each.] 

Thus, with uncertainty as to the current strategic viability of the Sh a hab-3 missile, what appeared 

most evident by late JUly 2003 was the Importance which the Iranian Government continued to place on 

propaganda and the projection of force. The message of the missile test -- failed or otherwise -- had 

been aimed directly at the US , Israel, and the West. And, though, the test gained only the passing 

attention of most US and European media, Israeli news outlets paid close watch, with the daily i 

style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"Yedioth Ahronoth blaring across its front page during mid-July 2003: 

"The Iranian threat -- the missile that can hit every house In Israel". 

The importance of the missile test, insofar as achieving a strong Iranian front to the West, could not be 

overstated. Iran had long depended on the threat of Widening any US-led war in the Middle East to 

include Israel as a major deterrent to US action against the Tehran-Damascus-Baghdad axis.US Pres. 

Bush had proved willing to risk that eventuality to achieve US strategic goals in removing the Iraqi 

Administration of former Pres. Saddam Hussein. With this US decision, the Iranians had hoped for 

Saddam to make good on this long-promised threat, not only to punish Israel, but also to deter further 

US action against Iran or its staunch ally Syria • The Iraqi inability to widen the war to Israel made the 

clerics recognize, more than ever, the necessity for a demonstration of the Iranian capability to strike 

Israel. The some 10,000 medium-to-short range rockets in Southern Lebanon, controlled jointly by 

Tehran, Damascus, and, to a degree, HizbAllah, were well within the Iranian sphere of influence, yet, 

Tehran's Willingness to rely on its neighbors to attack Israel if necessary appeared to have waned in the 

wake of the Iraqi failure. US efforts in June 2003 to'sway the HizbAllah from the Iranian sphere of 

influence, though fruitless by late July 2003, may also have raised the attention of the Iranian 

leadership. Thus, Tehran sought to warn the US against taking action toward "regime change" In Iran by 

reminding Washington that it retained the ability to widen any conflict with the US to include Israel by 

means within its own borders. Although perhaps unnecessary, this should have registered in Damascus 

as a reminder that Syria remains str~tegically dependent on Iran, and not the other way around. 

Notably, Cuba's blocking of US-based satellite feeds into Iran, which continued as of July 24, 2003, 

signaled that Havana continued to pay close attention to Tehran's policies vis-a-vis the US as an 

indicator for its own relations with Washington. Initially, following the September 11,2001 , attacks, 

Havana had shown a more conciliatory attitude toward the US, most notably by remaining relatively 

acquiescent to the US use of Guantanamo Bay as a detention camp for al-Qaida detainees. The Russian 

closure of the Lourdes Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) facility follOWing the September 11, 2001, attacks 

on the US, though begun in August 2001, also seemed to indicate a more amiable Cuban posture. Yet, 

Iran's unflinching stance in the face of the US pressure to end support for terror groups, abandon its 

indigenous nuclear weapons program, and. begin a process of political and economic liberalization 

appeared to have affected Havana's strategic approach. By late July 2003, it seemed clear that Cuba 

would continue a policy of overt hostility. towards the US • This was evidenced by the Cuban decision to 

help Iran block US satellite feeds into Iran, particularly at a time as sensitive as the stl :da~e 

Year="2003" Day="9" Month="7" July 9, 2003, protests, for which the US had voiced support. A denial 

issued by the Cuban Foreign Ministry on Juty 19, 2003, made no attempt to mask this hostile tone, 

L 

https:/Iw3.1exis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchforms/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11/18/2004


o 

Page 4 of4 

declaring: "This is a new campaign of anti-Cuban lies ••• adding to a long list of hostile and aggressive 

actions that the imperial administration of George W. Bush has taken against our country." 

So, as July 2003 came to a close, Iran's aggressive stance came, unintentionally, with intense political 

pressure on the.U5 Bush Administration,' The Democrats, the US opposition party, continued to pursue 

Pres. Bush on the question of the Iraq War's legitimacy, the continuing (although low) US death toll In 

US-occupied Iraq, and the US economy. Damascus, Pyongyang, Havana, and Tripoli, thus, seemed to 

have one eye on the emboldened Iranians and another on Pres. Bush's slipping poll numbers. Tehran 

and its allies appeared ever more confident that in spite of the US-declared "war on terror" their 

respective governments might yet outlive the US Bush Administration. . 

Footnote: 

1. The US Central Intelligence Agency "confirmed" to US media company ABC that al-Qaida senior 

military figure Saif al-Adel was being held by Iranian authorities. However, GIS sources in Tehran 

indicated that the "detention" was, if it could be described as that, was almost certainly symbolic. 

Egyptian authorities have for some months been demanding the extradition of Salf al-Adel, an Egyptian 

national, for trial. However, reports surfaced on July 24, 2003, that because· he was "of Libyan origin", 

Libya had requested his extradition to Tripoli for trial. Given the close Iranian-Libyan relationship - 

particularly given the fact that Libya essentially has taken responsibility for the Iranian-managed 

bombing of Pan Am PA103 flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 -- it seems almost certain that this 

move was a canard designed to demonstrate "Iranian compliance" in the "war on terror", while still 

ensuring that Saif al-Adel was able to be safeguarded. 

2. International pressure on Iran's clerics is, however, far from over. The Canadian Ambassador to 

Tehran was recalled on July 23, 2003, over Canadian protests that Iranian-born Canadian 

photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured, possibly raped, and th~n killed by Iranian officials. 

See also: 

Defense & Foreign Affair~ Daily, ~uly 10, 2003: Iranian Protests Take Place Despite Massive 

Suppression; Worldwide Expatriate Protests Against Clerics • 

LOAD-DATE: July 24, 2003 

View: L1s.t I Full < p..t.ex, Document 10 of 28 ne_~t > 

Edl,t...S.ea(ch. I ~e.w...S.ea(cb. 

frJpt 1.Q.o~lQad. - 

About lexisNexis I ])mns and Qmditions I Privacy POlicy 

~..Y.{1ght 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

~ttps:/lw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_ secured/searchformsldoBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11/18/2004'

~ J 

, 

. i 

·t 

" 0 ALL INFOPHATImr CONT&' 

HEREIN IS LmrCLASSIFIED 

DEB~file- Iran-Based Al Qaeda Threat Much Closer than Shehab-3 

DEBKAfile - We start where the media stop DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

Page 1 of2 

Iran-Based AI Qaeda Threat Much Closer than Shehab-3 

DEBKAflle Special Analysis 

JIIly 22, 2003, 9:30 AM(GMT+02:00) 

Israel has more cause for concern from the presence ofsenior alQaeda operatives in Iran than from the 

prospect ofIran shooting a Shehab-3 medium-range missile any time soon, despite the handover 

ceremony Iran's bellicose spiritual leader Ali Khamenei staged with Iran's Revolutionary Guards on 

July 20. According to DEBKAjile's military experts, the missile is not yet operational; neither is it 

precise enough or capable ofdelivering an unconventional warhead. The Shehab-3 will need another 

two years at least to be ready for service. Only then, will Israel's anti-missile Arrow missile system be 

required to live up to the Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz's encomium, that the Arrow is Israel's 

answer to the Iranian missile. 

Meanwhile, the Shehab-3 is meanwhile grounded by two daunting obstacles: 

A. The fmal version ofthe missile's engine is far from complete; tests are still mnning on various North 

Korean versions including the Nodong-l upgraged with Russian technology and Iranian improvements. 

DEBKAjile's intelligence sources report that Iranian missile engineers and operators went to North 

':If;' r{ 1,. .: r', • .~ 

'-.f. :.... ,< ~ 

Mussab Zarqawi - At .. 

Qaeda's ticking bomb 

in Iran 

Korea at the end ofJune to speed delivery ofthe new engine parts ordered and paid for last year, after the first version engine 

proved faulty. Some ofthe missiles test-fired crashed shortly after launch. 

While pressing for delivery ofthe engine parts, Tehran is cocking an anxious ear to the war ofwords flying between 

Washington and Pyongyang. Iran's leaders fear that sooner or later the disputants will come to an understanding over North 

Korea's nuclear weapons program rather than letting it slide into outright confrontation. For Iran's program, this spells 

curtains in more than one way. 

1. The moment North Korea's nuclear program accepts a regime ofcontrols and limitations, the full blast ofinternational 

heat, especially from Washington, will veer round to compel the Iranians to fall in line and give up the development ofa 

nuclear bomb. 

2. North Korea will be bound under such an agreement by non-proliferation clauses banning the export ofnuclear and missile 

technologies alike. Once the Pyongyang door is slammed, Iran can forget about North Korean assistance in bringing its 

ballistic missile engines up to scratch. Tehran is therefore racing to get what it can out ofNorth Korea before Pyongyang 

resoles its dispute with the Washington. 

B. The Iranian program faces another major hurdle. Their twin object is to produce enough enriched uranium for the 

manufacture ofnuclear bombs and warheads by the latter halfof2005, also completing the development ofdependable 

engines for their ballistic missiles in the same time frame. Ifall goes according to plan, Tehran will by that date have a 

nuclear weapon plus several missiles for delivering it. However, it is hard to imagine the United States and/or Israel allowing 

the Islamic RepUblic to reach that point unopposed 

These difficulties place the Shehab-3 menace in the middle distance and bring the Iran-based al Qaeda threat to the Middle 

East including Israel into much sharper focus. 

TIle thinking in Jerusalem is that since the Islamic theocrats did not semple to give al Qaeda logistical backing from their 

towns for the May 12 string ofsuicide attacks against Riyadh, they will be as willing to help the same terrorists mount strikes 

against Israel. Tuesday, July 22, Tehran again denied granting the network's leading lights sanctuary, contradicting President 

George W.. Bush's accusat~on the day before that Syria and Iran harbored and assisted terrorists. He also warned them they 

would be held accountable. 

http://www.debka.com/article..print.php?aid=527 11/29/2004

Ai f'\aeda.Threat Much Closer than Shehab-3 

Page 2'of2 

'. ·'. . 'b . G> 

DBBKAfile ~.'Iian-Based 

. '1 ~o one~ows for',sure ifIran:~ al Qaeda "guests" ~~e enjoying a comfortable fonn ofdetention or are preparing the next 

wave ofteriorist'attacks with local connivance. (See also earlier DEBKAftle story on this page.) The theory going round 

some circles in Washington is that Iran's logistical aid in the Riyadh attacks was meant to hint to the US government at the 

extent ofdamage the Iranians are capable ofcausing US interests in Iraq and other parts ofthe Middle East ifthe heat is not 

reduced on the nuclear issue. 

Israel is keeping a very close eye on the Jordanian-born terror master Mussab Zarqawi, who just before the Iraq War was 

assigned; according to Israeli security'sources, with executing ~ 9/1 I-scale attack in Israel. Six months ago, Zarqawi was 

sighted several times in Damascus, Beirut and places in Western Europe. He always went back to Iran after what are believed 

to have been t:ecruiting missions for the atta~k from among the al Qaeda group sheltering in southern Lebanon and operatives 

who infiltrated I~f'lel and the West Bank. ' 

Zarqawi could not have move~ around south Lebanon without the knowledge and assent ofSyrian army intelligence and the 

Iran-backed Hizballah. 

There is nothing to say that Zarqawi b~ck in Iran ever gave up preparing for his Is~el assignment. Ifsuch an operation is 

indeed afoot, then the Iran-based al Qaeda would be a greater and'more tangible threat to Israel than any semi-functioning 

Iranian missile. 

US-Israel Postscript 

DEB~jile's Washington sources disclose tha! President Bush's accusations against Syria and Iran on Monday we~ also 

mea!!t for the ears ofIs~aeli prime .mini~ter Ariel Sharon, who has been invited for talks in the White House on July 29. On 

Friday, July 25, the Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas will be received by the US president in Washington for the 

first time. He is coming with ashopping list, at the top o(which is a demand that Israel free a large number ofterrorists from 

its prisons, including terrorists "with blood on their hands" and Hamas andJihad Islami members. 

Sharon, limited by government decisions from setting the latter categories loose, sought to create a diversion by developing 

an independent peace channel to Damascus. By attacking Syria as a sponsor ofterrorists, Bush effectively blocked Sharon's 

ploy. The implication is that ifthe Israeli leader is not too squeamish to do ~usiness with ~ard.line regimes like that ofBashar 

Assad which-harbor al Qaeda and Hamas and Jihad Islami command centers, it can certainly bring itselfto make concessions 

to t~e non-terrorist Abb~s and his interior minister Dahlan. - 

There are indications that the Bush administration is cross with Sharon for his Syrian initiative and, to make things worse, 

using a UN official, Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen as his go-between. Bush ha,s no great love for UN officials and 

even less for silrprises, especially when they come from Sharon who until now worked in perfect harmony with the White 

House. . .. 

. 

I, 

From the us capital, the israeli prime minister is seen to be' shutting out ofhis counsels his defense and foreign ministers, 

Shaul Mofaz and'Silvan Shalom - both,ofwhom he has found indiscreetly forthcoming to the media on govemmentpoJicy, 

an~ barri~adi!lg himselfbehind a hard shell in readiness for his White House talks. Quite aside from the real concerns posed 

by al Qaeda in Iran, Syria and Lebanon, Bush advisers are intent on cracking the Israeli leader's shell so as to bring him 

round to advancing the concessions on the list brought by Palestinian leaders. ' 

Coprright 2000-2004 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved. 

". 

http://www.debka.com/article-print.php?aid=527 11/29/2004

'I 

.-i 

.. 


ALL INFORMATION CONTAI~mD 

~REIN IS UlJCLASSIFIED ~ 

\JITE 07-29-2010 B?:t 60324 1J.C baW/Sab/W 

Search Within Results: L: ~=:: ~ : :::.. ~J mD 

Page 1 of8 

.EcUt_S~ea[cl1l N~w...S_ea(ch 

frJnt I Qo..wl')lQ.a~d. 

View: J..lst I Full < pr.e~ Document 10 of 33 J1~~t > 

¥ Tag for Print & Download 

Copyright 2004 Gale Group, Inc. 

ASAP 

Copyright 2004 Middle East Forum 

Middle East Quarterly 

SECTION: No.2, Vol. 11i Pg. 45i ISSN: 1073-9467 

IAC-ACC..NO: 118416733 


HEADLINE: How to tame Tehran. 

BYLINE: Berman, IIan 

March 22, 2004 

BODY: 

Over the past year, Iran has become a major cause of concern in Washington. The Islamic Republic has 

been discovered to possess a robu'st nuclear program, of a scope well beyond p~evious estimates. It has 

also made substantial breakthroughs in its ballistic missile capabilities. Less noticed, but equally 

significant, has been Tehran's growing activism in the Persian GUlf, the Caucasus, and Iraq. 

There is a vision and a method to Iran's policies. In the words of Mohsen Reza'i, secretary"of Iran's 

Expediency Council, Iran believes it is destined to become the "center of international power politics" in 

the post-Saddam Hussein Middle East. (1) Iran's new, more confrontational strategic doctrine even has a 

name: "deterrent defense." According to foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi, this national security concept 

is designed to confront "a broad spectrum of threats to Iran's national security, among them foreign 

aggression, war, border Incidents, espionage, sabotage, region.al crise~ d~rived from the proliferation of 

weapons of mass destruction (WMD), state terrorism, and discrimination in manufacturing and storing 

WMD." (2) 

Under the rubric of "deterrent defense," Iran is exploiting U.S. preoccupation with Iraq to build 

capabilities that will establish its hegemony in its immediate neighborhood and enhance its role across 

the Middle East. Iran's moves, if unchecked, will create a grave and growing challenge to U.S. aims in 

the region. At stake are nothing less than the geopolitical balance in the Middle East and the long-term 

achievement of U.S. goals, from stability in Iraq to regional peace. 

How has Iran's policy changed? And what can the United States do to thwart Iran's new drive? 

STRATEGIC AMBITIONS 

For years, policymakers in Washington had suspected Tehran's rulers of pursuing an offensive nuclear 

capability. They had viewed with alarm the growing strategic ties between Iran and Russia and had 

publicly expressed concerns that the centerpiece of that cooperation, the $ 800 million light-water 

reactor project at Bushehr, could lead to significant Iranian nuclear advances. 

Then, in the summer of 2002, an Iranian opposition group disclosed the existence of an extensive 

uranium enrichment complex at Natanz in central Iran. This revelation and a series of subsequent 

discoveries by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)--ranging from advanced clandestine 

nuclear development to the presence of trace weapons-grade uranium-"revealed the true extent of Iran's 

nuclear endeavor. 

This effort turns out to have been far broader and more mature than originally believed. Iran is now 

https:/Iw3.lexis.com/lawenfsolutions_secured/searchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11118/2004


o 

o 

Page 2 of8 

thought to have some fourteen other facilities, including heavy- and light-water reactors in Isfahan and 

Arak, and suspect sites In Fasa, Karaj, "and Nekka. Together, these constitute all the makings of an 

ambitious national effort to develop nuclear weapons. (3) Iranian officials, meanwhile, have hinted at the 

existence of still other, as yet u-ndisclosed, facilities essential to the country's nuclear program. (4) 

Iran appears to have agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment activities under an October 2003 deal 

with France, Germany, and Great Britain. Similarly, international pressure succeeded In prompting Iran 

to sign the Additional Protocol to the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), permitting snap 

inspections and invasive monitoring of segments of Iran's nuclear sector by the International Atomic 

Energy Agency. However, two of Iran's main atomic suppliers,' Russia and China, wield veto power on 

the United Nations Security Council, making it improbable that Iranian nuclear violations would result In 

meaningful censure. And in fact, ongoing IAEA deliberations have so far failed to yield decisive 

international action, despite mounting evidence of Iran's atomic breaches. 

There is also a lingering uncertainty over Tehran's nuclear time line. While informed American observers 

contend that Iran is still some two years (and possibly longer) away from an offensive nuclear capability, 

(5) others believe that an Iranian bomb could materialize much sooner. In November 2003 testimonybefore 

the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Mossad chief Meir Dagan warned 

that Iran could reach a "point of no return" in its nuclear development by mid-2004, following which time 

an Iranian offensive capability would become a virtual certainty. (6) President Bush has himself warned 

that the United States "will not tolerate" a nuclear-armed Iran. (7) But if estimates are off, even by a 

few months, Iran could present the world with a nuclear fait accompli. 

At the same time, major breakthroughs in Iran's strategic arsenal have made it an emerging missile 

power. In June 2003, the Islamic Republic conducted what it termed the final test of its 1,300" 

kilometer range Shahab-3 ballistic missile. The launch was a success, confirming Iran's ability to target 

U.S. allies Israel and Turkey, as wen as U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf. Since then, with great fanfare, 

the Islamic Republic has inducted the advanced rocket Into its Revolutionary Guards (the Pasdaran). (8) 

This potential for proliferation is hardly the only worry. If recent signals are any indication, the Shahab 

3 has already evolved well beyond its.officially declared capabilities. In September 2003, at a military 

parade commemorating the anniversary of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the Shahab-3 was officially 

described as possessing a range of 1,700 kilometers. (9) Additionally, opposition groups have charged 

that Tehran's overt missile development actually masks a much broader clandestine endeavor-.-one that 

includes development of the 4,OOO-kllometer range Shahab-5 and even a follow-on Shahab-6 

Intercontinental ballistic missile. (10) 

Such efforts have only been strengthened by Iranian perceptions of U.S. policy. The Bush 

administration's rapid dispatch of Saddam Hussein's regime, and its contrasting hesitancy in dealing with 

a newly nuclear North Korea, has had a profound impact on Iran's calculus. North Korea's nuclear 

maneuvers, and its ability to successfully stymie U.S. strategy, have led Iranian officials to express their 

admiration for Pyongyang's resistance to U.S. "pressure, hegemony and superiority.II (11) There has 

indeed been some internal debate in Iran about the risks of stepping over the nuclear threshold. Yet 

even leading Iranian reformers appear to have gravitated to the notion that nuclear weapons are 

necessary to shift the regional "equilibrium." (12) 

CHARM OFFENSIVE 

These strategic advances, however, are only part of the picture. In tandem with Iran's nuclear and 

ballistic missile breakthroughs, a significant transformation has also begun in Iranian foreign policy. 

For Tehran, the overthrow of Hussein's regime has only fueled mounting fears of a danger0t!s str~tegic 

encirclement. The U.S. destruction ofthe Taliban regime in Afghanistan had already ensconced the pro 

Western--albeit fragile--government of Hamid Karzai In Kabul. For Iran, the extremist Sunni Taliban 

posed an ideological threat, but a U.S. foothold on Iran's eastern border is regarded as even more 

threatening. Regime change In Baghdad, therefore, confronted officials in Tehran with the two-fold 

danger that Iran could be pinioned between two U.S.. client-states, and that Iraq's fall might be a prelude 

-to a similar U.S. drive to transform their country. 

In response, Iran formulated its new strategic doctrine of "deterrent defense." In practice, this has 

entailed a major expansion of Iran's military capabilities. Heavy defense expenditures, and ongoing 

strategic partnerships with both Russia and China, have made possible a far-reaching national military 

https:/Iw3.1~xis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=...11118/2004

J?ocument Results 

o 

o 

Page 3 of8 

,: rearmament. Defense acquisitions made over the past several years have steadily broadened Iran's 

strategic reach over vital Persian Gulf shipping lanes, to the point that Tehran now possesses the ability 

to virtually control oil supplies from the region. (13) Iran has also increased its diplomatic activism In the 

region, redoubling its long-running efforts to erect an independent security framework as a 

counterweight to the expanding U.S. military footprint. (14) 

As part of this effort, in February 2004, Iran codified an unprecedented military and defense accord with 

Syria"-one formally enshrining an Iranian commitment to Syria's defense in the event of a U.S. ~r Israeli 

offensive. Iranian officials have subsequently made clear that these mutual defense guarantees also 

extend to Lebanon-and to the Islamic Republic's most potent regional proxy: Hizbullah. (15) 

Iran has also raised its military and diplomatic profile in the Caucasus. In April 2003, foreign minister 

Kharrazi embarked on a diplomatic tour of the region intended to marshal support for a common regional 

security framework for Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, and Turkey as an alternative to 

cooperation with "external forces." (16) But lukewarm regional responses have prompted the Islamic 

Republic to nudge these·countries into alignment through less subtle means. In mid-October 2003, Iran 

commenced large-scale military maneuvers In its northwest region, near Azerbaijan. The exercises, 

reportedly the largest conducted by Iran in recent memory, massed troops on the Iranian-Azeri border in 

a Clear show of force aimed at dissuading the former Soviet republic from expanding cooperation with 

the United States. (17) A corresponding Iranian naval buildup Is now visible In the Caspian Sea in 

response to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan's growing military relationships with Washlngton~ 

U.S. advances in the region are regarded by Iran as potential threats, but paradoxically they have also 

presented Iran with opportunities that it has been quick to exploit. 

* The coalition campaign against ~addam Hussein's regime succeeded in eliminating the threat posed by 

Tehran's most Immediate adversary, thereby cementing Iran's dominant regional standing, Iran has 

exploited'the postwar political vacuum In Iraq to foment Instability through a variety of measures, 

ranging from political support of radical Shi'ite·elements to an increase in drug trafficking. (-18) This 

broad offensive has reportedly included the Infiltration of hundreds ,of Pasdaran operatives into Iraq 

where they"have engaged in active recruitment,·influence operations, and assassinatlons--at a cost to 

Iran of some $ 70 million per month., (19) 

* Hussein's overthrow has also effectively defanged a lingering threat to Tehran: the MUjahldeen-eKhalq 

Organization (MKO), a wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Since the spring of 2003, 

coalition forces under a U.S.-imposed cease-fire have curtailed the anti-regime group's operations In 

Iraq. And a subsequent December decision· by Iraq's new governing council has labeled the MKO- 

preViously tolerated and even supported by the Baathlsts--as a terrorist organization. (20) 

* To Iran's east, meanwhile, the fall of the Taliban has removed an ideological competitor for Muslim 

hearts and minds while lingering factionalism and tribal rivalries have allowed Iran to perpetuate 

Afghanistan's instability. 

Iran Is clearly determined to remake its strategic environment in its favor. Iran J'las mobilized its 

technological resources to give it greater reach and has used political, economic, and military clout to 

encourage a tilt in its direction in its immediate neighborhood. Paradoxically, the United States, by 

breaking up the old order in states neighboring Iran, has given Tehran hitherto unimagined opportunities 

to influence the reg ion. 

FALSE STARTS 

Can International diplomacy deflect Iran's newe~t drive for regional hegemony? It hardly seems likely. 

From 1991 to 1997, the European Union (EU) engaged in a "critical dialogue" with the Islamic Republic, 

attempting to moderate Iran's radical policies through trade. But by 1997, critical dialogue had actually 

achieved exactly the opposite result, infusing Iran with much needed currency while failing to alter 

Tehran's support for terrorism, its pursUit of WMD, and its violations of human rights. Diplomacy has had 

a limited effect because the EU countries have allowed their economic interests to· undercut their 

diplomatic efforts. For example, in late 2002, In the midst of revelations regarding Iran's advanced 

nuclear development, the EU signaled its intention to commence new negotiations with the Islamic 

Republic on a sweeping trade and cooperation pact. (21) 

The United States has also wavered in its application of diplomatic pressure. The May 1997 election of 

https://w3.1exis.comllawenfsolutions_securedls~archforms/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11118/2004


o 

o 

Page4of8 

soft-line cleric Mohammad Khatami to the Iranian presidency--and his subsequent, much-publicized 

"dlalogue of civilizations" intelView on CNN--convinced many in Washington that Iran was moving toward 

pragmatic accommodation. Since then, U.S. policymakers, despite reiterating their continued 

commitment to containment of Iran, have time and again qualified Iran's membership in the "axis of 

evil." Most notably, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in a February 2003 interview with the 

Los Angeles Times, distinguished between Iran on the one hand and North Korea and Iraq, on the other- 

on account of Iran's "democracy." (22) 

This, too, is an illusion. The Islamic Republic In recent years has engaged in a widening governmental 

campaign of domestic repression--one that includes stepped-up crackdowns on the press and the brutal 

persecution of regime opponents. The repression reflects a governmental effort to grapple with the 

groundswell of political opposition that has emerged among Iran's disaffected young population in 

response to the country's rising unemployment and economic stagnation. 

At the same time, Iran's theocrats remain deeply antagonistic to all U.S. overtures. This was 

demonstrated most recently by the· quiet contacts between Washington and Tehran in the aftermath of 

the devastating December 2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran. Despite deep support for dialogue among 

reformist parliamentarians, clerical hard-liners opposed to such a rapprochement ultimately cut short the 

contacts. (23) 

If the United States wants to alter Iran's behavior, It cannot expect results from the tried-and-failed 

approaches of "critical dialogue," "dialogue of civilizations," and other false starts. 

U.S. OPTIONS 

Yet a policy that reassures allies, deters Iranian aggression, and curbs Iran's expansionism is more than 

feasible. It requires the United States to do four things: broaden containment to include counterproliferation; 

revive Gulf defense alliances; mobilize Turkey; and woo the Iranian people. 

Expanded containment. Far and away the most urgent task now facing Washington is arresting Iran's 

nuclear progress. Over the past year,· U.S. policymakers have expressed increasingly vocal concerns over 

the corrosive global potential of an Iranian nuclear breakout, ranging from a nuclear arms race in the 

Middle East to Tehran's growing capacity for nuclear blackmail. Yet the United States could assume a 

more proactive role In preventing nuclear technology transfers to Iran. 

This is the concept behind the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), the counter-proliferation partnership 

launched by President Bush In May 2003. (24) Since Its inception, the PSI--designed to prevent the 

acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by rogue nations through more aggressive intelligencesharing 

and interdiction efforts--has already charted some notable successes vis-a-vis North Korea, 

inclUding a clampdown on illicit North Korean smuggling operations by both Australia and Japan. And 

recent maneuvers by PSI-member nations in the Coral Sea and the Mediterranean suggest a growing 

role fpr the alliance in the Middle. East, both as a mechanism to intercept illicit WMD trafficking in the 

Persian Gulf and as a means to target proliferation networks (such as the recently unearthed nuclear ring 

led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan) now active in the region. 

But the PSI is not the only tool In Washington's arsenal. In the Caucasus and Central Asia, the United 

States Is quietly moving ahead with Caspian Guard, an initiative designed to bolster regional security 

through expanded maritime patrolS, aerial and naval sUlVeillance, and border protections. As part of this 

effort, the United States has stepped up military exercises with Azerbaijan and has committed some $ 10 

million to strengthening the former Soviet republic's naval capability and border security. This includes 

beefing up Azerbaijan's communications infrastructure and helping to carry out counter-proliferation 

operations. (25) 

SimilarlyI' under a five-year defense accord signed with Kazakhstan in 2003, Washington has bankrolled 

the construction of a Kazakh military base In tl)e Caspian coast city of Atyrau and has allocated millions 

to equipment and training for the Kazakh army, maritime and border-patrol forces. (26) Central to this 

effort is the prevention of WMD proliferation through the region, not least the transfer of technology 

from Russia to Iran. 

The early successes of the PSI and Caspian Guard suggest that both initiatives can and should be 

expanded to address more comprehensively the threat from the Islamic Republic. 

https:/Iw3.1exis.com/lawenfsolutions_securedlse~rchforms/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11/18/2004

Document . Results 

o 

o 

Page 5 of8- 

Reviving Gulf defense. Over the past several years, fears of a rising Tehran have begun to drive many 

Arab Gulf countries toward accommodation with Iran. For example, such concerns led Oman to establish 

a modus vivendi with the Islamic Republic through the codification of a sweeping agreement on military 

cooperation in 2000 (albeit one that has since been denied by Oman). (27) Kuwait subsequently followed 

sUit, striking a similar bargain In October 2002., (28) Even Saudi Arabia, preViously a strategic competitor 

of Iran, capitulated on a long-discussed framework accord with Tehran in late 2001, in the wake of two 

multi-billion-dollar Russo-Iranian defense accords. (29) 

But for many of these countries, such bilateral partnerships are a product of necessity--a function of ttie 

inadequacy of national defenses and regional alliances In addressing Iran's rising expansionism. The 

distrust of Iran still runs very deep. As a recent editorial in London's influential·Arab-language Ash-Sharq 

al-Awsat newspaper emphasized, Iran now poses a threat to "Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Afghanistan, 

Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, which share with Iran a land border of 5,400 kilometers and a sea border 

of 2,400 kilometers .,. The Iranian nuclear danger threatens us, first and foremost, more than it 

threatens the Israelis and the Americans!' (30) 

\, Such worries have prompted the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprised of Saudi 

Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, to initiate a feasibility study for an 

alliance-wide antimissile system. At the same time, individual countries in the Arab Gulf (most notably 

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) have initiated efforts to upgrade their individual missile defense capabilities. 

(31) Recently uncovered nuclear contacts between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan suggest that at least one 

of Iran's neighbors has begun to actively contemplate the need for a strategic deterrent against the 

Islamic Republic. (32) 

All this suggests that a U.S. strategic initiative toward the Arab Gulf may find ready customers. On the 

one hand, a deepening of Washington's bilateral military dialogue and defense contacts with individual 

Gulf nations might lessen regional dependence not only on .Iran but on an increasingly volatile and 

unpredictable Saudi Arabia as well. (33) On the other hand, the creation of a formalized American 

security architecture over the region could reinvigorate Washington's regional partnerships while 

excluding and isolating Iran. (34) Common to all of these efforts is the need to prOVide Tehran's 

neighbors with the tools to counter its growing potential for nuclear and ballistic missile blackmail. 

Talking Turkey. Ties between the United States and Turkey have been tepid since Ankara's unexpected 

refusal to grant basing rights to U.S. troops on the eve of the spring 2003 Iraq cam'paign--a move that 

torpedoed U.S. plans for a northern front against Hussein's regime. Since then, however, policymakers in . 

both countries have begun to mend fences. As· part of that process, the United States should insist that 

Turkey do more to hedge Iranian ambitions in the Caucasus and Central Asia. 

Unfortunately, Turkey's historic role as a strategic competitor of Iran has been substantially eroded. 

Indeed, over the past two years, Ankara has steadily drifted toward a new relationship with Tehran. 

Much of this movement has been underpinned by energy. Turkey's growing dependence on Iran--which 

could provide roughly 20 percent of total Turkish natural gas consumption by the end of the decade 

(35)--has diminished Ankara's economic leverage vis-a-vis Tehran. 

But politics play an important role as well. Since Its assumption of power in November 2002, Turkey's 

Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) has gravitated toward closer ties with its Muslim neighbors 

under the guise of an '·independent'· foreign policy, Iran has been one of the chief beneficiaries of these 

overtures, and bilateral contacts and economic trade between Ankara and Tehran have ballooned over 

the past year. This political proximity has only been reinforced by common worries over Iraqi instability 

in the aftermath of Hussein's ouster. 

Nevertheless, Ankara's deep ethnic and historical ties to the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia 

make it a natural counterweight to Iranian-sponsored religious radicalism In those regions. Given 

Turkey's deep interest in expanding trade and development in the Caspian, Turkey also remains 

suspicious of Iran's maneuvers there. Meanwhile, Tehran's ongoing sponsorship of terrorism, including 

the Kurdish variety, has put Iran and Turkey on very different sides of the war on terrorism. 

These commonalities have led observers to suggest that Turkey's most constructive role might be as a 

force multiplier for U.S. interests in its "northern neighborhood." (36) In fact, Ankara and Tehran's 

divergent strategic priorities--on everything from Central Asian Islam to Caspian energy to the future 

political composition of postwar Iraq--suggest that Turkey and Iran could become competitors again. The 

United States should encourage such competition by creating incentives for Turkey to play Its historic 

https:/lw3.1exis.com/lawenfsolutions_securedlsearchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11118/2004

I;>ocument Results 

o 

, 

Page 6 of8 

role. 

Wooing the Iranians. One of the Bush administration's most enduring challenges in prosecuting, the war 

on terrorism has been effectively communicating its goals and objectives to a skeptical Muslim world. 

Over the past two and a half years, that need has spawned an expanded public diplomacy effort. This 

has included media outreach on the part of top administration officials like National Security Advisor 

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. 

Iran, however, has been included only belatedly in these plans. More than nine months after September 

11, with U.S. officials saturating the airwaves of Arabic networks like Qatar's al-Jazeera, not one highranking 

U.S. official had granted an inteaview.to a Persian-language television outlet. (37) (This is 

despite the existence of dissident channels, such as the Los Angeles-based National Iranian Television 

[NITV], capable of effectively carrying the U.S. message.) Even when the United States did finally 

overhaul its public diplomacy toward Iran with the launch of the Persian-language Radio Farda in' 

December 2002, the station's entertainment-heavy format led criti~ to complain that the United States 

had diluted its democratic message. (38) Since then, broadcasting to Iran has continued to be funded at 

minimal levels, despite Congressional. efforts to expand outreach. Such a lackluster effort reflects 

continuing confusion within the U.S. government about' exactly whom to engage within Iran. 

In fact, the success of, public diplomacy hinges upon a clear American vision of Iran's desired direction 

and the sustained political will to assist Iran in reaching that goal. In that light, there should be only one 

answer to the question of whom to engage: the nascent democratic opposition. The United States should 

demonstrate its support for that opposition by expanding expatriate and government-sponsored 

broadcasting, using it to highlight and criticize Tehran's bankrupt clerl~al rule. 

(1) Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Mar. 5, 2003. 

(2) Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi, cited In Saisat-e Rouz, Feb. 18, 2003. 

(3) Defense News, Jan. 12, 2004; Michael Rubin, "Iran's Burgeoning WMD Programs," Middle East 

Intelligence Bulletin, Mar.-Apr. 2002, at ht.tp:llwww,mglb.grg@rtlclgs/0203 irnl._btm~ 

(4) Ahmad Shlrzad, Iranian member of parliament, Nov. 24, 2003, remarks before legislative session, 

RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) Iran Report, Dec. 8, 2003. 

(5) "Iran: Breaking out without QUite Breaking the Rules?" Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, May 

13, 2003, at ~tp.;.lIwww.DP_e~eb....o.mLP..aQ..esLk~w.J1tm. 

(6) Ha'aretz (Tel Aviv), Nov. 18, 2003. Israeli officials have further threatened to t~ke.preemptive 

military action, if necessary, to prevent this from happening; Agence France-Presse, Dec. 21, 200~. 

(7) The New York Times, June 18, 2003. 

(8) Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1, July 20, 2003. 

(9) Agence France-Presse, Sept. 22, 2003. 

(10) Middle East Newsline,Oct. 25, 2002. 

(11) IRNA, Dec. 14,,2003. 

(12) The Washington Post, Mar. 11, 2003. 

(13) Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, Defense Intelligence Agency director, "Current and Projected 

National Security Threats to the United States," statement for the record, Senate Select Committee on 

Intelligence, Feb. 11, 2003, at http.;Uwww!fsts~o.rglIr~/congress/2003_hr/021103jacoby.html. 

(14) M. Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, commentary in The New York Times, May 

10, 2003. 

(15) IRNA. Feb. 27 and Feb. 29. 2004; Ma'ariv (Tel Aviv), Feb. 29, 2004. 

https://w3.Iexis.com/lawenfsolutions_secured/searchfonnsldoBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11/18/2004


.. , 

\ (16) !tar-TASS (Moscow), Apr. 29, 20Q3. 

(17) Uch Nogta (Azerbaijan), Oct. 22, 2003. 

o 

Page 7 of8 

(18) See, for example, AI-Hayat (London), Nov. 28, 2003, and Jan. 5, 2004. 

(19) Ash-Sharq al-Awsat (London), Apr. 3, 2004. 

(20) The New York Times, Dec. 19, 2003. 

(21) Xinhua News Agency (Beijing), Dec. 12,2002. 

(22) Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16, 2003. 

(23) Mohsen Armin, deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Relations Committee, Iranian 

Islamic Consultative Assembly (majles), Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), Jan. 4, 2004. 

(24) Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, 

Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States currently make up the core membership of 

the PSI, while over sixty other nation--including Turkey--have voiced their backing for the initiative. 

(25) Associated Press, Jan. "3, 2004. 

(26) Radio Free Europe, Oct. 8, 2003. 

(27) Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network I, Apr. 10, 2000. 

(28) Xinhua News Agency, Oct. 2, 2002; Reuters, Oct. 3, 2002. 

(29) Middle East Newsline, Apr. 18, 2001. 

(30) Ash-Sharq AI-Awsat (London), Oct. 8, 2003. 

(31) Defense News, May 23 and Dec. 1, 2003. 

(32) the Washington Time, Oct. 22, 2003. 

(33) For more on existing defens~ ties between the United States and the Gulf states, as well as the 

potential for their expansion, see Simon Henderson, The New Pillar: Conservative Arab Gulf States and 

U.S. Strategy (Washington, D.C.: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2003). 

(34) See, for example, Kenneth Pollack, "Securing the GUlf," Foreign Affairs, July-Aug. 2003, pp. 2-15. 

(35) "Turkish Energy Policy,'1 Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at 

.I:)ttp:l!www·mfa,gO\£.trlgrypS'/aO/goUcy,htrn· 

(36) Soner Cagaptay, "United States and Turkey in 2004: Time to Look North," Turkish Policy Quarterly, 

Winter 2004, at http_:lLwww.wa.shlngt.9ni_~stitu_t~...!.o..rgll1.lepJ9Lca.9~pJayl cagaptay020204.pdf. ' 

(37) Interview with Iranian dissident, Washington, D.C., July 2002. 

(38) See, for example, Jesse Helms, "What's 'POpl in Persian?" The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 16, 2002; 

Jackson Diehl, "Casey Kasem or Freedom?" The Washington Post, Dec. 16, 2002• 

. REGIME CHANGE 

The United States has been guilty of sending mixed signals to Iran over the past few years. Most 

significantly, it has apologized for the Central Intelligence Agency's role in the coup of 1953--an early 

case of regime change--and it has declared Its goal in Iran to be behavior modification rather th~n 

regime change. The mixing of signals simply reflects a confusion·of policy--a confusion that has become 

positively dangerous, both to U.S. interests and the security of Iran's neighbors. 

https:/lw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchfonns/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11118/2004

.. ' 


. . 

'. 

o 

o 

Page 8 of8 

In fact, the U.S. objective in Iran is closer to the regime change it imposed on Iraq than to the 

behavioral change it brought about in Libya. The Iranian regime is not one mercurial man, whose 

behavior can be reversed by determined action. Iran has a ruling elite with many members, a shared 

sense of history, and a consistency of purpose that has been tested in revolution and war. This regime 

will not change, which is why the ultimate objective of U.S. policy must be to change it. That should not 

be forgotten, even if regime change in Iran cannot be pursued by the military means used in Iraq. 

Short of military intervention, the United States needs a comprehensive strategy to block Iran's nuclear 

progress, check Iran's adventurism in the Persian Gulf and the Caucasus, and give encouragement to the 

Islamic Republic's nascent domestic opposition. Through a strategy that bolsters Iran's vulnerable 

regional neighbors, rolls back its military advances, and assists internal political alternatives, Washington 

can blunt the threat now posed by Tehran--and set the stage for the later pursuit of its ultimate 

objective. 

Hijab Couture 

TEHRAN -. Since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, hijab, the obligatory dress code, has required women 

to wear clothes which disgUise the shape of the body and cover the hair. Fashion shows are normally 

held secretly In private homes. But last month the Iranian authorities allowed designer Mahla Zamani to 

hold one in public. It. was an all-female affair and photographers were banned. 

The snow was denounced by Tehran's conservatives as a plot to undermine Islamic values. lilt is a 

hypocritical attempt to realize the evil aims of foreigners by snatching the Islamic covering from Muslim' 

Iranian women," thundered the conservative Jomhuri-ye Eslami daily. 

Zamani introduced a collection of traditional Persian designs that may augur a sartorial sea-change In 

what is Islamically permissible. "It is a cultural endeavor to revive traditional costumes. Why shopld we 

get fashion from the West?" she said. 

But another patron thought the designs did not match up to those of Western designers. "The patterns 

are not elaborate and complex enough to be compared with Western designs, especially couture,n said 

Leela, a 25-year-old aerobics Instructor. 

Reuters, Nov. 20, 2003 

IIan Berman is vice president for policy at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C., 

where he directs research and analysis on the Middle East and Central Asia. 

IAC-CREATE-DATE: August 18, 2004 

LOAD-DATE: August 19, 2004 

View: .L1st I Full < p.r...e.Y. Document 10 of 33 next> 

J:dit_S_ea.o:b I tie!iLS.eAtch 

PrlQt I .P..o.rmlOjl~ct 

~b_out.Lexis.N~~is I Ier:m:;_all.d_~odltJo.ps I P.dY.~cy_e.oJ{~ 

,Copyogllt 2004 lexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

https://w3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/searchforms/doBrowse.asp?SearchInfoID=... 11118/2004

o 



DATE 

f':\ 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/~lSq 

Dec. 5, 2004 0:09 J Updat~d Dec. 5, 2004 12:00 

Exclusive: How the FBI set up AIPAC 

By JANINE ZACHABIA 

AIPAC, the powerhouse pro·Israel lobby currently embroiled in allegations of spying for Israel, was set up by 

the FBI, The Jerosa/em Post has learned. 

FBI agents used a courier, Pentagon analyst larry Franklin" to draw two senior AIPAC officials who already 

knew hil'!'l into accepting what he described to them as "classified" information, reliable government and 

other sources intimately familiar with the investigation have told the Post. 

One of the AIPAC pair then told diplomats at the Israeli Embassy in Washington about the "classified t • 

information, which claimed Iranians were monitoring and planning to kidnap and kill Israelis operating in the 

Kurdish areas in 1J0rthern Iraq, the Post has been told. 

It is unclear whether the "classified" information was real or bogus. 

AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) denies any wrongdoing. 

Knowingly transferring classified information to a foreign power can be a breach of US~ espionage statutes. 

Legal experts have told the Post that passing on bogu~ ctassified information may be used to demonstrate 

intent to violate the law but does not itself constitute a crime. 

Frank~in, 

an Iran expert, was already under investigation by the FBI for allegedly passing classified 

information to AIPAC when, the Posts sources say" FBI counterintelligence agents approached him to play 

a central role in the setup operation this past summer. 

The FBI had been monitoring AIPAC's activities for some two years when, last year, its agents observed two 

AIPAC official~, Steve Rosen, director of foreign policy issues" and Keith Weissman, a senior Middle East 

analyst with the lobby, at a lunch meeting with.Franklin in Washington. 

At this lunch, it has been widely reported, Franklin allegedly briefed the AIPAC pair on the content of a draft 

national security presidential directive on Iran. 

Details of the draft, which included proposed measures the US could employ to destabilize the Iranian 

regime" were already circulating a! the time. According to some reports, an Israeli diplomat at the embassy 

in Washington, Naor Gilon, was also present at the lunch. 

Earlier this year, the FBI informed Franklin that, as a consequence of the lunch meeting, he was under 

investigation. The Pentagon analyst, hoping for leniency" agreed to cooperate with FBI agents in what would 

become the setting up of AIPAC, a process designed to bust the lobby for passing secrets to Israel. 

. The FBI agents told Franklin to request a meeting with Rosen and Weissman. He initiated contact with the 

AIPAC pair,_and told them that he needed to discuss a ticking-bomb situation. 

4ll~~/f-; 

G~\t'\JJ~~~l~-!JC- 

~_8MV_I~ 

.~~c

,. r 

o 

Franklin was then dispatched to meet the two AIPAC officials and outline the alleged threat to Israelis in 

northem Iraq, the Post has been,told. 

Saying his access to the White House was limited, Fran,klin also expressed concern that the Bush 

administration was underestimating the extent to which Iranian agents were operating in Iraq and asked the 

AIPAC officials to stress this point in their meetings with US officials. 

The agents' hope, plainly, was that the AIPAC pair would be so troubled by the apparent life-and-death 

content of the information from Franklin as to risk a breach of US espionage statutes and transfer ~hat they 

believed to be classified material to a foreign power" Israel. 

And that, the Post has been told, Is precisely what happened. 

Franklin, according to news reports, cooperated with the FBI until about two months ago. In early October, 

he abruptly stopped working with authorities, dropped his court-appointed attorney and sought the legal 

counsel of Plato Cacheris, a prominent Washington defense la~er who has represented numerous 

accused spies. 

Continued 

"Obviously his was a bad deal," says one source familiar with Franklin's decision to stop cooperating with 

the bureau. 

News of the initial Franklin-AIPAC lunch broke last summer: CBS led its August 27 Nightly News broadcast 

with a report of a "full-fledged espionage investigation underway," saying the FBI was about to "roll up" a 

suspected Israeli "mole" in the office ofthe secretary of defense in the Pentagon. 

CBS reported that, using wiretaps, undercover surveillance and photography, the FBI had documented the 

passing of ~ classified presidential directive on Iran from the suspected mole to two people who work at 

AIPAC. Sources familiar with the matter, however, said no documents exchanged hands. 

CBS's sensational allegation immediately conjured up memories of the Pollard affair, the 1985 arrest and 

SUbsequent conviction in 1987 and life imprisonment for espionage of US naval intelligence analyst 

Jonathan Pollard for passing classified information to Israel. 

The investigation into Franklin and the AIPAC officials continued qUietly, with IitUe subsequent media 

coverage, i!" recent months. No indictments were issued and most reports scaled back the accusations 

aJJainst Franklin from alleged espionage to mishandling of classified evidence. 

But the"investigation burst back into prominence last Wednesday, when FBI agents made their first visit to 

AIPAC's Capitol Hill offices since Augu~t. Armed with a warrant, the agents seized computer files relate

;... ., \. o o 

The four subpoenaed officials, who are considered witnesses,.not targets, of the"investigati0l"!, are AIPAC 

Exe~utive Director Howard Koh·r, Managing Director Richard Fishman, Communication~ Director R~nee 

Rothstein and Research Dir~ctor Rafi Danziger. 

A Washington criminal justice expert said Friday that the issuing of the subpoenas suggested the FBI was 

"getting ready to indict." 

AIPAC has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. 

"AIPAC has done nothing wron"g•.Neither AIPAC nor any member of our staff has broken any law, nor has 

AIPAC or its employees ever received information they believed ~as secret or classified. We continue to 

cooperate fUlly with the governmental authorities and ~elieve any court of law or grand jury will c:onclude that 

AIPAC employees have always acted legally, properly and appropriately," AIPAC said in a statement. 

"Despite the fals~ and baseless allegations that have been reported, AIPAC will not be distracted from our 

central mission of supporting America's interests in the Middle East and advocating for a strong relationship 

with Israel," the statement said.

AL~FORMA.TION CONTAUJED' 0 

HE~ IS UNCLASSIFIED 



FBI waited more than a year 

to make. move against AIPAC 

By Edwin Black 

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (JTA) .:-. The FBI's investigation of the 

American Israel Public Affairs Committee did not go into high gear until 

more than a year after the Pentagon's top Iran analyst allegedly passed 

foreign policy strategy information to two AIPAC officials. 

,.. 

The investigation only intensified in July 2004, when the FBI allegedly 

directed the same Pentagon analyst, Larry Franklin, to conduct a sting 

operation against AIPAC officials, providing them with purPo.rtedly 

classified information to pass on to Israel, according to sources close to 

the investigation. , ' 

A month later, the FBI raided AIPAC offices, confiscating files from two 

senior staffers. 

On Dec. 1, the FBI returned to the headquarters of the pro-Israel lobby, 

searching staffers' offices. The FBI also issued SUbpoenas to four 

AIPAC staffers to appearbefore a grand jUry at the end of this month. 

Most accounts of the AIPAC investigation have focused on the Franklin 

lunch with Steve Rosen, AIPAC's director of foreign policy issues, and 

Keith Weissman, an Iran specialist, a meeting, it has been learned, that 

occurred on June 26, 2003, at the Tivoli restaurant in Arlington, Va. 

The chronology is important, say several sources with direct access to 

the prosecution's case, because it suggests that that meeting produced 

insufficient grounds for the FBI to pursue a case against AIPAC. 

"We always wondered why there had been no contact by the FBI from 

.June2003 to August 2004,· when AIPAC's headquarters were raided, 

said a source familiar with the government's investigation. "That's more 

than a year." 

~ 

"It never made sense, if this violation" that is alleged to have taken place 

at the Tivoli lunch "was so serious," the source said•. 

Instead, the probe of AIPAC appears to have intensified only after the 

FBI monitored a call between Franklin and reporters at CBS News in 

May 2004, in which he allegedly disclosed information about aggressive 

• Iranian policy in Iraq. 

One of those reporters was Adam Ciralsky, a former attorney at the 

Central Intelligence Agency who sued the CIA after he quit in 1999 on 

the grounds that he was harassed for his Jewish rpots and connection to 

Israel. 

After the call in May, the FBI's counterintelligence division, headed by

'" 

'. 

o 

David Szady, who also·supervised the alleged campaign against 

Ciralsky, confronted Franklin, according to sources familiar with the 

case. 

o 

Threatened with charges of espionage and decades of imprisonment, 

Franklin was deployed to set up a sting against AIPAC, the sources say. 

According ~o sources, he was also involved in initiating contact with 

some neoconservative defense experts, several of them Jewish, who 

supported Ahmad Chalabi. Chalabi, the president of the Iraqi National 

Congress, ha~ deep tie~ to Bush administration officials. 

Chalabi's political adviser;, a non-Jewish American, was also targeted" 

according to sources. 

Chalabi is at the vortex of a Pentagon-intelligence community squabble 

ov~r pre- and post-war policy in Iraq. 

AIPAC had been under intense scrutiny by the FBI throughout early 

2003, but the law enforcement officials had seen nothing to justify 

prosecutorial action, sources said. 

At the Tivoli restaurant lunch with AIPAC, Franklin allegedly verbally 

mentioned information from a classified Pentagon policy paper 

purportedly written by defense expert Michael Rubin while Rubin was 

still at the Pentagon. But Franklin did not actually pass along the 

document, according to multiple sources familiar with the document and 

the pro~ecution's case. . 

Rubin is now at the American Enterprise Institute,. a conservative thil1k 

~~ .- 

The Pentagon policy paper reportedly proposed an American strategy to 

destabilize Iran in the face of its growing nuclear potential, according to 

the sources. 

The Tivoli lunch didn't trigger an immediate prosecution: No document 

was passed, sources say, and while the verbal information allegedly was 

drawn from a Pentagon document that did enjoy ~ low-security 

classification - as do many such planning debate documents in 

Washington - much of its content already had been aired in the media. 

AIPAC steadfastly has denied that it violated any laws, and insists it is 

the victim of a witch-hunt. 

Franklin refused to speak about the matter. 

Franklin had been under increased scrutiny since disclosure of a secret 

meeting in Decen:'ber 2001 with former Iranian spy and arms merchant 

Manucher Ghorbanifar that some in the Washington establishment 

claimed was unauthorized. Ghorbanifar was on a CIA "burn list- of 

individuals who could n~t be contacted, according to informed

"', 

o 

intelligence community sources. 

o 

Franklin didn't know it, but the FBI's counterintelligence division was 

monitoring his May 2004 phone conversation with the CBS reporters, 

including Ciralsky. - , 

In the conversation with CBS, Franklin's remarks reportedly revealed 

sensitive intelligence intercepts, potentially compromising sources and 

methods of intelligence gathering, according to some sources aware of 

the call. Others aware of the call say the FBI would,be hard-pressed to 

prove Franklin's comments actually breached national security. 

Friends and colleagues describe Franklin as a dedicated pUblic servant 

deeply concerned ~bout growing Iranian influence in Iraq., 

"He ran off at the mouth. and hated the intelligence community for what 

he saw as recklessness." one colleague said. "He was Willing to take 

matters into his own hands for what h~ saw as the good of the nation." 

Another who knows him added, "Franklin spoke to CBS reporters in an 

effort to ring an alarm" about White House indifference to a looming 

threat. "but it was clearly wrong if it involved classified information." 

Shortly after the CBS call. agents from Szady's FBI counterintelligence 

division confronted Franklin, sources say., 

During this time, Franklin was not represented by an attorney, and the 

governmen~ placed him on unpaid leav~ .. 

Franklin, who is the sole breadwinner for five children and a wheelchairbound 

Wife, was terrified by the threats, according to multiple sources 

familiar with his situation. 

Szady's FBI counterintelligence division then devised a strategy to use 

Franklin as a plant to set up AI PAC" ac~rding to sources. 

FBI officials refused to discuss the matter. 

The FBI sting, first reported by Janine Zacharia in The Jerusalem Post, 

allegedly directed Franklin to offer AIPAC officials supposedly urgent 

classified information about Iranian plans to kidnap and murder Israelis 

operating in northern Iraq. Whether the information was manufactured or 

accurate is not ~Iear. 

The exact date and location of the sting, which came in the form of a 

meeting, have not previously been disclosed, but according to sQurces 

with access to prosecution information, it took place on July 21,2004, at 

a suburban Virginia mall. . 

Believing they had a life or death situation on their hands, AIPAC 

officials reportedly contacted the Israeli Embassy, thereby prompting 

action by the FBI counterintelligence division.

o 

AIPAC officials declined all comment on the July meeting. 

However, one source familiar with access to the prosecution'~ case 

against AIPAC asked, "If the June 2003 incident was strong enough to 

prosecute, why did the government need Franklin to perp~trate a ~ting 

more than a year later? Answer: The first encounter aid not amount to 

anything. The FBI needed more." 

Among those Franklin was directed to call as part of an alleged series of 

sting operations was Francis Brooke, Chalabi's political adviser in 

Washington. Brooke said he turned aside Franklin's request for 

information on the code-breaking information Chalabi is accused of 

prOViding to Iran, telling him "it is all.horse dung." 

During June, July and August, Franklin, still apparently being directed by 

the FBI, made a series of calls to prominent personalities 

conversations that have been labeled by the recipients as "weird,· 

"curiou~".and "totally out of keeping for Larry." At least some of these 

calls were at the behest of Szady's counterintelligence unit, according to 

several sources, but it is not known which. 

Around late June 2004, Franklin called Richard Perle, an American 

Enterprise Institute defense policy strategist and a key planner of the 

2003 war in Iraq, according to several sources familiar with the call. 

Perle is former chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and a 

close associate of Paul Wolfowitz, the undersecretary of defense•. 

Perle was just dashing out the door and readying for summer travel, and 

did not enter the call into his telephone logs, the sources said. But he felt 

the call was "weird" and took no action, according to on~ source. 

Perle declined to comment on the call. 

In August 2004, Franklin also called Ciralsky, who by this time had 

moved to NBC News, where he was covering security developments in 

Iran, sources said. Franklin apparently tried to set up a meeting with 

Ciralsky, but no such meeting ever occurred, according to sources 

familiar with the call. 

Ciralsky declined all c9mment. 

By the end of August, Franklin ~ad been assigned a court-appointed 

attorney whose name was sealed under court order, according·to 

sources familiar with Justice.Department filings in the case. That 

attorney advised Franklin to sign what sources familiar with the case 

termed "a really terrible plea agreemenr tJlat would have sU~jected him 

to a very long prison term under the most severe espionage laws. 

In September, a friend referred Franklin to renowned Washington 

defense attorney Plato Cacheris. In the past, Cacheris has represented 

accused spies and eve~ Monica Lewinsky. Franklin fired his court-

.. 

\, o 

o 

appointed attorney and Cacheris began representing him pro bono., 

Meanwhile, on Aug. 27,2004, the FBI counterintelligence division raided 

AIPAC. The raid and the information about a Pentagon "mole" working 

with AIPAC were immediately leaked to CBS. 

Leslie Stahl led with the story on the network's evening news. On its 

Web site, CBS headlined, "The FBI believes it has 'solid' evidence that 

the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials that include 

secret White House policy deliberations on Iran." A picture of the FBI's 

Szady was prominently displayed next to the headline. 

FBI investigators again searched AIPAc's headquarters on Dec. 1. The 

agents subpoenaed four top officials to appear before a grand jUry in 

Virginia. The four are Howard Kohr, the group's executive director; 

Richard Fishman, the managing director; Renee Rothstein, the 

communications director; and Raphael Danziger, the research director. 

FBI officials refused to discuss the search and subpoenas. Szady" who 

has been decorated twice by the CIA for distinguished service, 

answered one critic by writing, "I am not at liberty to comment on 

pending investigations." 

An FBI source with knowledge of Szady's investigation bristled at the 

intense media coverage of the counterintelligence division's tactic. Said 

the source: aWe are just following the evidence and seeing where it 

leads." 

Meanwhile, four congressional Democrats have asked the Bush 

administration to brief Congress on the FBI probe., 

In a letter last week to President Bush, U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler (0 

Fla.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), and Gary 

Ackerman (D-N.Y.) ,said that with the case intensifying, Bush should 

qlear up concerns about the probe's integrity., 

Citing reports about the alleged AIPAC sting and leaks to the media, the 

letter said, "Mr. President, an honorable organization is on the line, as 

are the reputations of dignified individuals, and Congress has yet to hear 

from you or your ~dministration on this issue despite previous requests." 

Franklin, meanwhile, is working menial outdoor labor jobs to support his 

family, and remains uncertain where the case against him is going. Said 

one source who knows him: ~He is literally shaking. He has been 

destroyed." 

(Award-winning New York Times best-selling investigative authorand 

reporter Edwin Blac/< has covered allegations ofIsraelispying in the 

United States since the Pollard case. Black's current best seller is 

"Banking,on Baghdad"(Wiley), which chronicles 7,000 years ofIraqi 

h~ro~) • .

.. The Jewish Joumai Of Greater Los Angeies 

.. .. 0 

ALL INFORMATION CO~INED 

HERE IN IS UNCLAS SIFIEh 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60~c baw/sab/1sg 

'Page 1,6f~ 

~. - ,.. __ - •• --1:>." "'. ]'"' , 

L-_._--__, 

._ .. (ao NOW€J . 

-Advanced Search_ 

E-Delivery ~ 

Receive FREE weekly e· 

mail updates with news 

links nnd ovents. 

E-Subscribe Now! 

FBI.Stings Seen as Part of Policy 'War' 

by Edwin BI~ck, Jewish Telegraphic Agency 

.• 

[9JSe 

.::~. 

. , I· t~ 

J..' 

Personals 

Classified 

Calendar 

Newsletter 

Get the weekly 

:Jewish.Journalon 

your door step. 

Last June, leading neoconservative Richard Perle received an unexpected 

phone call at his home. It was Larry Franklin calling. Franklin is' the 

veteran Ira~ specialist in the Pentagon's Near ,East So~th Asia office and 

the key Iraq War planner who had been'pressured by the FBI into 

launching aseries of c9unterintelligence stings. Perle, a former chairm?,n 

of the Pentagon's Defense Policy' Board, was' an architect of the 2003 Iraq 

~~. . 

Franklin, who never had phoned. before, asked .Perle to "convey a message 

to Chalabi" in Iraq, according to. sources aware of the call. Ahmad Chalabi 

is the embattled p'resident of.the Iraqi National Congress. He is currently at 

the vortex of'a Pentagon-intelligence community conflict ov~r pre- ~nd 

post-war policy"but is stili endorsed by,neoconserVatives, such a~ Perle• 

Home Order" 

Subscribe Now! 

OR 

want to pick up a 

-FREE Jewish 

Journal? 

Search by zip code! 

SECTIONS 

Main Page 

Cover Story 

Nation 8r. World 

The Arts 

.Something about Franklin's unexpected call struck Perle as "weird," 

according to the sources. Why was Franklin calling? 

In the recent past, Perle had only encountered Frankliria few times in 

passing, the sources said. Perle became "impatient" to end his brief . 

conversation with Franklin, and finally just declined to pass a message to. 

Chalapi.or to cooperate in.any w.ay, accor~ing to the sources. 

Perle refused to coma:nent. 

Wolle the purpose of the·mysterious call to Perle is still.unclear, a source 

with knowledge of Franklin's calls suggested t~at: Franklin might have been 

trying to warn· Perle and Chalabi that conflict between the 

counterintelligence community alJd the neoconservatives and the Chalabi 

camp was spinnil)g out of control. . ~( ~~ • ~ ~ CI 

~ ~\~f f' .~••- ).1 

.. . ~ :'\.Uf:~~b 3~·r-_... 

Unbeknownst to Franklin, the FBI was listening. 

~\(.~. 

http://www.jewishjournal.com/homttlpreview.php?id=13528 1114/2005 

rJ C- A'-

The Jewish Journal OfGreater 

o 

Los Angeles 

Editor"s Corner 

First Person 

Opinion 

Community, 

Up Front 

Torah, Torah, 

Torah 

My Jewish Library 

The Single Life 

The Circuit 

Tommywood 

Letters 

Obituaries 

Spirituality 

Kids Page 

GOOD STUFF 

BarIBat Mitzvot 

Candiellghting 

Singles Resources 

FORUM - Join Usl 

JEWISH LA GUIDE 

Kosher EATS! 

Schools 

Congregations 

Celebrations 

Event Calendar 

Sports 

ORANGECOUNTV 

The Jewish Journal 

of Orange County is 

available. 

o 

By the tiQ'le Franklin phoned Perle, Franklin had been under surveillance 

for at least a year by the FBI's counterintelligence division, which is led by 

controversial counterintelligence chief David Szady. Franklin had been 

monitored since a meeting June 26, 2003, at the Tivoli Restaurant in 

Virginia, where he discussed a classified Ira~ policy document with officials 

of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). 

He also was monitored late last May while responding to a routine media 

inquiry by CBS reporters about Iran's intelligence activities in Iraq, 

according to multiple sources. The CBS call was pivotal. 

Among the reporters who spoke to Franklin In late May, according to 

multiple sources with direct knowledge of the call, was former CIA attorney 

Adam Ciralsky, who had joined CBS as a reporter. During that call, 

Franklin purportedly revealed classified information, according to the 

sources. 

,. 

In late June, Szady's FBI counterintelligence division finally confronted a 

shocked·Franklin with evidence of his monitored calls. The bureau 

arranged for Franklin to be placed on administrative leave without pay, 

and then threatened him with years of imprisonment unless Franklin 

engaged in a series of stings against a list of prominent Washington 

targets, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the FBI's 

actions in the case. . 

Terrified, needing to provide for a wheelchair-bound wife and five children 

and without the benefit of legal representation, Franklin agreed to ensnare 

the' individuals on the FBI sting list, the sources said. The list might include 

as many as six names, according to sources. 

In a special Jewish Telegraphic Agency' investigation, this reporter first 

revealed Franklin's stings and the circumstances surrounding them. 

AIPAC was stung July 21. That day, Franklin met an AIPAC official in a 

Virginia mall and urged that information be passed to Israel that Israelis 

operating In nqrthern Kurdlstan were in dang~r of being kidnapped and ' 

killed by Irallian intelligence, according to multiple sources. That 

information - the validity of which has been questioned - was reportedly 

passed to the Israeli Embassy, thereby providing the FBIwith a basis for 

search warrants and threats of an 'espionage prosecution against AIPAC 

Policy Director Steve Rosen and AIPAC Iran specialist Keith Weissman, 

according to the sources. " 

AIPAC officials contacted declined to comment. 

Attorneys familiar with FBI security prosecutions identified Sec;tlon 794 anCi 

798 of the Espionage Act as ideally suited to the FBI's sting strategy. 

Section 798, titled, "Disclosure of Classified·Information,"-applies to 

"whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes [or] transmits .::.. 

for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United 

States any classified information - concerning the communication of 

intelligence activities of the United States or any fo~eign government." The 

sweeping statute would cover classified information not only about America 

but also about Iran aQd Iraq. 

Reporter Janine Zacharia first revealed initial news of the July AIPAC sting 

in The Jerusalem Post. 

Page ~ of5 

http://www.jewishjourna1.comlhomelpreview.php?~d=13528 1114/2005

,The Jewish Journal Of Greater Los Angeles 

o 

o 

Page 3 of5 

After the AIPAC sting on or about Aug. 20, Franklin - still without.legal 

representation - was directed by his FBI handlers to launch a sting 

against ChalabJ's Washington-based political adviser, Francis Brooke, 

according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of Franklin's stings. 

At the time, Washington intelligence circles were accusing Chalabl of 

passing sensitive American intelligence code-breaking information to 

Iranian intelligence. The charges agail1st Chalabi have since fallen from 

view. 

Brooke, a southerner who lives in a Washington-area home owned by 

Chalabl, .took the August call from Franklin on the kitchen phone. 

"Franklin called," Brooke related, "and said, 'You have a real problem on 

you'r hands with Iran and Chalabi.' I told him, 'It Is all horse--.' Larry got 

very angry at me. He said it was 'deadly serious.' I said, 'What the hell, if 

you say it is serious, OK. But we have no information about American 

code-breaking of Iranian intelligence.'" 

"So Larry says, 'I am talking to a bunch of media people, and I can spin 

this - but you need to level with me to get this straight,'" Brooke recalled. 

"This was not very much like Larry, and I just said, 'There is nothing to 

spin.'" 

Brooke dismissed the entire effort as part of a "vendetta against Chalabi 

organized by [then-CIA Director George] Tenet and others at the CIA." 

Franklin refused to comment. 

In August, Franklin, still without legal counsel, was also directed by the FBI 

to call Ciralsky, who by this time had moved from CBS to NBC, where he 

. was working on security developments in Iran, according to multiple 

sources with direct knowledge of Franklin's calls. Franklin tried to set up a 

• meeting with Ciralsky, but no such meeting ever occurred, according to 

sources familiar with the call, because shortly thereafter, on Aug. 27, the 

FBI's AIPAC raids were leaked to CBS. Franklin actions were now public. 

Before joining CBS, reporter Ciralsky was working as an attorney for the 

CIA but was allegedly forced out in 1999 during the course of an inquiry 

into his family background and his Jewish affiliations. Ciralsky later filed a 

harassment lawsuit against the CIA that is still pending. 

The man who supervised much of the CIA investigation of CJralsky and 

then the FBI's investigation of Franklin following the May conversation with 

Ciralsky was Szady. In a JTA investigation, this reporter revealed 

exclusively his involvement ~ith Ciralsky. 

Critics of the current investigation point to Szady's involvement in the 

probe of Ciralsky a decade ago to raise questions about a possibly larger 

agenda. One q~estion involves the media. 

Because Ciralsky is a reporter with NBC, some critics raised the specter of 

Szady's FBI counterintelligence division consciously trying to entrap a 

member of the media engaged in routinely contacting sources. One source 

with direct knowledge of Franklin's stings said it amounted to an "enemies 

list." 

http://www.jewishjoumal.com/home/preview.php?id=13528 1114/2005

·The Jewisli Journal OfGreater Los Angeles 

o 

Ciralsky refused to comment. 

o 

Page 4 of5 

FBI officials repeatedly refused to discuss the Franklin stings. The bureau 

also refused to respond to questions about whether members of the media 

- including those at CBS, NBC and even this reporter - are under 

surveillance as part of their investigation. But at one point, a senior FBI 

official with knowledge of the case finally stated, "I cannot confirm or deny 

that Information [due to] the pending investigation." 

Some Washington insiders believe that the FBI's multiple stings are far 

from routine counterintelligence but represent a "war" between the 

counterintelligence community and policymakers, especially neocons. 

One key insider explained the war this way.: "It ,is two diametrically 

opposed ways of thinking. The neocons have an interventionist mindset 

willing to ally with anyone to defeat world terrorism, and they see the 

intelligence community as too passive. The intelligence community sees 

the neocons as wild men Willing to champion any foreign source - no 

,matter how specious - if it suits their ideology." . 

Leading neoconservative figure Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise. 

Institute added ~is own thought. 

"This is a war of the intelligence community vs. the neoconservatives," 

Rubin observed. "It involves both the right and the left of the· intelligence 

community. It is a war about policy, the point being, the CIA must not be 

involved in policy. The CIA's role is to provide intelligence. and let the 

policymakers decide what to do with it, and it appears they are not sticking 

to that role - and that is a dangerous situation." 

"This is the politicizing of intelligence," he continued. "But the CIA, by its 

establishing principle.s, is not to be involved in politics." 

Rubin added that the sting effort "against AIPAC is the culmination of a 20- 

year witch-hunt from a small corps within the counterintellige'nce • 

community" that Rubin labeled "conspiracy theorists." He added, "What is 

the common denominator between the Ciralsky case and the AIPAC case? 

David Szady.," 

.Szady, who has been decorated twice by the CIA for distinguished service, 

answered one critic, writing, "I am not at liberty to comment on pe~ding 

investigations." Szady had issued a statement to this reporter earlier that 

he "has no anti-Semitic views, has never handled a case or investigation 

based upon an individual's ethnicity or religious views and would·never do 

so." 

One neoconservative at the center of the counterintelligence war said: 

"This is just the beginning. Nobody knows where this war is going." 

Edwin Black is the authorof "IBM and the Holocaust" (Crown, 2001). 

Black's current best seller is "Banking on Baghdad" (Wiley), which 

chronicles 7,000 years ofIraqi history. This article first appeared in the. 

Forward. 

Let's talk about it... CS> 

http://www.jewishjoumal.com/home/preview.php?id=13528 111412005

TheJewish JQurnal OfGreater 

o 

Los.~geles 

RelltJUcha.r..d-E..erle_OJL.CJ). er..~.y. fOLTro.RRs_Jita~_elel~ 

We rent" audio books on co. Free delivery. 

Free Trial. 

-Unique Camouflage Rubber Bracelets Show 

Your Support and Buy Several! 

Ads by Goooooogle 

Home I About Us I FAQ I Advertise I Subscribe I Archive I Forum I Contact 

UsI Privacy Policy 

© 2004 The Jewish Journal; All Rights·Reserved 

Page 5 of5 

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id::;13528 1114/2005

~ AIPAC Comes Under Scrutiny as FBI Continues Israel Espionage Probe 

~ e ALL 

INFORMATION CONTAI1JED 0 

HEREIN IS mrCLASSIFIED 

" DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg 

Page 1of5 

J 

C!~ PRINTTHIS 

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EASTAFFAIRS 

Washington Report, December 2004, pages 22-23, 25 

Israel and Judaism 

AIPAC Comes Under Scrutiny as FBI Continues Israel 

Espionage Probe 

By Allan C. Brownfeld 

It has been widely reported that the FBI Is Investigating the possibility that Lawrence Franklin, a 

Pentagon analyst, passed c1asslfted material to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 

(AIPAC), which then handed the Information over to the Israeli Embassy In Washington (see 

November 2004 Washington Report, p. 26). 

Reported the Sept. 4 economist: "The unfolding saga surrounding Lawrence Franklin Is•••that he 

gave classified documents on Iran to Israel. But there Is groWing speculation that the FBI 

Investigation of Mr. Franklin Is the tip of an Iceb~rg. The reported anger of federal agents at the 

leaking of the story Indicates a bigger probe that may have been under way for at least a 

year•••Mr. Franklin allegedly passed draft: documents on American policy toward Iran to AIPAC, a 

hugely Influential lobbying group In Washington, which In tum allegedly passed them to Israeli 

officials. Both AIPAC and Israel have denied any wrongdoing. The Israelis. maintain that they have 

been ultra-careful since the huge embarrassment In 1985 when Jonathan Pollard, an American 

Intelligence analyst, was caught spying for Israel•••The scandal Is difficult for Israel, which wields 

considerable Influence on American foreign policy•••It Is hard to put a positive spin on a spy In the 

Pentagon, even If he Is talking to your frlends.&rdquo 

Janes Intelligence Digest noted on Sept. 10 that, "Shortly before he retired In June as CIA 

director, George Tenet alleged on more than one occasion that an Israeli agent was operating In 

Washington. Tenet was challenged to Identify the agent, but for reasons that were never 

explained he did not do so. Nonetheless, the episode underlined grOWing unease In some quarters 

In Washington about the Influence Israel's right wing has In the Bush administration through the 

pro-Ukud neoconservatives-largely In the Pentagon-and the powerful American Israel Public 

Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Its associated organizations such as the Washington Institute for 

Near East Policy.&rdquo 

The document.alleged to have been passed to AIPAC al1d the Israelis relates to U.S. policy.toward 

Iran. According to Jane's, "U.S. officials are concerned because that document was being debated 

by pollcymakers at the time, possibly putting the Israeli government lobbyists In a position to 

Influence the final directive. U.S. policy toward Iran Is crudal to the Israelis, who have drawn up 

plans to launch pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear Installations to prevent the Islamic 

Republic acquiring nuclear weapons that could be used against Israel.&'rdquo 

Four ofthe leading neoconservatives have been accused in the past 

ofillegally providing classified information to Israel. 

Philip Glraldl, a former CIA officer, wrote In the.Oct. 11 Issue of The American Consentatlve that, ~ tl ~ljocS' 

http://Wrmea~printthiS.clickabilitY .cOinlptlcpt?actioti=tpt&title=AlPAC+Comes+Under+Scr... 1~812005 .) 

'" . " - - . - - ~ .- - - - GSQ.-VJ~_~6~l>-1" L 

~'C..~~ . 

4°

... 

AIPAC Comes U~der Scrutiny as FBI Continues Israel Espionage Probe 

Q) 0 

"The Franklin case stems from Investigations of Israeli diplomats that developed from the 

prosecution of spy Jonathan'Poliard. Pollard's conviction In 1987 provided little In-the way of a 

resolution: the Israeli government never cooperated In the Inquiry and did not provide an 

Inventory of the documents that Pollard had stolen. The FBI also knew that a second spy, believed 

to be In the Pentagon, passed Pollard classified file numbers that were desired by the Israelis. 

Hoping to catch the second spy,.the FBI continued its probe. Two years ago, the Investigators 

began to suspect that highly sensitive National Security Agency documents'were winding up In 

IsraeJrhands, possibly wlth"t1'ie connivance ofAIPAC. In the judgment of counterintelligence 

specialists, the Israelis did not wish a repeat of the Pollard case, so they decided against 

recruiting another U.S. official and turning him Into a salaried spy. Instead, they opted to 

establish relationships with friends In the government who would voluntarily provide 

Information•••AIPAC would have served as a useful Intermediary or 'cut out' In such an 

arrangement, limiting the contact between the American government official and the Israeli 

Embassy.&rdquo 

Page 2 of5 

Four of the leading neoconservatives have been accused In the past of illegally providing classified 

Information to Israel, though none was ever prosecuted. In 1970, the FBI recorded Richard Perle 

discussing classified Information with an Israeli Embassy official. Stephen Bryen, then a Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee staff member and later Perle's deputy at the Department of 

Defense, narrowly avoided Indictment In 1979 after he was overheard offering classified 

documents to an Israeli Embassy official. Douglas Feith, who In a position paper prepared for 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a "clean break from the peace process, H was 

fired In 1982 from the National Security Council on suspicion of passing confidential docum~nts to 

the Israeli·Embassy. He was Immediately re-hlred by Richard Perle at the Pentagon. 'Paul 

Wolfowltz--was InveStigated In 1978 over charges that he had provided a classified documel1t to the 

IsraeU-embassy'by'way of AIPAC. 

While AIPAC has long been· viewed as one of Washington's most effective lobbying groups, It has 

become Increasingly controversial, both within the Jewish community and In the larger society. 

Many have objected to Its close ties to the Ukud Party. In one Widely publicized exchange, Israeli 

Prime Minister Yltzhak Rabin asked AIPAC to concentrate on lobbying Congress and leave 

pollcymaklng and the.Whlte House alone. 

The current affair, wrote Orl Nir In the Sept. 3 Forward, "has cast light on the fine line that AIPAC 

walks between advocating a strong American-Israeli alliance and as acting as the representative 

of a foreign government. Both activities are legal, but serving a foreign government requires 

registration with the Department of Justice and entails severe legal restrictions, not applied to 

pro-Israel groups, Including AIPAC.&hellipAIPAC enjoys the support, admiration and even awe of 

Jewish organizational officials, many of whom raced to AIPAC's defense. Stili, some pro-Israel 

activists In Washington are privately suggesting that the current scandal prOVides AIPAC with a 

chance, In the words ofone communal official, for 'some soul-searching and reappraisal' 

regarding Its general modes of operatlon.&rdquo 

According to Nlr, "Critics also have accused AIPAC of adopting an agenda that too clearly mirrors 

the hawkish agenda of neoconservatives In the Bush administration, thereby fueling conspiratorial 

notions that President Bush was duped, Into Invading Iraq In order to advance Israeli Interests. 

Now, critics say, with Its Increasing fOC;us on Iran, AIPAC risks fueling the claims of those who 

would accuse the Jewish community of working with Washington neoconservatives to convince 

the White House to pursue regime change In Tehran.&rdquo 

Several Jewlsh'communalleaders complain that AIPAC officials have not done enough to maintain 

a clear wall between the lobbying group and Israel. AIPAC officials have reft the organization to 

serve In the Israeli government. Lenny Ben-David, formerly known as leonard Davis, for 

example, worked at AIPAC for 25 years-first In Washington, then in Jerusalem-before he was 

tapped by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1998 to be the deputy chief of mission In Israel's 

Washington Embassy. 

AIPAC and some of Its supporters have suggested that the FBI and the CIA are pursuing a 

vendetta against Israel, the Pentagon, neoconservatives, and possibly Jews In general. The 

neoconservatives have lashed out In a memo drafted by Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise 

Institute, alleging that the probe Is motivated by anti-Semitism. The memo criticizes the White 

House for not refuting press reports on the FBI investigation. "If there Is any truth to any of the 

http://wrmea.priiltthis:clicKabilitj:comlptlcpt?action=cpt&title=AIPAC+Comes+Uhder+Scr...1/8/2005

AIPAC Comes Under Scrutiny as FBI Continues Israel Espionage Probe 

Q 0 

Page 3 of5 

\ accusations, why doesn't the White House demand that they bring on the ev~dence?On the 

record," the memo stated. "There's-an Increasing anti':Semltlc witch hunt.&rdquo 

Continued Rubin, a former member of the Pentagon's policy planning staff who dealt with Iran 

policy: "I feel like I'm In Paris, not Washington. I'm disappointed at the lack of leadership that let 

things get where they are, and which Is allowing these bureaucrats to spin out of control.&rdquo 

The role played by AIPAC has produced some soul-searching within the organized Jewish 

community. "Several Jewish activists, speaking on condition of anonymity, cautioned against what 

they described as a defiant reaction on the part of some communal leaders who raised the specter 

of anti-Semitic conspiraCy," the Sept. 10 Forward reported. "'If every single time we get Into 

trouble we cry anti-Semitism, no one Is going to believe us when we confront the real· problem of 

anti-Semitism,' a senior official of a Jewish organization said. Another organizational official said: 

'It's ridiculous to react like that before you know what happened there. In the absence of accurate 

knowledge, any comment Is Just sllly.'&rdquo 

The fallout for AlPAC, wrote Doug Bloomfield In the Sept. 9 WashIngton Jewish Week, could be 

serious: "There have been persistent charges•••that AIPAC directs the network of pro-Israel 

political action committees (PACS); campaign finance bundlers and Individual contributors. AIPAC 

has successfully fought such accusations all the way to the Supreme Court to avoid being 

designated a PAC because of the Impact that would have on the way It operates and raises 

money. The current probe could renew calls from the organization's critics for new Investigations 

by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and demands to know what has been uncovered by 

the FBI•••There will be questions about AIPAC's operations and Internal accountability. A penchant 

for hubris and Institutional mlndset of secrecy-reflected In Its hostile and contentious relationship 

with the media-add to the suspicion that there Is something to hlde•.,&rdquo 

Shortsighted Strategies 

The problems facing AIPAC come not only from Its enemies, argued the Sept. 3 Forward, but also 

are "partly a result of shortsighted strategic decisions by Israel's advocates. Faced With a shifting 

landscape, they have gambled on a risky strategy that may be blOWing up In their faces. For 

years, Israel's friends In this country have operated on the principle that Israel could not be held 

responsible for Its troubles. They have maintained that whatever Israel's mistakes, Palestinian 

hostility could not be blamed on Israel's policies. More recently, they've. broadened the principle 

to Insist that Arab and Muslim hostility to the U.S. cannot be blamed on its support for Israel. 

Both positions are becoming ,hard to maintain. GrOWing numbers of Israelis, up to and Including 

the military chief of staff, are openly acknowledging that Israeli actions can raise and lower the 

level of Palestinian rage and violence. As for the global terror war, the Idea that It Is related In 

part to America's reiatlonshlp to Israel Is now thoroughly mainstream. You can read It In the 

report of the 9/11 Commission•••As the urgency of discussion grows, resentment seems to mount 

against those who dedare the discussion illegitimate. It's a dangerous positionto be In.&rdquo 

AIPAC's role has been controversial for many years. In 1995, Jonathan Mitchell, regional vice 

president for Southern California AIPAC, chastised a senior Israeli official for argUing that 

Congress and American Jews should not concern themselves with Palestinian behavior. Mitchell 

called Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Vossl Beilin "absurd and arrogant" for comments he made In 

Jerusalem at a meeting With the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish 

Organizations. Beilin countered by accusing Mitchell of "trying to be more Israeli than the 

Israelis." Beilin was critical of those who urged an end to aid to the PlO, and said, "It Is not the 

business ofJeWish organizations, not AIPAC's, not the American Jewish Congress' and not of any 

other country In the world except the State of Israel. The kind of people who are trying to be 

more Israeli than the Israelis themselves are causing damage to the pure national Interests of the 

State of Israel.&rdquo . 

In March 2003, about 5,000 AIPAC actiVists met In Washington and embarked upon a lobbying 

blitz against the Bush administration's "road map" for Middle East peace. AIPAC was not happy 

with speeches at Its meeting by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of 

State Colin Powell dedaring that Israel must freeze settlement activity In the territories once the 

Palestinian Authority takes serious steps to curb terrorism. "Settlement activity Is simply 

Inconsistent with President Bush's two-state Vision," Powell said, draWing Jeers from some AIPAC 

members. 

http://Wrmea.printthis.clickability.conilptlcpt?action=epf&title=AIPAC+Comes+Under+Sci... 1/8/2005·-

AIPAC Comes Under Scrutiny as FBI Continues Israel Espionage Probe 

o 0 

A number of Jewish leaders spoke In support of the Middle East peace plan and In criticism of 

• 

AIP,,"C and other groups who'were opposing It;In-a letter toCongn!ss, these leaders said they 

wanted to "express our concern over recent efforts to sidetrack Implementation of the 'road map.' 

While the plan Is neither perfect nor a panacea, as 'passlonate supporters of Israel, we also know 

that the Jewish state needs this kind of energetic American dlplomacy.&rdquo 

Page 4 of5 

Among those signing this statement were Edgar M. Bronfman, president of the World Jewish 

Congress, and current past presidents of the national United J~wlsh Appeal and Its successor the 

United Jewish Communities, Including Stanley Chesley, Lester Crown, Irwin Field, Alex Grass, 

Marvin Lender, Peggy Tishman and Larry Zucklln. 

Henry Siegman, once a leader In the American Jewish Congress and now a senior fellow at the 

Council on Foreign Relations, charges that many ~merlcan Jewish organizations, such as AIPAC, 

have substituted blind support for Israel for the traditional Jewish search for truth and justice. 

"We have lost much In American Jewish organlzatlonalllfe,R Siegman says., "I was a student and 

admirer of Rabbi Abraham Heschel. I read his books. We were friends. We marched together In 

the South during the civil· rights movement. He h~lped me understand the prophetic passion for 

truth and justice as the keystone of Judaism. This Is not, however, an understanding that now 

animates the American Jewish communlty••.Amerlcan Jewish organizations confuse support for 

the State of Israel and Its people with uncritical endorsement of the actions of Israeli 

governments,even when these governments do things that In' an American context these Jewish 

organizations would never tolerate. It was Inconceivable that a Jewish leader In America 20 or 30 

years ago would be silent If a political party In the Israeli government called for the transfer of 

Palestinians-In other words, ethnic cleansing. Today, there are at least three such parties, but 

there has never been a word of criticism from American Jewish organlzations.&rdquo 

The fact that many Jewish groups and leaders are rushing to AIPAC's defense before all of the 

facts are known Is hardly unexpected. These same groups have campaigned for manyyears on 

behalf of convicted spy. Jonathan Pollard, whose guilt Is well known-and was admitted. 

While AIPAC's guilt or Innocence In this particular case remains to be seen, the probe Is moving 

forward. A federal grand Jury is expected to begin Interviewing people In connection to the 

Investigation. What we do know Is that AIPAC has used Its considerable influence to shape U.S. 

foreign policy in a manner that appears to have been harmful to long-term U.S. Interests In the 

Middle East and harmful, as well, to prospects for'peace between Israel and the Palestlnlan~. 

Whether AIPAC Is guilty of espionage or not, It must bear responsibility for advancing a narrow 

agenda which may be pleasing to Israel's right wing, but which misrepresents the views of both 

the majority of Israelis and the majority of American Jews. American Jewish groups would be wise 

to walt until all the facts are in before rising to AIPAC's defense-something they seem reluctant 

to do. The evidence that AIPAC Is not worthy of such support Is Widespread-and growing. 

Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and assodate editor ofthe Uncoln Review, a journal 

published by the Uncoln Institute for Research and Education, and editorofIssues, the quarterly 

Journal ofthe American Council forJudaism. 

Find this article at: 

http://www.wnnea.comlarchiveslDecember_2004/0412022.html 

CJ Check the box to indude the list of links referenced in the article. 

~ttp:l/wrme~~print!his.~lic~abili!y.com/ptJcpi?action=Cl?t&tit1e=AIPAC+Comes+Uilde1+Scr... 1/8/2005

~: 

ALL INFOP.MATImr CONTAINED ~ ~ 

i:;\ EEPEIN IS mrCLASSIFIED 0 

~ DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw ~ Ilsg 

www.haarcrz.eom 

Last update. 16:062510312005 

Pentagon analyst Franklin retur~s to work 

By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent 

WASHINGTON - Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin was reinstated a 

few weeks ago, ~er sitting at home for halfa year and being barred 

from returning to his job on the Iranian desk in the Department of 

Defense's policy division. Franklin was at the center ofa lengthy FBI 

investigation after suspicions arose that he transferred classified 

information about U.S. policy on Iran to members ofthe pro-Israel 

lobby AlPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). 

In the seven months since the affair made headlines on the CBS 

evening news, the investigation has been kept under tight wraps, but 

its ramifications are already being felt. 

While Franklin is back at work, and, say well-placed sources, is 

expected to reach a plea bargain, the spotlight has moved to the 

AlPAC officials- two senior members were suspended for the 

duration ofthe case and four other senior officials were forced to 

testify at length before the special investigative jury in Virginia, 

whose proceedings are classified. 

Even ifthe investigation is nowhere near completion, it has definitely 

reached a crossroads, at which investigators must decide on the 

suspects in the case- Larry Franklin alone; Franklin and two AIPAC 

officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman; or whether, on top of 

those three, the entire AIPAC organization has acted unlawfully. 

Sources close to the investigation suggested recently that it would end 

in a plea bargain. Franklin would plead to a lesser crime of 

unauthorized transfer ofinformation, Rosen and Weissman would be 

charged with receiving classified information unlawfully, and AIPAC 

would remain unstained. Franklin's lawyer, Plato Cacheris, Thursday 

denied the reports, stating: "We have not entered any plea ofdefense 

with the Justice Department." 

AlPAC refused to say anything about the possibilitY ofa plea bargain. 

As for Franklin's reinstatement, a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Paul 

~)Il~~r< 

\r -"'4~__ 

65'Q,vJt=-~~15-,uL 

-0 

Swiergrosz, confirmed that "Dr. Franklin is still a u.s. government 

employee," but declined to identify his position. Haaretz has learned 

that Franklin has been moved to a post different from the one he held 

previously and kept from handling classified information. 

From AlPAC's standpoint, the issue at hand is containment: can the 

affair be limited to Rosen and Weissman, or is the investigation 

directed at the lobby as a whole? It is clear that the FBI has as its 

objective an extensive investigation against AlPAC. Investigators 

have been looking into AlPAC's entire manner ofoperating, notjust 

in the Franklin instance. An official questioned twice by the FBI, ..as a 

witness, was astounded by itlvestigators' intimate familiarity with 

AIPAC. "They know everything there. They asked very precise 

questions regarding the organization's operations," he said. 

The intended breadth ofthe investigation is also evident from the 

FBI's dramatic moves - raiding AlPAC offices in December and 

issuing subpoenas to its four top executives. Executive Director 

Howard Kohr, Managing Director Richard Fishman, Research 

Director Rafael Danziger and Communications Director Renee 

Rothstein appeared before the investigative jury and were questioned 

at length. 

Investigators also reportedly tried to use Franklin, after th_e affair 

'erupted, to incriminate as many senior AlPAC officials as possible. 

The Jerusalem Post reported four months ago.that investigators 

informed Franklin ofthe suspicions against him and asked for his 

cooperation. In a sting operation, he received information from the 

FBI agents that Iran was planning to attack Israelis operating in the 

Kurdish region in Iraq. Franklin, at the FBI's instructions, telephoned 

AIPAC's Rosen and Weissman and gave them the information, and 

they rushed to pass it on to Israeli diplomats, thereby falling into the 

FBI trap, 

AIPAC refuses to comment on the case, saying, "We do not comment 

on personnel matters!' A spokesman for AlPAC, Patrick Dorton, said 

Thursday that "it would not be appropriate for AlPAC to comment on 

issues that have to do with an ongoing federal investigation." 

The suspension ofthe two AlPAC officials, though never officially 

explained, is certainly a key turning point in the case. According to 

one assessment, AIPAC understands that regardless ofwhether a plea 

bargain is reached, it will be tough to get those two offthe hook, so 

AlPAC is keeping its distance for now. Their lawyer, Nathan Lewin, 

refused requests from Haaretz·for a comment.

~ 

, 

~ 

-. 

0

,.. 

. :-.. I '1 

- ~, .... "' 


~ HERE IN IS UNCLAS SIFIED L"'\. 

\J DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc bawls~Bg 

FOlllWAJU) 

[fOUNDEDJ:N,j8~J7:. PUBLISHED:WEEICL'!Ja: NEW::iORK) 

News 

U.S. Aide Arrested Amid Signs That Lobby Probe 

W~dens 

By'ORI NIR 

Maya, 2005 

W.AsHINGTON - Arecent FBI interrogation of an Israeli defense expert may indicate that 

the Justice Department's investigation into the contacts between America's pro-Israel lobby 

and a. Pentagon analyst is broader inscope than previously believed. 

The expert, Uzi Arad, head ofthe Institute for Policy and Strategy at Israel's 

Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, said that two months ago FBI agents interviewed him 

about his contacts with the Pentagon Iran specialist, LariyFranklin. During the hour-long 

interview, he said, tile FBI agents brought up the name of anAmerican Jewish Committee 

official, Eran Lerman; who is a former senior official in Israeli military intelligence. 

Franklin was arrested and charged Wednesday with "disclosing classified information 

related to potential attacks upon U.S. forces in Iraq to individuals not entitled to receive the 

information." The Justice Department did not name the individuals who allegedly received 

$e.c~ssified information from Franklin, but media reports claim they are Steven Rosen 

and~Keith Weissman, two former officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 

wh9;were recently dismissed by the pro-Israel1obbying organization. 

Arad's comments, an unusual disclosure ofa small wrinkle in the otherwise ultrasecretive 

FBI investigation, may suggest that the FBI is investigating more than the alleged unlawful 

contac~ between Franklin and Aipac officials. Franklin is the first person to beindicted in 

the FBI investigation. Rosen and Weissman have not been charged. 

lnitialJy,·press reports said that Rosen and Weissman's alleged transfer ofsecret 

information by Israeli diplomats was the focus of the investigation. The questioning ofArad 

may confirm speculation by some in the Jewishcommtmity that the investigation is related 

to a larger inquiry into Israeli or pro-Israeli attempts to influence America's security 

eStabUslunent and its policy in the.Middle East. 

,- ~ , 

Arad said the FBI agents asked him, among other things, wpy he had sent tq Franklin, less 

than a year ago, a research paper by Lerman on ways'to re~eIiergize America's relationship 

with Israel. ''They asked me who was Bran Lerman, althopgh theyclearly knew who he 

was," Arad told the Forward in a telephone interview. 

Arad was a policy adviser to former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and once 

headed the research department ofIsrael's Mossad intelligence service. 

~4~ 

~ 

Lerman joined th~ staffqfthe AJGo~ttee in ~OOl. Kenneth Ban91er, a spokesman for the '5\l0\ (n j 

AJCommittee, said he had no comment on the FBI's questioiling- regarding LeIman. ~l ,: 

.. ... --..... - ., . -'.'. ~SIi.;\Jlr..~"315-11C.- 

~ -I 

G}\L~ i

.... fi 

:radsaid that his strategicpQ,institute had commissioned Ler~ to write the paper. 

He said that he did not reIl)em~er sending the article to Franklin but that the.FBI 

investigators showed him a letter that accompanied the article, carrying his signattir~.' 4rad. 

said he explained to the investigators thatthis was a nie'chanized'signatiire on an 

information package sent en masse to a mailing list of s~veral hundred former participants 

in the Interdisciplinary Center's annual strategic-affairs conference, commonly known as 

the Herzliya Conference. 

Franklin attended the December 2003 Herzliya Conference, though he did not deliver an 

address. 

In his paper, Lerman wrote that the once-dynamic U.S.-Israel strategic relationship had 

fallen into a "maintenance mode" in recent years and ought to be re-enermzedfor the 

benefit ofboth countries. At the December 2004',Herzliya Conference, L~an~delivered.an 

address based on his research paper. 

Arad said the FBI agents asked him about his conversations with Franklin at the conference 

and several months later at a meeting between the two in the Pentagon cafeteria. H~'also 

said that both conversations were briefand that he could hardly remember their content. 

The FBI interview was also brief, as well, he noted. 

Itwas arranged in haste, as Arad was rushing to catch a plane from New York to Israel, and 

took place in a car while he on his way to the airport. 

This week, Franklin h~ded himself in, and was scheduled to make an initial appearance at 

a Northern Virginia courtbypress time.. 

In a statement, the Department ofJustice said that Franklin, S8, surrendered to authorities 

at the FBI's Washington Field Office following the filing Qf a criminal complaint Tuesday 

and the unsealing Wednesday of the indictment against him. The statement notes that the 

violation Franklin is charged with carries a maximum penalty of10 years in prison. 

Recently Franklin was transferred from the Office ofthe Secretary of 

Defense, where he served as an Iran desk officer, to a less sensitive position in the Pentagon. 

The criminal complaint filed in the U.s. District Court for the Eastern'District ofVirginia, 

alleges that on June 26, 2003, Franklin had lunch at a restaurant inArlington, Va., with two 

individuals, identified as "U.S. Person 1" and "U.s. Person 2." 

At the lunch, according to the Justice Department, Franklin disclosed classified information 

that has been designated "Top Secret" and related to potential attacks upon American forces 

in Iraq. The government claims that neither ofFranklin's lunch companions has the security 

clearance to receive the information. 

Allegedly Franklin told the two individuals that the information was "highly classified" and 

asked them not to "use" it, according to the Justice Department statelllent. 

This portion of the Justice Department statement implies that Franklin's lunch companions 

- alleged in press reports to have been Rosen and Weissman - knew that they were 

ha~dling information from a highly sensitive document. According to press reports, the FBI 

~~ ~v~stigatin~ cl~s that after the ll:Jllch the two former Aipac officials transferred the

-- - - - ------:---- 

f , • 

"s~cret information to an IsraQdiPlomat inWashington. 

o 

The Justice Department statement says that a search 6fFranklin's Pentagon office in-June 

2004found the June 2003 classified document containing the information that Franklin 

allegedly disclosed to the two individuals. 

The criminal co~plaint against Franklin also alleges that on other occasions he disclosed, 

without authorization, classified American government infonnation to a foreign official and 

to members of the news media. Inaddition, according to the Justice Department statement, 

about 83 separate classified American government documents were found during a search 

of Franklin's West Virginia home in June 2004, most ofthem classified as top secret or 

secret. 

The dates ofthese documents spanned three decades. 

The investigation into this matter is continping, the Justice Department stated. 

The charges against Franklin disclose several other new details: 

. 

• According to an FBI affidavit that accompanies the charges, Franklin admitted during an 

FBI interrogation inJune 2004 that he provided the information contained in the secret 

document to the two individuals. 

• The information that Franklin is charged with disclosing is related not to Iran - contrary 

to previous reports - but. to "potential attacks upon U.S. forces in Iraq."The government's 

main concern, according to the FBI affidavit, is that such information could be used to harm 

the-United States by "a country's discovery of our intelligence sources and methods." 

• Contrary to previous media reports, charges against Franklin do notallege the transfer ofa 

secret document. Instead itis charged that he "verbally disclosed" information that "was 

contained" inatop-secret document. The distinction is important, legal experts say, because 

verbally transferring such information is a less serious offense. 

• The documentin question, according to the affidavit, was marked "on the first and last 

pages with a caption in all capital letters,II which identified it as "TOP SECRET with a 

denomination ofits SCI [Sensitive Compartment Information] status" - the highest 

security classification. . 

)j0ml .I Qm1ig I Subscrlb, I About Tht fQrward 

Copyright 2005 © The Forward

I. 

••• 

.. 

• •• 

WASHINGTON 

- - - -- ---....-...- 

~ 

1111 

II 

.lIt 

.d§ Print This Story 




Matthew E. Berger 

Lawrence Franklin. left. a Pentagon analyst charged by the FBI with 

leaking classified information to AIPAC officials. leaves a courthouse on 

~ay 4 with his attorney. John Richards. 


Criminal charges in AIPAC case 

leveled against Pentagon analyst 

By Ron Kampeas and Matthew E. Berger 

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 4 (JTA) - Criminal charges against a Pentagon 

analyst, for allegedly leaking classified Iraq war information to two top officials at 

the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, raise new questions about whom 

the FBI is targeting and whether the pro-Israel powerhouse will be harmed as 

the case unfolds. 

Lawrence Franklin, who turned himself in for arrest Wednesday, was accused in 

an FBI criminal complaint ofdisclosing classified information "related to potential 

attacks on United States forces in Iraq" to two U.S. civilians over lunch in an 

Arlington, Va., restaurant on June 26, 2003. 

Franklin's two interlocutors, identified In the document only as "U.S. Person 1 

and U.S. Person 2," are Steve Rosen, AIPAC's policydirector, and Keith 

Weissman, its senior Iran analyst, JTA has established. AIPAC fired the two last 

month in an apparent bid to distance itself from the case. 

Read as a whole, the criminal complaint contained some good news for AIPAC'J 

It suggests that beyond the allegations against Rosen and Weissman, AIPAC as 

an organization had no involvement in leaking any information. 

"AlPAC has been advised by the government that it is not a target of the 

investigation,," a source close to the organization told JTA. 

On the other hand, the headlines could hinder A1PAC's efforts to project a 

"back-to-business" face to grass-roots supporters ~nd Washington 

powerbrokers weeks before its annual policy conference, and at a time when it 

is trying to build support for Israel ahead ofIsrael's planned withdrawal this 

summer from the Gaza Strip. 

The policy conference is AIPAC's annual show of strength, culminating in a 

~t()16~ 

ro 5~"'-UlF-~~lS"-.tJL 

I>,k. ej!1~ .

o 

dinner expected to. be .att~nded by some 5,000 people at which~AlPAC leaders 

shout out the names of dozens of congressmen and'Cabinet officials present..;.. 

nearly 200 last year. Ifa significantly lower number show up this year, it could 

be embarrassing. 

«'\.. 1 

-n. 

o 

Franklin, an Iran analyst who lives in Kearneysville, W. Va., was released on a 

$100,000 bond after appearing at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. A 

preliminary hearing was set for May 27. 

"He intends to plead not guilty" and expects to be vindicated at trial, said his 

attorney, John Thorpe Richards. 

The criminal charge sheet was the first official accounting of a case that first 

made headlines last August, when FBI agents raided AIPAC's Washington 

headquarters and confiscated.files.belonging"'to Rosen and Weissman. 

"The information Franklin disclosed relating to potential attacks upon U.S" forces 

in Iraq could be used to the injury of the United States or to ,the advantage of a 

foreign country," special agent Catherine Hanna said in drafting the complaint. 

The'damage, she said, could arise from "jeopardizing the viability of the sources 

and methods." 

The information was from a document classified as "top secret," Hanna said. 

While the June 2003 lunch appears to be the linchpin of th~ criminal charges, 

there are other allegations, including that Franklin leaked classified information 

to journalists and to an unidentified "foreign official," and that he kept three 

decades' worth of classified information on his computer hard disk at home. 

Reports have suggested that Franklin also met with an Israeli Embassy official. 

The reference to a "foreign official" might point in that direction. 

However, the FBI has not gotten in touch with the Israeli Embassy, 

representatives say, and Israeli officials continue to maintain that they would 

never participate in illicit information gathering in the United States. 

IIlsrael does not carry out any operation in the United States that would be liable,. 

God forbid; to harm its closest ally," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told 

Israel Television. "Therefore all the brouhaha around this matter has nothing to 

do with the State of Israel." 

The United States, he added, "is a nation with which we conduct very intimate 

ties, with exchanges ofthe most classified kinds of information. So anyone who 

thinks we were involved - this is completely bogus." 

The complaint suggests answers to two major questions that have surrounded 

the investigation: Who is the target? And to what degree is AIPAC in danger? 

The question ofa target arose after last.year's.raids,.when it emerged that 

agents had watched Rosen, Weissman and Franklin chatting over a meal at 

Tivoli in June 2003. Was the FBI agent in the restaurant following Franklin, or 

Rosen and Weissman? 

The arrest Wednesday lends support to the theory that Franklin had been the 

target of an investigation that reportedly was at least a year old at thatlunch 

meeting. 

Franklin's enthusiasm for a tough line against Iran had drawn the attention of 

colleag~~sin t!l~ Pentag.on. ~

.~ JTA previously has reported that FranQhad" been under sClUtiny since he 0 

•.:. ~-r '1 - 

'. 

allegedly met i~ December 2001 with former Iranian spy and arm~ merchant 

Manucher Ghorbanifar, who was on a CIA "burn lisr of people who could not be 

contacted, according to intelligence community sources. 

AlPAC could take heart from the fact that the criminal complaint did not mention 

the organization, or even suggest any organizational affiliation for the two "U.S. 

Persons" Franklin met with. 

' 

Still, the complaint raised at least as many questions as it answered: 

• What now for Rosen·and Weissman? Leaking classified information has much 

clearer legal ramifications than receiving it, since reporters in Wa~hington 

routinely receive and relay classified information to their readers•. 

The complaint makes clear that the exchange in the restaurant was "verbal." It's 

unclear what, ifany, charges could be brought against Rosen and Weissman for 

simply listening to Franklin unload. - 

On the other hand, the FBI had a clear interest in Rosen and Weissman, 

evidenced by the August raid at AIPAC headquarters and another one in 

December, and by the appearance earlier this year oftop AIPAC staffers before 

a federal grand jury. 

It was information arising out of the grand jury encounters that led AIPAC to fir~ 

the two men, AIPAC has said.. 

Rosen's lawyer said in a statement that no documents were exchanged, which 

dovetails with the FBI's claim that the exchange was verbal. 

"Steve Rosen never solicited, received or passed on any classified documents 

from Larry Franklin, and Mr. Franklin will never be able to say otherwise," 

Rosen's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. 

• U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty convened a grand jury in the case; why didn't he 

bring an indictment instead of a criminal complaint, which carries less weight? 

One answer could be that the FBI and Justice Department have been burned by 

reporting that depicts the case as a politically motivated jeremiad against Jewish 

lobbyists and/or neoconservatives such as Franklin. Indictments often are 

sealed. but a criminal complaint allows the FBI to explain at length why it feels 

charges are justified. 

• Finally, what did Rosen and Weissman learn at the Tivoli lunch? Until now, 

sources close to the two have suggested that the information related to White 

House policy on Iran - which, after all, was the specialty of both Franklin and 

Weissman - and that it had a relatively low secrecy classification. Hanna. the 

FBI special agent, alleges that the information was top secret, and related to 

dangers posed to U.S. troops in Iraq. 

A former FBI official said the complaint suggests a larger investigation, butgives 

few clues about where the probe starts and ends. 

"My best estimate is this was part of an already existing investigation, and from 

their perspective, they got lucky," the former official said. "They were either 

following Franklin or they were following these two guys," he said, referring to 

Rosen and Weissman. 

mPrint This Story 

Back to top A

i"'!\t INFORHATION CONTAINED 0 

~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1s:g 

Pentagon Analyst In Israel Spy Case Is 

Call'ed a 'Patriot' 

BY ELI LAKE - StaffReporter ofthe Sun 

May 27, 2005 

URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/14523 

WASHINGTON - A Pentagon analyst charged with mishandling classified information at 

first cooperated·with an FBI probe oftwo lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs 

Committee when he allowed the bureau to surveil a meeting with Aipac lobbyist Keith 

Weissman in July 2004. 

Plato Cacheris, the lawyer for the Pentagon Iran analyst Lawrence Franklin, ~old The 

New York Sun yesterday that the FBI persuaded his clie~t to set up a meeting with Mr. 

Weissman on July 9, 2004, before being threatened with jail time. "They appealed to his 

sense ofpatriotism, and he cooperated,II Mr. Cacheris said 1n an interview. 

The charges against the two lobbyists, Mr. Weissman and Steven Rosen, will hang on 

their July 9, 2004, meeting with Mr. Franklin when he allegedly shared information 

verbally with Mr. Weissman - while under FBI surveillance - that American soldiers and 

Israeli agents in northern Iraq were under threat from Iranian Revolutionary Guard units. 

Mr. Rosen, after receiving the information from his colleague, Mr. Weissman, then 

allegedly shared it with the Israeli Embassy and the Washington Post. Sources familiar 

with the FBI's case said that the Justice Department is prepared to charge that Mr. Rosen 

passed the classified information on to the embassy and the newspaper. 

Until August 2004, Mr..Franklin was unaware that the FBI was prepared to charge him 

with a crime, Mr. Cacheris said. It was after he voluntarily told the bureau that he had 

kept 83 classified documents at his home in West Virginia and had agreed to convey the 

intelligence to Mr. Weissman that the FBI said that it would press charges and arranged 

for a court-appointed attorney for Mr. Franklin. Originally, the bureau, according to Mr. 

Cacheris, asked Mr. Franklin to plead guilty to espionage, specifically under section 794 

ofthe U.S. Code forcriines of IIgathering or delivering defense information to aid a 

foreign government. ,', Notorious Soviet spy Aldridge Ames was charge4 under this 

section ofthe U.S. Code, which carries a maximum penalty ofexecution or life in prison. 

Mr. Franklin sought Mr. Cacheris out, the lawyer said, after he was asked to admit that he 

was a spy. Mr.. Cacheris, who represented Mr. Ames as well as Monica Lewinsky, agreed 

to take the case free ofcharge. "I feel the government is overreaching in this case. I think 

he's a patriot and a loyal American who intends no harm to this country," Mr. Cacheris 

said. 

;-l-\~ 

Following Mr. Cacheris's agreement to defend Mr. Franklin, the bureau offered a deal 

whereby Mr. Franklin would plead guilty to the lesser charge ofmishandling classified 

material, or section 793 oftlie U.S. Code. The lesser charge carries a maximum penalty ~ ~~ 

G~-\»f-- 

adl?~\5~~~ 

\L~ -

o 

o 

of 10 years in prison. Mr. Cacheris said he refused the deal and that he intends to take the' 

case to trial. Despite turning down the offer and ceasing to cooperate with the FBI, Mr. 

Franklin was charged with ~nly mishandling, not espionage, on Tuesday. 

Mr. Cacheris likened Mr. Franklin's conduct to that ofa fonner national security adviser, 

Samuel Berger, who was recently charged with a misdemeanor for stealing documents 

from t:Qe National Archives in his socks, and a former CIA director" John Deutsch, who 

had taken classified material'to his home. In both these cases, Messrs. Berger and 

Deutsch were charged with misdemeanors. "We don't think Mr. Franklin's conduct was 

any more egregious," Mr. Cacheris said. 

Mr. Cacheris told the Sun yesterday that he believed the FBI did not originally intend to 

investigate Mr. Franklin. "We believe there was a pre-existing investigation that Larry 

Franklin is not involved in," he said yesterday. While Mr. Cacheris refused to discuss the 

details ofthe meetings, other sources familiar with the case told the Sun that Mr. Franklin 

first approached Messrs. Rosen and Weissman in February or March 2003 for a meeting 

at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City, Va., with the intention ofpassing on threat 

information regarding Iran's plans for American soldiers in Iraq. 

" 

According to one source familiar with the case, Mr. Franklin was told by an aide to an 

undersecr~tary ofdefense, Douglas Feith, that the two Aipac lobbyists could get the 

threat information to the National Security Council. Mr. Rosen, in particular, has a 

reputation for high-level contacts with policy-makers in the executive branch. According 

to sources familiar with the case, the three men at this 2003 meeting discussed passing 

the threat information to National Security Council official Elliott Abrams. 

By March 2003, the Bush administration had decided to work with Iranian-sponsored 

opposition groups to build an interim government in Baghdad. Indeed, the recently 

elected prime minister, Ibrahim Jafari, was initially a leader ofan Iranian-supported 

party, Dawa, and was included in the first Iraqi Governing Council. At the same'time, 

American envoys were holding intensive negotiations about Iraq with the Iranians under 

the auspices ofa U.N. multicountry group designed to coordinate Afghanistan policy. 

These developments, according to Mr. Franklin's former colleagues and other 

government officials, worried the Pentagon ~alyst, who, in tum, attempted to reverse 

what he saw as a disastrous policy decision. Mr. Franklin had, in his work on Iran at the 

Pentagon in late 2001, identified what one source described as "Iranian hunter-killer 

teams" in Afghanistan that were threatening American Special Forces. By the spring of 

2003, he believed American forces in ~raq would be under a similar threat from units of 

Iran's Revolutionary Guard and that this information had to get to the White House. 

On June 26, 2003, Mr. Franklin held a second lunch with Messrs. Weissman and Rosen 

and discussed, among other things, developments in the formation ofan Iran policy paper 

and new threats he had learned about in Iraq. In that meeting, Mr. Cacheris said he 

provided the two lobbyists with a list ofevents and names ofIranian officials that he had 

compiled personally elaborating the threat to American soldiers. IINo classified

o 

· - ... 

documents were passed," Mr. Cacheris said. '~A lis~ ofevents and names on Iran arid Iraq 

was'passed in the June 2003 meeting." Mr. Cacheris emphasized that this list was neither 

a classified nor official document. 

Mr. Franklin would not meet with Mr. Weissman again for more than a year, when he 

would meet him in northern Virginia under :fBI surveillance on July 9. A grand jury 

convening in Alexandria, Va., is expec~ed to relea~e a formal indictment ofMr. Franklin 

today.

Message 

O 

HEREIN 

• 

~~ KRAMARSIC, BRETT M. (WF) (FBI) 


IS UNCLASSIFIED A 

DATE 07-29-2010' BY 60324 uc ba~Jlsg 

Page 1 of3 

From: 

Sent: 

PORATH, ROBERT J.(WF) (FBI) 

Friday, June 03,20057:59 AM 

To: FORTIN, 'BRIAN G. (WF) (FBI); DOUGLAS, STEPHANIE (WF) (FBI); KRAMARSIC, BRETT M. 

(WF) (FBI); HANNA, CATHERINE M. (WF) (FBI); MCDERMOTT. WILLIAM R.(WF) (FBI); 

BRIDGES, TRACEY J. (WF) (FBI); ODONNELL, THOMAS J. (WF) (FBI); ANDERSON, JESSICA 

T. (WF) (FBI); PAULLING. SCOlT M. (WF) (FBI); LOEFFERT, JANICE S. (WF) (FBI); MARKLEY, 

JAMES S. (WF) (FBI); LURIE, ERIC S. (WF) (FBI); FALLER. LARISSA (WF) (FBI); THOMAS, 

KIMBERLY J. (WF) (FBI); JOHANSEN, MARK D. (CD) (FBI); WRIGHT, SUSAN C. (CD) (FBI); 

BUTlER, M J. (CD) (FBI); STRZOK, PETER P. (CD) (FBI); MOFFA, JONATHAN C. (CD) (FBI); 

GAY. SUSAN (WF) (FBI) 

Subject: article 

.uNCLASSIEIEQ 

NON.RECORQ 

FBI Tapped Talks About Possible Secrets 

Case Against Ex-AIPAC Officials Could Focus On Several Contacts With Defense Analyst 


By Jerry Markon 

June 3, 2005 

ARLINGTON, VA --In July 2004, a Defense Department 

analyst and a senior official from an influential pro-Israel 

lobbying group met at the Pentagon City mall in Arlington. 

Amid the stores and shoppers, the-analyst warned that Irjlnian agents were 

planning attacks against American soldiers and Israeli agents in Iraq, sources 

familiar with the meeting said. Alarmed, the American Israel Public Affairs 

Committee official, Keith Weissman, left the mall and went to the office of 

colleague Steve Rosen. The-two men then relayed the information to the 

Israeli Embassy in Washington and a reporter for The Washington Post. What 

the AIPAC officials did not know, the sources said, was that the fBJ was 

listening in -- to both the meeting and their subsequent phone calls •• and that 

the Pentagon analyst, Lawrence Franklin, was cooperating in an investigation 

of whether classified U.S. information was being passed on to the 

government of Israel. 

That meeting and those phone calls are a focus of a criminal case

Message 

Q 

d 

Page 2 of3 

jobs at AIPAC, according to multiple sources familiar with th~-investigation. 

Franklin has already been charged, and a looming court battle will probably 

turn on whether he and others were illegally passing government secrets or 

were merely conduits of the type of policy-related information that is 

frequently bandied about in official Washington. The meeting at the mall is 

Ilot mentioned in the publicly filed charges, and new details are emerging 

about a series of fBI-monitored meetings between Franklin and the former 

AIPAC officials dating back to early 2003. But many questions remain 

unanswered, such as whether the information Franklin allegedly passed along 

at those sessions was classified, and if it was, whether Rosen and Weissman 

knew it was classified, and whether any damage was done to U.S. national 

security. 

Rosen and Weissman have been notified that prosecutors are preparing to 

charge them with disclosing classified information, sources familiar with the 

investigation said. Federal prosecutors and the FBI would not comment, nor 

would John Nassikas, an attorney for Weissman. An attorney for Rosen, 

Abbe D. Lowell, said that "when all the facts come out, the government will 

have more to explain about its conduct than Steve Rosen will about his." 

Earlier, he said that Rosen "never solicited, received or passed on any 

classified documents" from Franklin. A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy 

did not return phone calls. A Post spokesman confirmed that the report~r, 

Glenn Kessler, recently declined a Justice Degartme~~requestto be 

interviewed. Kessler would not comment yesterday. 

Franklin's attorney, Plato Cacheris, confirmed that Franklin briefly cooperated 

with investigators in the summer of 2004, during the time of the meeting at the 

mall. Cacheris said'that Franklin, whom he described as a "loyal and patriotic 

American citizen," is no longer cooperating and plans to go to trial. Last 

month, Franklin was charged in a criminal complaint in U.S. District Cou·rt in 

Alexandria with disclosing classified information related to potential attacks 

on U.S. forces in Iraq. Court documents did not reveal who received the 

information, but federal law enforcement sources have said that Franklin 

disclosed it to Rosen and Weissman at an Arlington restaurant in June 2003. 

The sources also said the attacks would have been carri~d out by Iran. At the 

time, the U.S. government was concerned about Iranian activities in Iraq after 

the U.S.-led invasion that year. Federal prosecutors in Alexandria have 

notified Franklin that he would be indicted bya grand jury, and Franklin has 

been told to appear in federal court June 13. Sources familiar with the case 

said the court appearance relates to a sealed indictment. Franklin was also 

charged again last week in federal court in West Virginia with possessing 83 

classified documents dating back three decades. They were found at his 

West Virginia home. 

6/3/2005

Message 

Q 

Page 3 of3 

The contacts between-Franklin, an Iran specialist, alJd form~~ AlpAC policy 

director Rosen and senior analyst Weissman extend back before the June 

2003 lunch. In February 2003, the three met at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City 

hotel in Arlington in a session th~t they only learned later was under F~I 

surveillance, sources said. It is unclear whether agents were following 

Frankl'n or the AIPAC officials. After the 2004 meeting, sources said that 

Rosen and Weissman called Kessler and relayed what Franklin had told 

Weissman about possible Iranian attacks against Americans and Israelis in 

Iraq. Law enforcement sources said that Ke~sler, who did not write an article 

based on the phone· conversation, is not a target of the investigation. 

UNCLASSIFIED 

6/3/2005

~fwaship.gtonP9st.com: u.s. Ey~ressing Uprising In Iran 

q' \J o 

Page 1 of3 

washingtQDJ;lost.~ 

U.S. Eyes Pressing Uprising In Iran 

Officials Cite Al Qaeda Links, Nuclear Program 

By Glenn Kessler 

Washington Post StaffWriter 

SundaYt May 25t 2003; Page AOI 

AdvertiMment 


HEREIN IS TIHCLASSIFIED 


The Bush admini~tration, alanned by intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda operatives in Iran had a role 

in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, has suspended once-promising contacts with Iran and 

appears ready to embrace an aggressive policy oftrying to destabilize the Iranian government, 

administration officials said. 

Senior Bush administration officials will meet Tuesday at the White House to discuss the evolving 

strategy toward the Islamic republic, with Pentagon officials pressing hard for public and private actions 

th~t they believe could lead to the toppling ofthe government through a popular uprising, officials said. 

The State Department, which had encouraged some form ofengagement with the Iranians, appears 

inclined to accept ~uch a policy, especially ifIran does not take any visible steps to deal with the 

suspected al Qaeda operatives before Tuesday, officials said. But State Department officials are 

concerned that the level ofpopular discontent there is much lower than Pentagon officials believe, 

leading to the possibility that U.S. efforts could ultimately discredit reformers in Iran. 

In any case, the Saudi Arabia bombings have ended the tentative signs ofengagement between Iran and 

. the United States that had emerged during the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. 

u.S. and Iranian officials had met periodically to discuss issues ofmutual concern, including searchand-r~scue 

missions and the tracking down ofal Qaeda.operatives. But, after the suicide bombings at 

three residential compounds in Riyadh, the Bush administration canceled the next planned meeting. 

"We're headed down the same path ofthe last 20 years," one State Department official said. "An 

inflexible, unimaginative policy ofjust say no. II 

u.S. officials have also been deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear weapons program, which has the 

support ofboth elected reforiners and conservative clerics. The Bush administration has pressed the 

International Atomic E~ergy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, to issue a critical report next month 

on Iran's nuclear activities. Officials have sought to convince Russia and,China -- two major suppliers of 

Iran's nuclear power program -- that Iran is detennined to possess nuclear weapons, a campaign that one 

U.S. official said is winning support. 

But a major factor in the new stance toward Iran consists ofwhat have been called "very troubling 

intercepts" before and after the Riyadh attacks, which killed 34 people, including nine suicide bombers. 

The intercepts suggested thatal Qaeda operatives in Iran were involved in the planning ofthe bombings. 

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld accused Iran ofharboring al Qaeda members. 

"There's no question but that there have been and are today senior al Qaeda leaders in Iran, and they are 

bUSY," Rumsfeld said. Iranian officials;however, have vehemently denied that they have granted al 

Qaeda leaders safe haven in the country. 

Until the Saudi bombings, some officials said, Iran had been relatively cooperative on al Qaeda. Sinc~;~ \S-IJ C- 

(O~-\JIr-~ l 'lo 

. ~~ -' 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dynlA35772-2003May24?language=printer 6/7/2005 {f>

JI 

~~washipgtonp?st.com: U.S. Ey~ressing Uprising InIran 

U 

Page 2 of3 

the Sept. 11,2001, attacks, Iran~has turned over al Qaeda officials to Saudi Arabia and Afgha~stan. ~n 

talks, U.S. officials had repeatedly warned Iranian officials thatifariy al Qaeda operatives in Iran are 

implicated in attacks against Americans, it would have serious consequences for relations between the 

two countries. 

Those talks, however, were held with representatives ofIran's foreign ministry~ Other parts ofthe 

Iranian government are contr911ed not by elected reformers, but by conservative mullahs. 

A senior administration official who is skeptical"ofthe Pentagon's arguments said most ofthe al Qaeda 

members -- fewer than a dozen -- appear to be located in an isolated area ofnortheastern Iran, near the 

.border with Afghanistan. He described the area as a drug-smuggling terrorist haven that is tolerated by 

key members ofthe Revolutionary Guards in part because they skiqt money offsome ofthe activities 

there. It is not clear how much control the central Iranian government has over this area, he said. 

"I don't think the elected government knows much about it;" he said. "Why should you punish the rest of 

Iran," he asked, just because the government cannot act if! this area? 

Flynt Leverett, who recently left the White House to join the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for 

Middle East Policy, said the administration may be taking a gamble. "It is imprudent to assume that the 

Islamic Republic will collapse like a house ofcards in a time frame that is going to be meaningful to us," 

he said. "What it means is we will end up with an Iran that has nuclear weapons and no dialogue with 

the United States with regard to our terrorist concerns." 

Ever since President Bush labeled Iran last year as part ofan "axis ofevil" -- along with North Korea 

and Iraq ~- the administration has struggled to define its. policy toward the lslamic republic, which 

terminated relations with the United States after Iran's i 979 revolution. The administration never 

formally adopted a policy of"regime change," but it also never seriously tried to establish a dialogue. 

In July, Bush signaled a harder line when he issued a strongly worded presi~ential statement in which he 

praised large pro-democracy street demonstrations in Iran. Administration officials said at the time that 

they had abandoned any hope ofworking with President Mohamm.ad Khatami and his reformistallies in 

the Iranian government, and would tum their attention toward democracy supporters among the Iranian 

people. 

But the prospect ofwar with Iraq reopened some discreet contacts~ which took place under U.N. 

supervision in Europe. The contacts encouraged some in the State Department to believe that there was 

an opening for greater cooperation. 

In an interview in February with the Los Angeles Times, Deputy Secretary ofState Richard L. Armitage 

drew a distinction between the confrontational approach the administration had taken with Iraq and 

North Korea and the approach it had adopted with Iran. "The axis ofevil was a valid comment, [but] I 

would note there's one dramatic difference between Iran and the other two axes of'evil, and that would 

be its dem09racy. [And] you approach a democracy differently," Armitage said. 

At one ofthe meetings, in early January, the United States signaled that it would target the Iraq-based 

camps ofthe Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), or People's Mujaheddin, a major group opposing the Iranian 

government. - 

The MEK soon became caught up inthe policy struggle between the State Department and the 

Pentagon. 

http://www._washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dynlA35772-2003May24?language=printer 6/7/2005

•.ili"i\Vashitjgtonpllst.com: u·s· Eye

ALL INFORlIATION CONTAINED 

~REIN IS lrMCLASSIFIED ~ 

\:;.lATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/s~ 

Page 1 of2 

Pdnt)yindqw I pqse Window 


Copyright 2003 Saint Paul Pioneer Press 


Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota) 

Ma,Y 231, 2003 Friday 

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. SA 


HEADLINE: Bush advisers weigh undermining Iran regime 

BYLINE: BY WARREN P. STROBEL; Washington Bureau 

BODY: 

WASHINGTON .... Prompted by evidence that Iran Is harboring top al-Qalda operatives linked to last week's suicide 

bombings In Saudi Arabia and fears that Tehran may be closer to bUilding a nuclear weapon than previously 

believed, the Bush administration has begun debating whether to try to destabilize the Islamic republic, U.S. 

officials said Thursday. 

Officials In Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office are using both Issues to press their view that the United 

States should adopt overt and covert measures to undermine the regime, said the officials, who are Involved In the 

debate. 

Other officials argue that such a campaign would backfire by discrediting the moderate Iranians who are demanding 

political. reforms. 

Although one senior official engaged In the debate said "the military option Is never off the table," others said no 

one was suggesting an Invasion of Iran. 

However, some officials say the United States should launch a limited alrstrlke on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities If 

Iran appears on the verge of producing a nuclear weapon. By. some estimates, Iran could have a nuclear weapon 

within two years. 

' 

Some Pentagon officials suggested using the remnants of an Iranian opposition group once backed by Saddam 

Hussein, the Mujahedeen el..Khalq (MEK), to Instigate armed opposition to the Iranian government. U.S. military 

forces In Iraq have disarmed the roughly 6,OOO-strong' MEK, which Is on the State Department's list of foreign 

terrorist groups. But the group's weapons are In storage, and It hasn't disbanded. 

However, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and other top officials rejected the Idea, saying that while 

some might consider the MEK freedom fighters, "a terrorist Is a terrorist is a terrorist," according to officials 

Involved In the debate. 

Bush has designated Iran a member otan "axls of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. But until now, he's 

pursued a middle course with Iran, approving talks on Issues of common concern such as Afghanistan, while not 

trying to-re-establlsh diplomatic ties. 

A formal statement of U.S. policy toward Iran, called a National Security Presidential Directive, has been on hold 

about a year because of Internal administration debates and the war In Iraq, American officials said. The document 

Is being resurrected, they said. 

Bush's senior foreign-polley advisers were to have met at the White House on Thursday to discuss Iran policy, said 

a knowledgeable administration offiCial, but the meeting was postponed until next week to give Iran several more 

days to meet U.S. demands that it turn over the suspected al-Qalda terrorists.·If It doesn't, Washington Is likely to 

react with harsher measures, the official said. 

The United States has suspended a series of meetings between U.S. and Iranian diplomats In Geneva at which the 

two countries .... which have no formal diplomatic relations .... have been discussing terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq. 

https://w3.Iexis.com/lawenfsolutions_secured/print/doprint:asp?SearchInfoID=42077432-46... 6/7/2005

o 

Page 2of2 

'rhe suspension followed Intelligence data, Including intercepted telephone calls, Indlcatlr)g that an al-Qalda cell 

based In Iran helped organize the bombings In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which were apparently part of a larger al 

Qalda plot that was partially foiled by saud,l authorities. The bombings killed 34 people. 

The cell of 10 or so al-Qalda members Is run by top al-Qalda operative salf al Adel, who Is third on the U.S. 

government's list of most-wanted al-Qalda'ieaders, following Osama bin Laden,and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. 

"There's no question but that there have been and are today senior al Qalda I~aders In Iran, and they are busy," 

Rumsfeld said this week. 

Iranian officials have denied harboring al-Qalda fugltl~es, and U.S. officials acknowledge that Iran has turned over 

some al-Qalda suspects to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and blocked others from entering Iran. 

On Thursday, a close aide to Iranian President Mohammad Khataml demanded that Washington prove Its charges. 

Saeed Pourazlzl said In Tehran that It was Iran's pollc{to crack down on al-Qalda -- not support It·- and that the 

network "I~ a terrorist group threatening Iran's Interests." 

"Its extremist Interpretation of Islam contradicts the Islamic democracy Iran Is trying to promote., There Is no 

commonality of anything between us." 

The senior U.S. Intelligence official said It wasn't clear whether al-Adel's group, which Is believed to be In an area of 

southeastern Iran near the Pakistan border, was operating with the acqUiescence o,f at least part,of the Iranian 

government. 

' 

Advocates of regime change want to bolster popular opposition In Iran to the religious leadership. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

LOAD-DATE: May 23, 2003 

https:llw3.lexis.comllawenfsolutions_secured/ptintldopri~t.asp?SearchInfoID=42077432-46... 6/7/2005

~ ~EXIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page 

.-1.' ." .. rA\L INFORRATION CONTAINED 0--, 

r.r #I. 


DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw!sab/lsg 


QrbtWtl5f)iugtonf$M 

wQshingtonpost.com 


Page 24 of26 

June 15,2003 Sunday 

Final Edition 

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A20 


HEADLINE: Pressure Builds for President to Declare Strategy on Iran 

BYLINE: Michael Dobbs, Washington Post StaffWriter 

BODY: 

Soon after George W. Bush.took office in January 2001, his advisers began drafting a strategy for 

dealing with Iran, a radical Islamic state long suspected by Washington ofsupporting international 

terrorism and pursuing weapons ofmass destruction. 

More than two years later, the national security presidentialdirective on Iran has gone through 

several competing drafts and has yet to be approved by Bush's senior advisers, according to well-placed 

sources. In the meantime, experts in and outside the government are focusing, on Iran as the United 

States' next big foreign policy crisis, with some predicting that the country could acquire a nuclear 

weapon as early as 2006. 

Critics on the left and the right point to the unfinished directive as evidence the administration lacks a 

coherent strategy toward a country Bush described asa key member ofthe "axis ofevil,tI along with 

North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. 

"Our policy toward Iran is neither fish nor fowl, neither engagement nor regime change," said Flynt L. 

Leverett, a Bush adviser on the Middle East who -left the National Security Council staff in March and is 

now with the Brookings Institution. 

The Bush administration has yet to formulate a tme Iran policy, agreed Michael A. Ledeen,a Middle 

East expert with the American Enterprise Institute. With other neoconservative intellectuals, Ledeen has 

founded ,the Coalition for Democracy in Iran, which is looking for ways to·foment a democratic 

revolution to sweep away the mullahs who came to power in 1979. 

Senior administration officials refused to talk about the status ofthe Bush policy directive on Iran, on 

the grounds that it is classified, but they say they have had some success in mobilizing international 

opinion against Iran's nuclear weapons program. As evide~ce, t~ey cite recent threats by Russia to cut 

offnuclear assistance to Tehran and moves by the International Atomic Energy Agency to censure Iran 

for failing to report the processing ofnuclear materials. 

https:/lwww.nexis.com/researchlsearchlsubmitViewTagged 6/7/2005

-F'. 

,~ LEXIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page 

/'" ~,.. i 0 

o 

Page 25 of26 

While the officials have stopped short ofembracing a policy of"regime change" in Iran, U.S. officials 

from Bush down have talked about providing moral support to the "reform movement" in Iran in its 

struggle against an unelected government. As defined by Secretary ofState Colin L. Powell, the U.S. 

goal is to speak directly to the Iranian people "over the heads oftheir leaders to let them know that we 

agree with them.II 

The internal and external debate about what to do about Iran has been brought to a head by recent 

revelations suggesting the Iranian nuclear weapons program is much further along than many suspected. 

Tomorrow, the lAEA Board ofGovernors in Vienna is to discuss findings showing that Iran has a wide 

range ofoptions for producing fissile material for a nuclear bomb, from using heavy water reactors to 

produce plutonium to experiments in uranium enrichment. 

u.s. officials have also accused Iran ofharboring members ofthe al Qaeda terrorist network who 

escaped from Afghanistan after the fall ofthe Taliban in December 2001. They say some al Qaeda 

supporters hiding in Iran appear to have known in advance about recent terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, 

although there is no direct evidence ofoperational ties between the Iranian government and al Qaeda. 

The escalating Iranian nuclear threat and suspicions ofIranian ties to terrorists have sharpened longstanding 

divisions in the administration over how to deal with Tehran. In the past, the State Department 

has put the emphasis on opening a dialogue with reformist elements in the Iranian leadership while the 

Pentagon has been more interested in looking for ways to destabilize the authoritarian Islamic 

government. 

Bureaucratic tensions have reached the level where each side has begun accusing the other ofleaking 

unfavorable stories to the media to block policy initiiltives. "The knives are out,1I said a Pentagon 

official, who criticized national security adviser Condoleezza Rice for failing to end the dispute by 

issuing clear policy guidelines. 

Powell, meanwhile, insisted to journalists that there has be~n no change in policy on Irail, despite what 

he depicted as frenzied media speculation "about what this person in that department might think or that 

person in another department might think." 

The Iran debate goes back to a failed attempt by the Clinton administration to open an "unconditional 

dialogue ll with Tehran. Even though the Iranians rejected the U.S. offer ofunconditional talks, some 

Bush administration officials led by the State Departmentts director for policy planning, Richard N. 

Haass, favored making renewed overtures., 

The proposals for a dialogue with Iran were partly inspired by the 1994 framework agreement with 

North Korea under which the North Korean government agreed to accept international controls over its 

nuclear program in return for economic assistance, including the construction ofa civilian nuclear 

reactor. But the State Department approach ran into strong opposition from the Pentagon and Vice 

President·Cheney's office, and was shot down in interagency meetings at the end of200l. 

While there would be no "grand bargain" with the Iranian leadership, the Bush administration agreed to 

a more limited diplomatic dialogue, focusing on specific areas such as the war in Afghanistan or 

cooperation over Iraq. Several rounds ofsuch talks took place in Geneva and Paris, with the 

involvement ofa special presidential envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, but were suspended after th~ bombings 

in Saudi Arabia on May 12. 

The administration debate has been echoed by a much more public debate among Middle East analysts, 

https://www.nexis.com!research!searchlsubmitViewTagged 6/7/2005

,1 'LExIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page 

".' • i 

j);;~ ~

,.'i J:;EXI~®-NEXIS® View Printe Page 

J' 

nrFOPHATION COlITAINED 

~ HEREIN IS Lrn!CLASSIFIED 



~t Wtl5f)inghm ~g.Gt 

wa~hingtoripost.com 


Page 21 of26 

August 9, 2003 Saturday 

Final Edition 

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1\01 


HEADLINE: Meetings With Iran-Contra Arms Dealer Confinned 

BYLINE: Bradley Graham and P~ter Slevin, Washington Post StaffWriters 

BODY: 

Defense Secretary Donald H.Rumsfeld acknowledged yesterday that Pentagon officials met secretly 

with a discredited expatriate Iranian arms merchant who figured prominently 'in the Iran-contra scandal 

ofthe mid-1980s, characterizing the contact as an unexceptional effort to gain possibly useful 

infonnation. 

While Rumsfeld said that the contact occurred more than a year ago and that nothing came ofit, his 

aides scrambled during the day to piece together more details amid other reports thatRumsfeld's account 

may have been incomplete. 

Last night, a senior defense official disclosed that another meeting with the Iranian anns dealer, 

Manucher Ghorbanifar, occurred in June in Paris. The official said that, while the first contact, in late 

2001, had been formally sanctioned by the U.S. government in response to an Iranian government offer 

to provide information relevant to the war on terrorism, the second one resulted from "an unplanned, 

unscheduled encounter." 

A senior administration official said, however, that Pentagon staffmembers held one or two other 

meetings with Ghorbanifar..last year in Italy. The sessions so troubled Secretary ofState Colin L. 

Powell, the of~cial said, that he complained to Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's 

national security adviser. 

Powell maintained that the Pentagon activIties were unauthorized and undennined U.S. policy toward 

Iran by taking place outside the terms defined by Bush and his top advisers. The White House instructed 

the Pe,ntagon to halt meetings that do not conform to policy decisions, said the official, who requested 

anonymity. 

The Defense Department personnel who met with Ghorbanifar came from the policy directorate. . 

Sources identified them as Harold Rhode, a specialist on Iran and Iraq who recently served in Baghdad 

as the Pentagon liaison to Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, and Larry Franklin, a Defense 

https:/Iwww.nexis.comlresearch/search/submitViewTagged 6/7/2005

#' 

'\ l.EXIS®-NEXIS® View Prin~ Page 

Intelligence Agency analyst. 

U 

Page 22 of26 

State Department officials were surprised by news ofthe latest meeting with Ghorbanifar. ren~ion runs 

deep in the Bush administration between State an~ the Pentagon, which under Rumsfeld has aspired to a 

powerful role in foreign policy. The two agencies have sparred repeatedly over strategy toward Iran and 

Iraq. 

The United States does not have formal relations with Iran, although a small number ofsanctioned 

meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials have taken place, most notably to address U.S. war plans in 

Afghanistan and Iraq. 

The Bush administration has struggled to develop a coherent and consistent approach to Iran. In his 

State ofthe Union address last year, Bush characterized Iran as being part ofan axis ofevil, along with 

Iraq and North Korea, and administration officials have repeatedly accused Iran ofsupporting terrorist 

groups and ofseeking to acquire nuclear weapons. While broad agre~ment exists within the 

administration favoring changes in Iran's Islamic government, officials differ on how to accomplish 

ili~. 

' 

More than two years after the administration began drafting a national security presidential directive 

on Iran, ilie policy document remains unfinished. While the State Department favors increased dialogue 

and engagement with potential reformers inside Iran, prominent Pentagon civilians believe the policy 

should be more aggressive, including measures to destabilize the existing government in Tehran. 

The Iran-contra scandal erupted over a decision by the Reagan administration to sell weapons to Iran in 

an effort to win the release ofU.S. hostages in Lebanon. The proceeds ofthe anns sales were illegally 

funneled to contra fighters opposing Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government. 

Ghorbanifar was enl~sted in the effo~, helping to arrange the delivery by Israel of508 TOW antitank 

missiles to Iran. The White House had drafted him as an intermediary despite warnings from the CIA 

that he was a cheat and had failed lie-detector tests. 

The intelligence aget).cy had instructed its operatives not to do business with him. 

News ofthe Pentagon's contact with Ghorbanifar was first reported yesterday by Newsday, and 

Rumsfeld was asked about the story when he emerged with Bush from a meeting at the president's ranch 

in Crawford, Tex. 

Saying he had just been told ofthe Newsday article by a senior aide and by Rice, Rumsfeld 

acknowledge4 that "one or two" Pentagon officials "were approached by some people who had 

information about Iranians that w~nted to provide information to the United States government." 

He said that a meeting took place "more than a year ago" and that the information received was 

circulated to various federal departments and agencies but did no~ lead to anything. 

"That is to say, as I understand it, there wasn't anything there that was ofsubstance or ofvalue that 

needed to be pursued further, II he said. . 

Asked ifthe Pentagon contact was intended to circumvent official U.S. exchanges with Iran, Rumsfeld 

replied: "Oh, absolutely not. I mean, everyone in the interagency process, I'm told, was apprised ofit, 

and it went nowhere. Itwas just -- iliis happens, ofcourse, frequently, that in -- people come in, offering 

suggestions or information or possible contacts, and sometimes they're pursued. Obviously, ifit looks as 

https:/lwww.nexis.com/researchlsearch/submitViewTagged 6/7/2005

•. ;''\ LEXIS®-NE,XIS® View Prin~ Page 

/ U 0 

though something might be interesting, it's pursued. Ifit isn't, it isn't." 

Page 23 of26 

Standing by Rumsfeld's side, Bush was asked ifthe meeting was a good idea and ifhisadministration 

wants a change in government. "We support the aspirations ofthose who desire freedom in Iran,1I the 

president said, then took a question on a differentsubject. 

According to the account given later by the senior Pentagon official, the contact in 2001 occurred after 

Iranian officials passed word to the administration that they had information that might be useful in the 

global war on terrorism. Two Pentagon officials met with the Iranians in several sessions over a threeday 

period in Italy. Ghorbanifar attended these meetings, "but he was not the individual who had 

approached the United States or the one with the information,II the official said. 

What his role was, however, the official did not know. 

The official said the June meeting involved'one ofthe two Pentagon representatives who had been 

present at the 2001 meeting, but he declined to say which one. 

Staffwriter Dana Priest contributed to this report. 

LOAD-DATE: August 9, 2003 

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 6/7/2005

'\'{"EXIS@-NeXIS@ViewPrintablePageALLINFORl'lATION COlITAHrED Q" 

~?~ HEREIN IS lfMCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc aw/sab/1sg 

Copyright 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited 

The Observer 

Page 17 of26 

August 10, 2003 

SECTION: Observer News Pages, Pg. 22 


HEADLINE: IRAQ CONFLICT: Make Iran next, says Ayatollahs. grandson: Khomeini calls US 

freedom the best in the world from base in occupied Baghdad 

BYLINE: by Jamie Wilson, Baghdad 

BODY: 

SAYYID Hussein Khomeini is sitting cross-legged on a sofa inside a garish palm-fringed mansion 

nestled on the banks ofthe Tigris. It is the very heart ofAmerican-occupied Baghdad, not the frrst place 

that you might look for the grandson ofAyatollah Khomeini. The late Iranian leader built his Islamic 

revolution on a deep hatred ofeverything associated with the Stars and Stripes. 

But then very little about the younger Khomeini is quite what might be expected. 

'American liberty and freedom is the b~st freedom in the world,' he said, puffing on a cigarette and 

sipping a glass ofsweet tea. 'The freedom for the individual that is 'written into the American 

Constitution you do not see in such concentration in any other constitution in the world. The Americans 

are here in Iraq, so freedom is here too.' 

It is an extraordinary statement from a man whose grandfather labelled the US 'the Great Satan', but 

what Khomeini has to say about the current situation in Iran is even more radical: 'Iranians need freedom 

now, and ifthey can only achieve it with American interference I think they would welcome it. As an 

Iranian, I would welcome it. I 

Not surprisingly, Khomeini, 45, has caused something ofa stir in Baghdad, with the US media beating a 

path to the door ofthe house where he is staying. 

According to his armed bodyguards, the luxurious house has been taken over by an Iraqi cleric, who 

shares Khomeini's view that religion and state should be separated. Itused to belong to Izzat Ibrahim, 

vice-chairman ofthe deposed Revolutionary Command Council and one ofSaddam Hussein's closest 

advisers. The King ofClubs on the list ofmost wanted Baathists, Ibrahim remains at large, although he 

is unlikely to return to evict the current tenants. There is, however, plenty to remind the visitor ofthe 

previous owner. A black Rolls-Royce with a golden grill is gathering dust in the drive, while the sitting 

room, with its three gold-trim. sofas, is also home to a couple ofenormous glass tanks containing dozens 

oftropical fish and several cages ofcanaries, chirping away merrily. 

Wearing a black turban - a piece ofclothing that marks him out as a descendant ofthe Prophet 

Muhammad - Khomeini dismisses. as 'nonsense' a question about whether his grandfather would approve 

ofhis support for the Americans. 'He is not here, and in this case we cannot predict what position he 

would take,' he said. 

As for Iraqi resistance to the US occupying forces - or liberators as Khomeini insists on calling them - in 

his opinion there is none. 

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 6/7/2005

4- ~~'LEXIS®-lfflXIS® View Printable Page 

;~.~. 0 () 

, - 

Page 18 of26 

'The pe~sons·who are carrying out the attacks have been paid previously to attack the US and the 

Americans arejust in a position.ofdefending themselves,' he said. 

So what is a man whose grandfather cemented the Islamic theocracy in Iran by exploiting the 1979 US 

Embassy hostage crisis doing espousing views that could 'have come straight from an American ,foreign 

policy briefing or have been written by the press office ofthe Coalition Provisional Authority situated in 

the former presidential palace a couple ofmiles down the road? 

Exactly how close Khomeini's ties are with the US is not clear, but the cleric has met officials from the 

CPA on several occasions. 'He's.my favourite Khomeini!', one senior US official joked at a dinner the 

other night. A spokesman said that they found his ideas about the separation ofreligion and state 

'interesting'. 

Although he does not command a wide following, the very fact ofwho he is could in time make him a 

significant player, while any voice helping to dilute calls from some Iraqi'Shia leaders fora system of 

clerical rule in Iraq will be welcomed with open arms by the Americans. 

But'the US might just have bigger plansJor Khomeini. He spent 14 years ofhis life in Iraq, between 

1964 and 1979, while his grandfather was plotting the Islamic revolution and conducting a campaign"of 

snapping at the,heels ofthe Shah from the holy city ofNajaf. Listening to his grandson condemning the 

current situation in Tehran, it is difficult not to get a sense that perhaps history is repeating itself. 

The Bush administration, which includes Iran in its diminishing axis ofevil, has repeatedly accused the 

country ofsupporting terrorist groups and seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. But apart from general 

agreement that a change ofgovernment in Iran would be a good thing, there is no broad consensus 

within the administration about how'best to achieve that aim. It is two years since the State Department 

began drafting it national security presidential directive on Iran, but the document remains . 

unfinished. 

Doves in Colin Powell's State Department are said to favour increased dialog':le with potential reformers 

in the country, while Donald RumsfeId's Pentagon is thought to be intent on pursuing aggressive 

destabilisation tactics towards Tehran. 

Whatever way the administration decides to play it, Khomeini could be useful to both sides. 

Asked when he thought he might return to Iran, Khomeini replied 'Inshallah' - Jt is God's will. 

But some observers might argue that it is just as"likely to be the Pentagon's. 

LOAD-DATE: August 14,2003 

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitYiewTagged 6/7/2005

sa 

~ ...... ·~The Herald-Mail ONLINE - Franklin case goes to grand jury (print view) 

-OO'R-. '- ~ 

ALL INFO~~TION CONTAI~D . 

The Herald-Mail ONLINE HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 


http://www.herald-mail.com/ 

Page 1 of2 

Lawrence Franklin, center, 

surrounded by his attorneys, 

leaves U.S. District Court in 

Martinsburg, W.Va., Thursday. 

(Photo credit: by Kevin G. 

Gilbert I Staff Photographer) 

Friday June 10, 2005 

Franklin case goes to grand jury 

by PEPPER BALLARD 

pepperb@herald-mail.com 

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Probable cause was found Thursday 

at the U.S., District Courthouse in Martinsburg to send to a 

grand jury a charge that a Pentagon analyst illegally took 

classified government documents to his Kearneysville, W.Va., 

home. 

The charge against Lawrence Anthony Franklin, 58, who holds 

a doctorate in Asian studies and taught history courses at 

Shepherd University for the past five years, will be referred to 

the next grand jury, U.S. Magistrate JUdge David J. Joel said 

Thursday after his finding at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West 

Virginia. 

"Dr. Franklin knowingly and unlawfully possessed classified documents in a place he was 

not permitted to keep them," Joel said. "He admitted he possessed these'documents." 

Franklin faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the charge. 

A June 30, 2004, search of Franklin's home turned up 83 classified documents, 37 of 

which were classified as top secret, meaning the release of which would cause 

"exceptionally greatdamage" to national security, and 34 of which were classified as 

secret, meaning the release of which would cause "great damage" to national security, 

FBI Special Agent Thomas Convoy, who spe9ializes in counterterrorism and espionage, 

testified Thursday. 

The charge centered on six documents, written between Oqtober 2003 and·June 2004, 

which included CIA docum.ents about al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, terrorism 

documents and an Iraq memorandum, Convoy testified., 

Franklin was authorized to carry classified documents in Maryland, Virginia and ~ ~ 

Washington, D.C., but not in West Virginia, Convoy testified. 

'4 r 

Convoy testified that Franklinwas a member of the Department of Defense since 197'...If"j 

and held top-secret clearance since then, but it since has blilen revoked. 

~1tlt.a,JV 

http://www.herald-mail.coml?module=displaystorj&stoty-...:.icJ=114919&format=print _ 

,6/19120qS;. 

- f2SR. ...WF- ~3·)S ... J\1·~ 

~'c..~~

~ ~,~e Herald-Mail ONLINE - Franklin case goes to grandjury (printview) Page 2 of2 

~....,' ~ -... 0 0 

F:ranklin'.$ attorney, Plato Cacheris, contended that his client was inappropriately charged. 

"There is no allegation in this complaint that he intended to injure the U.S.," Cacheris said. 

He said that such an allegation would have needed to support the claim that Franklin 

unlawfully held the documents. 

Franklini wearing a dark suit, sat. behind Cacheris' chair throughout the hearing, nearly 

motionless. 

Cacheris said Franklin "had those documents in his home because he was preparing for 

an interview" for a government position. 

Convoy testified Franklin was under surveillance prior to the search., 

"Did you see him transmit those documents to any unauthorized people?" Cacheris asked 

Convoy. 

"No, I did not," he responded. 

u.S. AttomeyThomas E.. Johnston, of West Virginia's northem district, said Franklin "was 

not authorized to retain these documents, at least at his home." 

"There is no evidenc~ he delivered them to the employee or officer of the U.S. intended to 

receive the,m," he said. 

Johnston said Cacheris' contention that he had to show intent to cause injury to the 

country "does not apply to this particular charge.II 

Joel, 'in announcing his finding, said, "\Nhether or not the government properly charged" 

Franklin is "a matter for another day." 

In May, Franklin was charged with providing top..secr~t information about potential attacks 

against U.S.. forces in Iraq to two executives of the American Israel Public Affairs 

Committee, the influential pro-Israel lobbying group. 

Already out on $100,000 bond on the May charge, Franklin was released after this mostrecent 

charge on $50,000 bond. Joel ordered Thursday that Franklin continue on his 

present bond. 

The Associated Press contributed to this story. 

CopyrightThe Herald-Mail ONLINE 

hup:/Iwww.herald-mail.com/?inodule=displaystory&story_id=114919&format=print 6/10/2005

Page'! of2 

Foundation for Defense of Democracies> In the. Me9ia > Cheers for Wolfy 

Cheers for Wolfy 

ALL INFOPRATION CONTAINED 

HEPEIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJ1sg 

The New York·Post 

May 31, 2003 

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05312003/postopinion/opedcolumnists·/35893.htm 

Last Sunday saw a remarkable event in Washington - one that defied stereotypes about Muslims,and 

the Bush administration's "hard-liners": Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, widely identified 

(and denounced) as the main architect ofAmerica's Iraq intervention, won 'multiple standing ovations 

from an audience ofhundreds of Muslims 

He praised the coalition's use of force to remove evil. and he hailed the new reality in Irag. For the 

first time in 26 years, he said. Shia Muslims had freedom to observe their Arbaeen f~stival in Iraq., 

The room exploded in applause. 

The venue~ the first-ever national convention of Shia Muslims from the United States and Canada. 

Wolfowitz is said to be ~he hardest of neoconse.rvative hardliners. The Shias h~v.e a reputation as the 

most extreme. anti-Western, ultraradical Muslims. Yet they came'together through the ideal of 

freedom, and the principle of liberation through the exercise of U.S. military power. 

Pundits and experts have been wrong about both Wolfowitz and his Shia hosts. 

Most of the media paint Wolfowitz as an arch-conspiratorial fanatic. Yet the truth. as anybody who 

has met with him quickly learns•.is that he has an extensive apd nuanced understanding of Islam. He 

served as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia for three years under President Ronald Reagan. 

He is also a defender of democracy. taking pride in his key role in helping change the Philippines in 

the 1980s. He supported the removal of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the triumph of democratic 

champion C6razon Aquino. 

Shia Muslims. for their part. are typically described as extremists in the mold of Ayatollah Khomeini -' 

dismissed with claims that all Shias everywher~ support the Lebanese radicals of Hezbollah. The 

most recent dire prediction is that the Shia majority in Iraq will establish a rigid Islamic order. 

But Shias are victims of mass murder in Pakistan, where followers of the Saudi-backed Wahhabi sect 

hunt and kill them relentlessly. When the Pakistani group Sipah-e-Sahaba (Order of the Prophet's 

Companions) murdered American reporter Daniel Pearl, he was their first victim who was not a Shia 

Muslim. Before him, the group had slain hundreds of innocents. 

I~ addition, Shia Muslims, including a con~idera,b!e,community in the New York are~, are better 

educated than many other Muslims. Their dedication to self-improvement often makes them a target. 

In Saudi Arabia, wh~re they are the majority in the oil-rich Eastern Province, they are also an 

~conomic elite. But within the Saudi kingdom, they still suffer extraordinary cruelties at the hands of 

the Wahhabis, who teach in Saudi schools that Shia Islam is the product of a Jewish c9nspiracy. 

Life is tough forShi8;s, a, minority of 200 millio~, or 15 percent of the world's Muslims. In America, 

where estimates of the total Muslim popUlation vary from 2 million to 10 million, one in four is Shia. 

Most came here from Pakistan and Iraq to escape violence. 

T.h.e Shia na.tion_al cor:tyention.in. Wa~shington, h~ld ~y the Universal MusOm Association o(America 

http://www.defenddemocracy.orglcnlib/custom_tags/contentlprin~_ email_doc.htm?action=p... 6/9/2005

Foundation for Defense OfDe~'ocracies - In the Media 

}.r:J~ · .• . n 

(UMAA) with 3~OOO participants, epresented a new trend in American Musli~e. Until now~ the 

discourse on Islam in America was dominated, from the Muslim side. by the "Wahhabi lobby" - groups 

toeing the extremist line of the Saudi regime. 

The "Wahhabi lobby" includes such entities as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and 

the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). These groups have skewed discussion of Islam and 

Muslims in this country, by presenting America as an aggres~ive power internationally and as an 

enemy of Muslims. 

Shia Muslims living in America see the world in very differef}t t~rms. Agha Shaukat Jafri, a Shia 

community leader in New York and organizer of the UMAA convention~ said~ "We see America as our 

homeland and ourselves as American Muslims. We consider ourselves an integral part of its body 

politic. We condemn all forms of terrorism, and we consider these so-called Muslim fighters, who 

carry out terror, as enemies ofour faith. i ' 

He described the reception for Wolfowitz as "very warm." He added: 'We should thank the Bush 

administration for liberating the Shias of Iraq. I think Dr. Wolfowitz understands our viewpoint and our 

deep opposition to extremism. We were thrilled to have him attend and to hear his words." 

Others, including non-Muslims, who attended the event were struck by the enthusiasm shown to Paul 

Wolfowitz. But Jafri put the emphasis in the right place: liThe convention inaugurated a n~w period in 

the history of American Muslims, of heightened awareness of our responsibilities to the country we 

live in and hope for the future flourishing of Islam and democracy. At our convention next year, we 

would like to have President Bush as a guest." 

And why did a story like this go unreported in the rest of our media? 

Stephen Schwartz is author of "The Two Faces ofIslam: The House ofSa'ud From Tradition to 

Te"or, "published by Doubleday, and director ofthe Islam and Democracy Program at the 

Foundation for the Defense ofDemocracies. 

Page 2 of2 

Media Type: Print & Online 

[~~!lt] I [C~ose t~is.~.ndow] 

@ Copyright 2005 The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies 

an iaPRs site 

http://www.defenddemocracy.org/cnlib/custo~_tags/contentJprint_~mail~~oc.htm?action=p... 6/~/2905

~ 

L 

INFOrotATION CONTAHJED Q 

- REIN IS lTMCLASSIFIED 

,ATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJ sg 

For Official Use Only 

FOREIGN MEDIA PERCEPTION SUMMARY 

Tuesday, July 22, 2003 

ITerrorism I Afghanistan I 

I Iraq aZ) lIZ-North I IZ-Centrall IZ-South I 

I IZooWMD I IZ-RegimelPoIiticall IZoo Humanitarian Issues I 

I YemenlHorn ofAfrica I Iran I GCC I IndialPakistan I Central Asian States I 

Disclaimer: The articles presented in the Foreign Media Perception are derived 

entirely from open sources in and around the CENTCOM AOR. The articles 

selected are a"representative sample ofthe local media vie\vs and interpretations of 

current events. The "GeneralThemes" section is a summary ofthe most prevalent 

messages and is not an endorsement ofthe validity ofthe information contained in 

the articles. 

General Themes: A foreign media source in the CENTCOM AOR reported that an 

organization calling itself AI-Jihad Brigades Organization called on the Iraqis not 

to deal \vith the ne\v provisional Governing Council. They threatened to kill 

anyone who supports the Governing Council and the coalition forces occupying Iraq. 

Foreign media sources report that the Iraqi Christian Democratic Party has refused 

to recognize Iraq's transitional Governing Council, describing its members as 

administrative 'workers \vithout po\vers. Foreign sources report that Pakistan is 

seriously considering sending troops to Iraq as a result of the formation of the 

Governing Council should the Iraqi people request support. 

13. Jedda Arab News (Saudi Arabia): Tis the Season to Be Worried 

Paul Wolfowitz, in the latest Vanity Fair, basicallyjustified using a "convenient" 

argument, i.e. weapons ofmass destruction, to achieve the great goal:, Iraqi oil. Such 

politically vulgar messages are not new from Wolfo\vitz and his neo-con gang, but they 

spread reasonable doubt regarding America's "democratic" intentions for the Middle East. 

Now as Wolfo\vitz is visiting Baghdad, his face can't conceal a sense ofworry. 

Worry regarding the exposed lies, the increased number ofkillings ofAmerican military 

personnel, and the growing public opinion against the war. Wolfo\vitz is like a stray cat 

stuck in a comer. Stray cats when stuck in a comer usually attack .The question that is 

asked frequently is: Who fed all these lies about the Iraqi weapons WMD program to the 

president? Most fingers point at the Pentagon's Office ofSpecial Plans, headed by Adam 

Shulsky, a hard-line neo-conservative. The Office ofSpecial Plans was set up in the fall 

of2001 as a two-man shop, but it grew into an eighteen-member nerve center ofthe 

Pentagon's effort to create disinformation, alleging that Iraq possessed WMD and had 

connections with terrorist groups.

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

o 

Much ofthe garbage produced by that office found its"way into speeches by Rumsfeld, 

Cheney and Bush. Itshould be noted that the office was created after Sept. 11 by two of 

the most fervent and determined neo-cons: Paul Wolfo,vitz himself, the deputy defense 

secretary, and Douglas Feith, undersecretary ofdefense for policy, to probe into 

Saddam's WMD programs and his links to al-Qa'ida, because, it is alleged, they did not 

trost ot~er intelligenc~ agencies ofthe US government to come up with the goods. Most 

prominent neo-cons are right-wing Jews, and t~nd to be pro-Israeli zealots who,believe 

that Amer~can and Israeli interests are inseparable -- much to the alarm ofthe liberal pro~ 

peace Jews, whether in America, Europe, or Israel i~elf. Friends ofAriel Sharon's Likud 

party, they ten9 to loathe Arabs and Muslims. 

For them, the cause of"liberating" Iraq had little to do with the well being ofIraqis, just 

.as the cause of"liberating" Iran and ending its nuclear program -- recently advocated by 

Shimon Peres -- has little to do with the well being ofIranians. What they seek is an 

improvement in Israel's military and strategic environment. So-who will put the brakes 

on this madness, defend US national interests and give the administration wise counsel? 

Congress? Itdoesn't appear that way. The issue should go back to the American people. 

The integrity and credibility oftheir values and their future economic prosperity are very 

much at stake here. Pe9ple in the Middle East need to see the.ugly words ofWolfo,vitz 

and his like muted, and they need to see objective democratic results. Only then will 

Wolfo,vitz and his gang be m~ginalized. At least for a while.

IL 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAI1~D 



The United States and Shi'ite 

Religious Factions in Post-Ba'thist Iraq 

JuanC91e 

In post-Saddam Husayn Iraq, Slli'ite militias rapidly established their authority 

in East Baghdad and other urban 1Zeighborhoodsofthe south. Among the vqrious 

groups which emerged, the Sadr Movement stands Ollt as militant and cohesive. 

The sectarian, anti-American Sadrists wish to impose a puritanical, Khomeinist 

vision on Iraq. Their political influence is potentially milch greater than their 

numbers. Incorporating them i~to a democratic Iraq while ensuring that they do 

not come to dominate it poses a severe challenge to tile US Administration. 

1 planning the war on Iraq, the American Defense Department a~d· intelligen

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

IL 

,544*MIDDLE EASTJOURNAL 

to account for about $2 million of the $4 million they had given his Iraqi National 

.Congress. The major religious Shi'ite groups with which the Americans were negotiating 

were part of Chalabi's group and included the Tehran-based Supreme Council 

for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the London branch of the al-Da'wa Party, and the 

Khoei Foundation, of which only al-Da'wa ·had much popularity on the ground in 

Iraq. The US was ignorant of the Sadr Movement, the main indigenous Shi'ite force. 

This ignorance wa~ to cost the US great political capital in" the first months of the 

occupation. - 

When the Ba'th fell on April 9, 2003, Shi'ite militias seemed suddenly to emerge 

and take control of many urban areas in the south of the country, as wen as in the 

desperately poor slums ofEast Baghdad. The moral authority of Grand Ayatollah Ali 

Sistani and his more quietist colleagues in Najaf had been known to the US, but it 

transpired that other ayatollahs and leaders had more political clout. The rank and file 

of Iraqi Shi'ites in the urban areas was far more radicalized by the last decade of 

Ba'thrule than anyone on the outside had realized. These developments alarmed 

Washington, given that some 60% to 65% ofIraqis are Shi'ites, and this group would 

therefore predominate in a democratic Iraq. The religious groups constitute only one 

section ofthe Shi'ite population, perhaps a third or more, but they are well organized 

and armed. 

My thesis here is that the Sadr Movement is at the moment the most important 

tendency among religious Shi'ites in post-Ba'thist· Iraq, and that it is best seen as a 

sectarian phenomenon in the "sociology of religions" sense. It is prima,rily a youth 

movement and its rank and file tend to be poor. It is highly puritanical and xenophobic, 

and it is characterized by an exclusivism unusual in Iraqi Shi'ism. To any extent 

that itemerges as a leading social force in Iraq, it will prove polarizing and destabilizing. 

In spring and summer of2003 its leadership had decided not to challenge actively 

the coalition military. In contemporary theories of the sociology of religion, a Usect" 

is characterized by a high degree of tension with mainstream society, employing a 

rhetoric of difference, antagonism, and separation. 2 The "high-tension" model ofthe 

sect predicts that. it will attempt strongly to demarcate itself off from the mainstream 

of society. It will also cast out those members who are perceived to be too accommodating 

of non-sectarian norms. That is, it demands high levels of loyalty and obedience 

in the pursuit of exclusivism. 

+. 

IRAQI SHl'ISM IN HISrORY 

Under the Ottomans, a Sunni political elite flourished in whatis now Iraq, with 

political ties to Istanbul. Shi 'ism· remained vigorous, however. In the eigh~eenth and 

nineteenth centuries, many -tribespeople of the south converted to the Shi'ite branch 

of Islam, under the influence of missionaries sent out from the shrine cities ofNajaf 

and Karbala, where Shi'ite holy figures Imam 'Ali and Imam Husayn were interred. 

-2. Rodney StarkandWilliam Sims Bain~ridge, The Future ofReligion (Berkeley and LosAngeles: 

University ofCalifomia Press, 1985). pp. 19-34, 135. 

II

o 

The Rulemt~e Turbail: 

Last September, Paul Wolfolvitz was the special guest at a memorial service in Arlington, 

Va.~ for an influential Shiite cleric killed in a car bombing in Najat: Iraq. The deputy 

defense secretary hailed Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir ai-Hakim as a Ittrue Iraqi patriot;" 

and he quoted from the Gettysburg Address as he likened the slain leader to the Union 

soldiers who haq died to preserve their country. It was a eulogy that ai-Hakim undoubtedly 

wouid have found jarring. His Islamist political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic 

Re~olution in Iraq, and its 15,OOO-man militia had been funded by Iran, a member gg 

President Bush's "axis Pi evil." And ai-Hakim himselfhad long been wary ~perceived 

American'imperialism in the Middle East, even as his party, known as SCIRI (pronounced 

"SEA-ree") [and otherwise also known in Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in 

Iraq (SAIRI)], cooperated. with the Coalition Provisional Authority on the.transfer to Iraqi 

sovereignty -- the likely reason he was targeted for assassination. 

As symbolism goes, the memorial service served to highlight the tangled politics in post 

Saddam Iraq, where idealized notionsM"friend" and "foe" have dissolved into a murJder 

reality. Once, Pentagon war planners like Wolfowitz envisioned the toppling ~ Saddam 

Hussein with clarity, predicting that the long-suppressed Shiite majority in Iraq would 

greet Americans as liberators and that democracy would naturally flower. But clarity has 

!Jeen washed away by images ~ charred American bodies swinging from bridges and 

naked Iraqi prisoners on dog leashes. Yet to emerge is a clear outline 9i a new Iraq, which 

has been tugged in opposite directions by official enemies -- Iran and the United.States - 

that happen to have shared a common interest in Sadda~'s removal. As the largest 

mainstream Shiite party, SCIRI is an important player in Iraq's future, but one with an 

ambivalent history with the United States. Itwas oneMthe opposition groups that the 

United States counted on to help bring down Sad9am. 

Yet SCIRI is also a vehicle in which Iran has invested heavily in a bid for influence in 

post-Saddam Iraq. And so despiteWolfowi~'s hailing 2fthe slain Ayatollah aI-Hakim as a 

kind ~ Shiite Abraham Lincoln, it is far from clear that his Islamist party, which supports 

an Iraqi government run according to Islamic principles, will help build the kind ~ secular 

democracy that the United States said it hoped to leave behind in Iraq. It is likely that the 

new Iraqi constitution will be influenced in some manner by Islamic principles, but it's 

anyb04Y's guess whether a sovereign Iraq -- assuming it stays united -- will look more like 

a secular Turkey, a cleric-run Iran or something in between. 

There are too many competing motives and agendas to predict any outcome with certainty, 

no matter what face US policymakers put on it. The blurring ~ Iranian, American and 

Iraqi interests came into shm> relief last month when Iraqi and American forces raided the 

Baghdad home and offices )ifIraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi on suspicion 

that the one-time Pentagon favorite had betrayed US secrets to Iran. It was a c.onfusing 

turn ~ events, made even more perplexing by the fact that Chalabi, a Shiite, had worked 

openly with Iranians for many y-ears, most prominently-through his contacts withSCIRI, 

which was knQwn to be an arm ~ Iranian intelligence. In fact, SCIRI was active in 

Chalabi's INC from 1992 through 1996 and was named in the 1998 Iraqi Liberation Act, 

signed into law by President Clinton, as one ~ the opposition groups that the United States 

should work with to topple Saddam. It was thus no secret that Chalabi had, a relationship

I , • ..,.. 

o 

o 

with Iranian intelligence. But the salient question quickly became: Which American 

official was so stupid as to tell the INC leader that the United States h~d broken Iran's 

secret communications code, information that US intelligence said Chalabi then passed on 

to Iran? Chalabi had long been an informal conduit between the United States and Iran, 

which have not had formal diplomatic relations since American hostages were seized in the 

1979 Islamic revolution. 

Through SCIRI, the United States kept a back door to Tehran propped open. Had that 

game now gone awry? SCIRI was founded in 1980, at the beginning ~the Iran-Iraq war, 

by Iraqi Shiite clerics who sought a haven from oppression by Saddamwith fellow Shiites 

in neighboring Iran. But the relationship was controversial from the beginning, according 

to Imam Mustafa al-Qazwini, an Iraqi-born Shiite in Los Angeles whose father was a 

founder R! SCIRI. A handsome 42-year..old with a neatly trimmed, graying beard, al 

Qazwini wears a black turban, symbolizing his family's descent from the prophet 

Mohammed. A naturalized.US citizen, he speaks fluent, colloguial En lish. We met earlier 

this month at a "%ashington conference ~the J!!ii~~.t~~L~ii!iim\*s~ocHltioil~pf \nieric', 

an organization !ifpolitically active AmericanShiite Muslims. His father, Ayatollah 

Mortada al-Qazwini, broke with SCIRI's ai-Hakim soon after the group's founding amid a 

dispute about its alliance with Iran, al-Qazwini told me. His father believed that Iraqi 

Shiites would be better served by leaders who remained independent ~ foreign 

governments -- Iranian or American. 

In the mid-1980s, the Qazwini clan left Iran for the United States and its open political 

system. The elder al-Qazwini returned to Iraq last year, settling in Karbala, and, in the 

model b1 Grand Ayatollah Ali al..Sistani, remains aloof from politics in the beliefthat 

clergy should not playa direct role in governance, his son told me. AI-Qazwini said that he 

and his father have rebuffed overtures from the US State Department and the Central 

Intelligence Agency over the years because they did not want to align themselves with any 

foreign governments. "I always feel, ifyou can work freely from these governments you 

should," al-Qazwini said. "Generally Iraqis don't like the ideaMdependence. Once 

someone is seen as collaborating with a foreign government, they might not be as trusted. II 

That has been a problem to varying degrees for both Chalabi and SCIRI in Iraq, he added. 

Still, SCIRI, now led by Ayatollah al-Hakim's younger brother, Abdul Aziz ai-Hakim, 

retains significant clout as the best organized Shiite party, in part because [{the support it 

had from Iran. SCIRI is believed to have taken from Iran an amount similar to the more 

than $30 million Chalabi's INC accepted in U.S. funding before being abruptly cut offlast 

month. And despite its quasi..official relationship with the United States, SCIRI mostly 

kept the Great Satan at arm's length. 

Until 2002, most contacts with the United States were made informally through Chalabi 

and Kurdish representatives, according to SCOO's US-based representative, Karim Khutar 

al-Musawi, who told me about the Eroup over coffee recently in Washington's Mayflower 

Hotel. Aside from acting as a kin~ ~ liaison between the United States and Iran, in the 

mid..'90s SCIRI agents also worked openly with Chalabi in northern Iraq on operations to 

undermine Saddam. Chalabi was then working for the CIA, whose small team in northerri 

Iraq was headed by former CIA operative Bob Baer. "SCIRI was never under any sort ~ 

Western supervision or control. They did exactly what they wanted. And they reported to 

Tehran,II Baer told me. As an American agent, Baer was keen to learn all he could about 

Iran. Chalabi invited him to meet his contacts in Tehran, but Baer had to decline. "I would

(!'- 

o 

o 

have been happy to, but that was a firing offense. The State Department would have gone 

nuts," he said. But there was no restriction on meeting with SCIRI, which, after all, was 

partmthe American-backed Iraqi National Congress. . 

So, Baer said, he talked often with SCIRI agents in northern Iraq, where the Americans 

and Iranians shared a common enemy in Saddam Hussein. A master manipulator, Chalabi 

frequently played Iranian and American intelligence offeach other, Baer said. The most 

serious stunt occurred in February 1995, wheri'Chalabi was gathering support for an 

uprising against Saddam. The Americans were noncommittal and, among other moves, the 

INC leader went fishing for Iranian support. He forged a letter from America's National 

Security Council that appeared to direct him to assassinate Saddam, then left it on his desk 

for Iranian intelligence agents to read, hoping the disinformation would convince the 

Iranians thatthe United States was serious about toppling Saddam, Baer said. "He was 

being very practical about this. He needed the Iranians to thinkth~lan would go through 

so they would let loose with the Badr Brigades,II the armed wing !!f SCIRI. Chalabi's 

uprising, and a parallel coup planned by Sunni Iraqi military officers inside Iraq, collapsed 

amid betrayals by the Kurds and continued ambivalence from Washington. 

The debacle caused both the CIA and SCIRI to part ways with Chalabi in 1996. But by 

2002, when it looked as ifPresident Bush was serious about toppling Saddam, SCIRI 

began sniffing around again. Its representative, al-Musawi, set up shop in Washington. 

And in August 2002, SCIRI logged its first formal contact with the United States when 

Ayatollah al-Hakim~ounger brother, Abdul, traveled to Washington as its representative 

for a pre-war round 91 meetings with Bush administration officials. AI-Hakim "and other 

Iraqi opposition figures met with Secretary ~. Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary ~ 

State Colin Powell and (via satellite hookup) Vice President Dick Cheney, al-Musawi said. 

Also at the 2002 meetings were Chalabi, Iyad Allawi -- the recently named interim prime 

minister ~ Iraq, who has longtime ties to the CIA -- and two Kurdish representatives, 

Massoud Barzani and lalal Talabani. "This was the first official contact for SCIRI, because 

before we did not ~utomatically believe in the American direction -- whether they meant it 

or not," al-Musawi said, referring to the United States' historical ambivalence toward 

removing Saddam, most prominently its failure to support Kurds and Shiites in their revolt 

after the Persian Gulf War, which Saddam brutally suppressed. 

Graham Fuller, former vice chairman ~the National Intelligence Council at the CIA and 

an expert on Islam,.said that the United States must deal with SCOO, despite America's 

preference that Iraq have a strictly secular government. Although SCIRI wants Iraq's 

government to be run according to Islamic principles, that probably does not mean an 

Iranian-style theocracy Fuller said. SCOO's al-Musawi confirmed that view, explaining 

that the party wants a "kind gj separationMchurch and state" in which clergy would not 

become politicians or government officials. Added Fuller ~ SCIRI: "They are 

uncomfortable with American goals in the region, and they would see the American policy 

as hostile, rightly or Wrongly, to any Islamic state, however you interpret that ... They're 

warymAmerican imperialism in general. But that dQesn't mean they weren't willing to 

cooperate in furthering the greater goal ~ removing Saddam. II Abdul Aziz ai-Hakim 

became SCIRI's representative on the United States' handpicked Iraqi Governing Council 

after the March 2003 invasion &f Iraq. But when his brother was killed in the car bombing 

at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf last August, aI-Hakim blamed the United States for 

creating instability and demanded an end to the occupation. Such positions are part ~

-- ----- 

o 

SCIRI's balancing act, Fuller said. "As t~e majority, the Shiites are the beneficiary J!i [any] 

democracy, so they're willing to cut the United States a lot ~ slack as long as the US is 

bringing about the goalMdemocracy. But once they get to democracy, they want the 

United States to please leave," he said. 

A SCIRI member, Adel Abdul Mahdi, will serve as Iraq's finance minister in the interim 

government that takes power in Iraq June 30. Mahdi recently declared that the majority 

Shiites would not stand for limited Kurdish self-rule in the north, setting the stage for a 

showdown with the Kurds who have said they will secede from the central government 

without some guarantee Rf autonomy. Shiites, meanwhile, believe that radical Sunni 

Muslims -- both Iraqis and those newly arrived from other countries -- are targeting their 

leaders for assassination.with suicide bombings in an attempt to drive a wedge between the 

twq sects. What's more, "AI-Qaida is trying to make a war between the Sunni and Shia, to 

destroy the" American project in Iraq and break up the country so the Wahhabis can have 

influence" with Sunnis, asserted al-Musawi, referring to the strict fu~damentalist brand ~ 

Islam that is the official.state religion in Saudi Arabia. In that regard Iran, like the United 

States, also faces uncertainty about its interests in post-Saddam Iraq. A Wahhabi foothold 

in its next-door neighbor would be an unwelcome development for Iranian Shiites, whom 

Wahhabis loathe as infidels. Saddam had kept both Sunni and Shiite religious fervor in 

check through his authoritarian rule. But now there is no guarantee it can be contained. 

Looming behind this internal political struggle between religious factions are the two 

major. powers Rl the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

I 

The degree to which Iraq might become a chessboard on which they move their pawns 

remains uncertain. There are already indications that Wahhabi Islam is taking root in Iraq, 

worried Shiites say. AI-Qazwini, the Shiite imam from Los Angeles, said that on a recent 

visit to Baghdad he discovered that the Urn al-Tubul mosque had been renamed after 13th 

century Islamic theologian Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, an intellectual founder ~ Saudi 

Arabia. IlThere are big signs for the Ibn Taymiyya mosque now. You can see $.em from 

the highway," al-Qazwini said. Fuller thinks it makes sense, with all the countervailing 

forces in the region, for the United States to deal with all major players, even those that 

have ties to Iran. liThe United States has slowly come around," he said. "The first Bush 

administration didn't want to touch the Shia. They were afraid the Shia would take over in 

Iraq" with an Iranian-style theocracy. But, he added, "I think now the US has leamed 

something about the Shia and their more complex nature. The Shia do not love us, but. they 

are grateful that we threw out Saddam. Now they want us to complete the job and leave. II It 

remains unclear which ler~cy will have the most lasting imprint in the new Iraq -- that ~ 

Abraham Lincoln or that ~ the turbaned clerics in Tehran. 

Source: Salon (US), Mary Jacoby, June 16,2004 

http://fairose.laccesshost.comlnews2/salon24.htm 

o

,. 

ANTI·:e 

WAR.S 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED O' 


~TE 07~29~2010 BY 60324 uc bali1/sab/lsg 

Page 1 of6 

C!~PRINTTHIS 

May 28, 2004 

Chalabi-gate: None Dare Call ItTreason 

Neocons behindbars? Sounds goodto me•••• 

byJustin Raimondo 

The fallout from Chalabi-gate continues to rain down on the heads of the 

War Party, opening up the exciting prospect that some neoconsmight well 

wind up behind bars. 

The charge? Espionage, as Sidney Blumenthal informs us: 

'~t a well-appointed conservative think tank in downtown Washington and 

across the Potomac River at the Pentagon, FBI agents have begun paying 

quiet calls on prominent neoconservatives, who are being interviewed in an 

investigation of.potential espionage, ac.cording to intelligence sources. 'Who 

gave Ahmed Chalabi· classified information about the plans of the U.S. 

government and military?" 

This information, says Vince Cannistraro, formerly at the CIA and the 

Pentagon, was so "very, very sensitive" that only a few U.S. government 

officials had access to it: 

"The evidence has pointed quite clearly, not only the fact that Chalabi 

might be an agent of influence of the Iranian government and that 

[Chalabi's intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib] may be a paid agent of 

the Iranian intelligence service, but it is shown that there is a leak of 

classified information from the United States to Iran through Chalabi and 

Karim and that is the particular point that the FBI is investigating. In 

other words, some U.S. officials are under investigation on suspicion of 

providing classified information to these people that ended up in Iran." 

Blumenthal }tas more: 

'~ former staff member of the Offic.e of Special Plans and a currently 

serving defense official, two of those said to be questioned by the FBI, are 

considered witnesses, at least for now. Higher figures are under suspicion. 

Were they· ,witting or unwitting? If those who are being questioned turn 

ouf to· be misleading, they can- be charged ultimately with perjury an,q 

file:/lC:\DOCUME-l\agolwink\LOCALS-l\Temp\XN729MWP.htm 6/13/2005

I ... 

; , - Page 2 of6 

., obstruction ofjustice.Qr them, the Watergate PrinQZe applies: It's not 

the crime, it's the coverup." 

The lie~ Chalabi fed to Washington policymakers, who eagerly scarfed them 

up and regurgitated them to the American public, originated with Iranian 

intelligence, as we are beginning to learn. But the neocon-Tehran 

information superhighway ran in both directions. As Julian Borger reports in 

the Guardian: 

'~n intelligence source in Washington said the CIA confirmed its long-held 

suspicions when it discovered that a piece of information from an 

electronic communications intercept by the National Security Agency had 

ended up in Iranian hands. The information was so sensitive that its 

circulation had been restricted to a handful of officials. 'This was 'sensitive 

compartmented information' - SCI - and it was tracked right back to the 

Iranians through Aras Habib,' the intelligence source said." 

UPI's Richard Sale reports that "the Federal Bureau of Investigation has 

launched a full field investigation into the matter,II and gives more 

information on what was compromised and how the Iranians pulled off this 

intelligence coup: 

"Chalabi allegedly passed National Security Agency/CIA intercepts to 

intelligence agents of the Iranian government using intermediaries or 'cutouts' 

or 'gophers' within the INC, another former CIA agent said. Some of 

the intercepts, dated from December, were the basis for a rec~nt Newsweek 

story, but there are others of a later date in possession of the FBI, this 

source said." 

How did Chalabi get his hot little hands on highly secret information? 

That's why the FBI - instead of going after, say, Brandon .Mayfield, or some 

other completely innocent person, as per usual - is now calling on 

"prominent" neocons at Washington's poshest thinktanks. I hope they're 

bringing an ample supply of handcuffs. But whom might they be 

handcuffing and frog-marching out the door, into a waiting paddywagon? 

UPI gives us the scoop, citing "a former very senior CIA official" as saying: 

"'Chalabi passed specially compartmented intelligence, extraordinarily 

sensitive stuff, to the. Iranians.' This source said that some of the intercepts 

are believed to have been given Chalabi by two U.S. officials of the 

Coalition Provision Authority, both of whom are not named here ·because 

UPI could not reach them for comment." 

Well, they aren't named, but they might as well have been: 

"Qne former CPA official has returned to the United States and is 

'employed at ·the American Enterprise Institute, the fQrme~ very senior 

file:/IQ:\DOCUME-l\agolwink\LOCALS-l\Temp\XN729MWP.htm 6/13/2005

~ offi;ial s~id, a fact wQh FBI sources confinned wQout additional 

comment. The other is still (l working Pentagon official, federal law 

enforcement officials and former CIA officials said." 

Page 3 of6 

Independent journalist Bob Dreyfuss, whose excellent articles on the 

neocons in The American Prospect and Mother Jones puts him up there 

with Jim Lobe, Michael Lind, and Joshua Marshall as a veritable maven of 

neocon-ology, names names: 

"The two officials in the UPI story are, according to my sources, Harold 

Rhode, an officzal'in the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, and Michael 

Rubin, now at the American Enterprise Institute." 

Rubin, formerly of the Office of Special Plans and the CPA, who served as 

liaison with Chalabi's group, the Iraqi National Congress, certainly fits the 

bill. No wonder he's been so tI' cranky lately, what with FBI agents barging 

into his office and giving him the third degree. 

Rhode, a longtime Pentagon official assigned to the Office of Net 

Assessment and a specialist on Islam, is reportedly Douglas Feith's chief 

enforcer of the anti-Arab party line among the civilian Pentagon hierarchy. 

In refusing to be interviewed by Dreyfuss for a piece on the neocons in 

Mother Jones, Rhode's laconic reply was: 

"Those who speak, pay." 

Prescient words, arid truer than perhaps even Rhode realized at the time. 

Hauled up before·a grand jury, however, Rhode, Rubin, and the. rest of 

Chalabi's Pentagon fan club may have .no choice about speaking - especially 

with the prosp~ct of a long "vacationII at a ·federal facility staring them in 

the face. - 

Much is being made of bow the Iranians "duped" us into invading Iraq, and 

"used" the U.S. in getting rid of Saddam Hussein and "paving the way," as 

Julian Borger puts it, for a Shi'ite-ruled Iraq. But a simple map of the 

region- and rudimentary knowledge of the history of the past ~ecade or so 

would ha~e revealed as much. As I wrote in this space over a year ago: 

"In view of Iran's growing sphere of influence in Iraq, it seems rather 

disingenuous to destroy the Sunni minority government run by the Ba'ath 

Party and then deny any responsibility for the Shi'ite-y outcome. The U.S. 

has made a gift of Iraq to Teheran, reigniting the religious passions that 

overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah Reza· Pahlavi of Iran and propelled 

Khomeini to power." 

In charting the outlines of "phase two" of the invasion of Iraq, that same 

week ,last year, I pointed out: 

file:/lC:\DOCUME-l\agolwink\LOCALS....l\Temp\XN729MWP.htm 6/13/2005

" 

Page 4 of6 

• . ~ IITh~ mai~ political c£equence of the war, internatjg is to increase 

Iranian influence: iffree elections were held in the southern Shi'a provin_ces 

of Iraq, they would undoubtedly usher in some sort of 'Islami~ Republic.' 

The effort by the neocons in the administration to install Ahmed Chalabi as 

the Pentagon's puppet, far from forestalling this possibility, only makes it a 

more c~edible threat to the postwar order." 

But why would the militantly pro-Israel neocons, American partisans of the 

ultra-nationalist Likud party, act as patrons and promoters of an outfit, 

Chalabi's INC, that was really a cover for Iranian intelligence - their alleged 

mortal enemies? That's what I couldn't quite figure out, at least not until I 

read Robert Parry's excellent piece on the subject, and here's the money 

quote: - 

'~s Chalabi's operation fed anti-Saddam propaganda into the u.s. decisionmaking 

machinery, Bush also should have been alert to the Israeli role in 

opening doors for Chalabi in Washington. One intelligence source told me 

that Israel's Likud government had quietly promoted Chalabi and his Iraqi 

National Congress with Washington's influential neoconservatives. That 

would help explain why the neoconservatives, who share an ideological 

alliance with the conservative Likud, would embrace and defend Chalabi 

even as the CIA and the State Department denounced him as a cpn man. 

"The idea of Israel promoting an Iranian agent also is not far-fetched if 

one understands the history. The elder Bush could tell his son about the 

long-standing strategic ties that have ~isted between Israel and Iran, both 

before and after the. Islamic revolution of 1979. It was Menachem Begin's 

Likud Party that rebuilt the covert intelligence relationship in 1980. Since 

then, it has been maintained through thick and thin, despite Iran's public 

anti-Israeli rhetoric." 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend: it's a principle, often invoked to 

justify a course of action seemingly in contradiction to the professed 

ideology of the actors. Lined up against a common enemy, American 

Likudniks and Ahmed Chalabi, an Iranian intelligence asset, teamed up to 

drag us into the Iraqi quagmire, with both members of this oddly coupled 

tag-team benefiting from the deal. While the neocons fed Chalabi - and his 

intelligence chief, Arras Karim Habib, a paid Iraqi agent - a steady diet of 

u.s. secrets, Chalabi fed the neocons (in government and much of the 

American media) a fresh serving- of tall tales cooked up in the INC's 

kitchen, and delivered piping hot to Judith Miller's doorstep. 

The Iranians, for their part, feasted on u.s. secrets so deep and dark that 

only a few top officials were privy to them - and had a good chunk of Iraq 

handed to th~m, while a d~ facto Kurdish state emerged as a buffer 

between Isr~~l an9. the ~hfite power rising in the East. The whole thing- was 

file:/lC:\DOCUME-l\agolwink\LOCALS-l\Temp\XN729MWP.htm 6/13/2005

," Page 5 of6 

, ..' sup;osed'to have beeQresided over by the ostensiQpro-Western Chalabi, 

t4e neocons' Alger Hiss. That was the pl~Jl, at any rate, but something 

seems to have gone awry.... 

As in the Abu Ghraib photo-gallery of horrors, the nature of the crime 

suggests that a few lowly spear carriers -Rubin is just barely out of knee 

pants, and Rhode was certainly not in the loop on super-sensitive 

intelligence - didn't pull this off all on their own. Before it's all over, 

Chalabi-gate will reach into the favored nesting place of the neocons, the 

very top echelons .of the Pentagon. 

As UPI editor Martin Walker reports: 

"The real target goes beyond Chalabi. The hunt is on, in the Republican 

Party, in Congress, in the CIA and State Department and in a media 

which is being deluged with leaks, for' Chalabi's friends and sponsors in 

Washington - the group known as the neo-cons. In particular, the targets 

seem to be Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the former assistant 

secretary (in Reagan's day) Richard Perle, Vice President Dick Cheney's 

national security aide Scooter Libby, and the National Security Council's 

Middle East aide Elliott Abrams. The leaking against them - from sources 

who insist on .anonymity, but some CIA and FBI veterans - is intense. 

Some of the sources are now private citizens, making a good living 

through business connections in the Arab world." 

Speaking of business connections, how does Richard Perle maKe his living 

except by using his governmentconnections to profit handsomely from the 

war-driven neocon agenda? Oh well, never mind that: let's get to the juicy 

'part. Walker also reports that these poor persecuted neocons "are now 

beginning to fight back, II and in a familiar fashion: 

"Richard Perle told this reporter Tuesday that the gloves were off. ... Perle 

has no doubts that some of the attacks on him are- coming directly from 

the CIA, in. order to cover their own exposed rears, attacking Chalabi's 

intelligence to distract attention from their own mistakes. 7 believe that 

much of th~ CIA operation in Iraq was owned by Saddam Hussein,' Perle 

said. 'There were 45 decapitation attempts against Saddam - and he 

survived them all. How could that be, if he was not manipulating the 

intelligence?'" 

Gee, I guess this means that, on account of all those failed IIdecapitation 

attempts" on Fidel Castro over the years, the Cuban Communists exercised 

joint ownership of the CIA along with Saddam's Ba'athists. Oh, what a Perle 

of wisdom, but the Prince of Darkness was just getting started: 

"Perle went on to suggest an even darker motiv_e behind the attacks on the 

neo-cons; that the real target was Israel's Likud governm~nt a11:d the 

file:/IC:\DOCUME-l\agolwink\LOCALS-l\Temp\XN729MWP.htm 6/13/2005

Page 6 of6 

.." sta~nch ~upportfor /;tel's prime minister Ariel sOon in the Bush 

administration. When this was put to one CIA source, the reply was 

mocking: 'That's what they always do. As soon as these guys get any 

criticism, they scream Israel and anti-Semitism, and I think people are 

finally beginning to see through that smokescreen.'" 

How and why an investigation into Iranian penetration of our most closely 

guarded secrets constitutes evidence of "anti-Semitism" is a question I'll 

leave (or weightier intellects to ponder. But such an unseemly outburst 

ought to put to rest any' doubts about a neocon-Iranian convergence of 

interests: we know something's afoot when both Richard Perle and the 

Iranian mullahs sound absolutely identical in tone as well as content. 

We knew what the neocons were capable of: smearing their enemies, lying 

about practicallyanything, even outing a CIA agent doing high-priority 

undercover work. Is anyone surprised that they're capable of espionage? 

Perle is right about one thing:· it's time to take the gloves off. 

-Justin Raimondo 

Find this article at: 

hltp:/lwMY.antiwar.comijustinl?articleid=2683 

o Check the bOx to include the list of links referenced in the article. 

file:IIC:\DOCUME-l\agolwink\LOCALS-l\Temp\XN729MWP.htm 6/13/2005

.... 


The New Yorker: PRINTABLES HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

oDATE 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/sQ~U;1 

Page i or9.. 

THE NEW YORKER. 

FACT 

lEfTEI\ A\0a"1 WASHINGION 

REAL INSIDERS 

by JEFFREY GOLDBERG 

A pro-Israel lobby and an F.B.I. sting. 

Issue of 2005-07-04 

Posted 2005-06-27 

Several years ago, I had dinner at Galileo, a Washington restaurant,. with Steven Rosen, who was the 

the director offoreign-policy issues at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The group, whi( 

is better known by its acronym, AIPAC t lobbies for Israel's financial and physical security. Like many 

.lobbyists, Rosen cultivated reporters, hoping to influence their writing while keeping his name out of 

print He is a voluble man, and liked to ,demonstrate his erudition and dispense aphori~ms. One that he 

ofte~ repeated could serve as the credo ofK Street, the Rodeo Drive ofWashington's'influence ~ 

industry:. "A lobby is like a night flower: it thrives in the dark and dies in the sun." 

Lobbyists tend to believe that legislators are susceptible to persuasion in ways that executive-branch 

bureaucrats are not, and before Rosen came to AlPAC, in 1982 (he had been at the RAND Corporation, t 

defense-oriented think tank), the group focussed mainly on Congress. ButRosen arrived brandishing f 

new idea: that the organization could influence the outcome ofpolicy disputes within the executive 

~ranch-in particular, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the National Security Council. 

Rosen began to court officials. He traded in gossip and speculation, and his reports to AlPAC's leaders 

helped them track currents in Middle East policymaking before those currents coalesced into executivi 

orders. Rosen also used his contacts to carry A1PAC'S agenda to the White House. An early success car 

in 1983, when he helpedlobby for a strategic cooperation agreement between Israel and the United 

States, which was signed over the objections ofCaspar Weinberger, the Secretary ofDefense, and 

which led to a new level of-intelligence sharing and -military sales. 

AlPAC is a leviathan among lobbies, as influential in its sphere as the National Rifle Association and th 

. American Association ofRetired Persons are in theirs, although it is, by comparison, much smaller. 

(AIPAC has ~bout a hundred thousand members, the N.R.A. more than four million.) President Bush, 

speaking at the annual AIPAC conference in May of2004, said, "You've always understood and warneagainst 

the evil ambition ofterrorism and their networks. In a dangerous new century, your work is 

more vital than ever." AIPAC is unique in the top tier oflobbies because its concerns are the economic ' 

health and security ofa foreign nation, and because its members are drawn almost entirely from a sing 

ethnic group. 

AIPAC's pr~fes~ional staft'=-it employs about a hundred people at its headquarters, two blocks from the 

Capitol-analyzes,congressional voting records and shares the results with its members, who can then 

contribute money to candidates directly or to a network ofproIsrael political-action committees~ The 

Center for Responsive Politics, .a public-policy group, estimates that between 1990 at!d 2004 these PA( 

gave candidates and parties more than twenty million dollars~ 

Robert H. Asher, a former AIPAC president, told me that the PACs are usu8Ily given euphemistic names 

eel started a PAC called Citizens Concerned for the National Interest," he said. Asher, who is from 

Chicago, is a retired manufacturer oflamps and shades, ,and a member ofthe so-called Gang ofFourformer 

presidents ofAlPAC, who steered the group's policies for more than two decades. (The three 0 

others are Lany Weinb~~ a California real"estate developer and a fonner owner ofthe Po~and T!"lIiI- ? ~ 

- http://www.newyorker.comlprintableslfaetl05Q704f!1.J.~ ~~~~ 15- .eP~OO~[ z.,"Ii\'

'The New Yorker: PRINTABLES 

o 

. 

o 

Blazers;'Edward Levy, a construction-materials executive from Detroit; and Mayer "Bubba" 

Mitchell, a retired builder based in Mobile, Alabama.) 

Page20f9 

AIPAC, Asher explained, is loyal to its friends and merciless to its enemies. In 1982, Asher led a 

campaign to defeat Paul Findley, a Republican congressman from Springfield, Hlinois, who once 

referred to himself as "¥asir Arafat's best friend in Congress," and who later compared Arafat to 

Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

"There was a real desire to h~lp Findley out ofCongress," Asher said. He identified an obscure 

Democratic lawyer in Springfield, Richard Durbin, as someone whQ could defeat-Findley.. "We 

met at my apartment in Chicago, and I recruited him to run for Congress," he recalled. "I probed; 

his views and I explained things that I had learned mostly from AIPAC. I wanted to make sure,we 

were supporting someone who was not only against Paul Findley but also a friend of.Israel." 

Asher went on, "He beat Findley with a lot ofhelp from Jews, in-state and out-of-state. Now, 

how did the Jewish money find him? I travelled around the country talking about how we had the 

opportunity to defeat someone unfriendly to Israel. And the gates opened." Durbin, who 'Went on 

to win a Senate seat, is now the Democratic whip. He is a fierce critic ofBush's Iraq policy but, 

like AIPAC, generally supports the Administration's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict., 

Durbin says that he considers Asher to be his "most loyal friend in the Jewish community." 

Mayer Mitchell led a similar campaign, three years ago, to defeat Earl Hilliard, an Alabama 

congressman who was a critic oflsr~el. Mitchell helped direct support to a young Harvard Law 

School graduate named Artur Davis, who challenged Hilliard in the Democratic primary, and he 

solicited donations from AIPAC supporters across America. Davis won the primary, and the seat. 

"I, asked Bubba how he felt after Davis won," Asher said, "and he said, CJust like you did when 

Durbin got elected.' " Mitchell declined'to comment. 

AIPAC's leaders can be immoderately frank about the group's influence. At dinner that night with 

Steven Rosen, I mentioned a controversy that had enveloped AIPAC in 1992., David Steiner, a 

New Jersey real-estate developer who was then serving as AlPAC's president, was caught on tape 

boasting that he had "cut a deal" with the Administration ofGeorge H.·W.. Bush to provide more 

aid to Israel. Steiner also said that he was "negotiating" with the incoming Clinton 

Admini~tration over the appointment ofa pro-Israel Secretary ofState. "We have a dozen people 

in his"-Clinton's-"headquarters .. " and they are all going-to get big jobs," Steiner said. Soon 

after- the tape's existence was disclos~d, Steiner resigned his post. I aske~ Rosen ifAIPAC suffered 

a,loss ofinfluence after the Steiner affair. A halfsmile appeared on his face; and he pushed a 

napkin across the table. "You see this napkin?" he said. "In twenty-four hours, we could have the 

signatures ofseventy senators on this n~pkin~" 

Rosen was influential from the start. He was originally recruited for the job by Larry Weinberg, 

one ofthe Gang ofFour, and he helped"choose the group's leaders, including the current 

executive director, Howard Kohr, a Republican who began his AIPAC career as Rosen's deputy. 

Rosen, who can be argumentative and impolitic, was never a candidate for the top post. "He's a 

bit ofa kochleJlf'-the Yiddish term for a pot-stirrer, or meddler-Martin Indyk, who also served 

as Rosen's deputy, and who went on to become Preside~t Clinton's Ambassador to Israel, says. 

Rosen has. had an unusually eventful private life, marrying and divorcing six times (he is living 

again with his first wife); and he has a well-developed sense ofparanoia. When we met, he would 

sometimes lower his voice, even when he was preparing to deliver an anodyne pronouncement. 

"Hostile ears·are always listening," he was fond ofsaying. 

Nevertheless, he is a keen analyst ofMiddle East politics, and a savvy bureaucratic infighter. His 

http://www.ne)v:y.Qlker.comlprintableslfactJ0507Q4fa_fa~ 6/27/2005

The New Yorker: PRINTABLES 

o 

o 

Page 3 of.9 

views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are not notablY"4aw.kish;' he. onc~ c~l~ed bimselfCCtoo 

right for the left, and too left for the right." He is a hard-liner on.only one subject-Iran-and this 

preoccupation help"ed shape A1PAC's position: that Iran poses a greater threat to ~srael than any 

other n~tion. Inthis way, AIPAC i~ in agreement with a long line ofIsraeli leaders; including 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who fears Iran's nuclear intentions more than lie ever feared 

Saddam Hussein's. (AIPAcJobbied Congress in favor ofthe ~q war, but Iraq ~as not been one of 

its chiefconcems.).Rosen's main role at A1PAC, he once told me, was to collect evidence of· 

"Iranian perfidy" and share it with the United States. 

Unlike American n~oconselVatives, 

who have openly supported the Liktia Party over the m~re 

liberal Labor'Party, AIPAC does not generally take sides,in Israeli politics. But on Iran AIPAc's 

views resemble those ofthe neoconselVatives. In 1996, Rosen and other AIPAc,stattmembers 

helped write, and engineer the passage ot: the Iran and'Libya Sanctions Act, which imposed. 

sanctions on foreign oil companies doing business with tliose two countries; AIPAC ,is determine~-, 

above all, to deny Iran tl!e ability to m~ufactUre nuclear weapons. Iran was a main focus ofthis 

year's AIPAC policy conference, which was held in May at t~e Washington Convention Cente~. 

Ariel Sharon and ~ecretary ofState Condoleezza Rice, amorig others, addre.sse


o 

o 

Page 4 of9 

The conversation at the banquet~ and just about everywhere else in official Washington at that 

time, centered on the coming war in Iraq. "We may well hope that With the demise ofa truly evil 

and despotic regime in Iraq, we will see the liberation ofone ofthe most talented peoples in the 

Arab world," Wolfowitz said in his speech. Franklin did not seem especially concerned with the 

topic at hand: As we stood outside the banquet hall, he said that Iran, not Iraq, would tum out to 

be the most difficult challenge in the war on terror. · 

Then, as now, the Administration was divided on the question ofIran. Many ofthe political 

appointees at the Defense Department hoped that America would support dissidents in an- attempt 

to overthrow·Iran's ruling clerics, while the State Department argued for containment. Even 

within the Defense Department, many officials believed that it would be imprudent to make 

regime change in Tehran a top priority., "There are neocons who thought Iran should come sooner 

and neocons who thought it should come later/' Reuel Marc Gerecht, ofthe American Enterprise. 

Institute, told me., As for Franklin~ Gerecht, a fo~er Iran specialist in the c;:lA.'sDirectorate of 

Operations, said, "It's fair to say that Lany was imp~tient with Bush Administration policy on 

Iran." In the Pentagon's policy office, I learned later, it was sometimes said that Franklin 

inhabited a place called planet Franklin., Gerecht referred to him as "sweet, bumbling Larry." 

A year later, onareporting assignment in Israel, I ran into Franklin at the Herzliya Conference, 

which is the Davos ofthe Israeli security establishment. He said, that he was there on Defense 

Department business., We talked briefly about Iraq-itwas eight montHs after the invasion-~d, 

as we spoke, General Moshe Ya'a1on, then the Israeli Army chiefofstaff: swept into the room 

surrounded by bodyguards and unifonned aides. "Wow," Franklin said. 

We stepped outside, and he talked only about Iran's threat to America. "Our intelligence is 

blind," he said. "It's the most dangerous country in the world to the U.S.,.and we have nothing on 

the ground. We don't understand anything that goes on. I mean, the C.I.A. doesn't have anything. 

This goes way deeper than Tenet"-George Tenet, who was the director ofcentral intelligence at 

the time.> He continued, "Do you know how dangeroys lran.is to our forces in the Gulf? We have 

great force~oncentration issues now'~-the presence of Americ~troops in Iraq-~'and the 

Iranians are very interested in making life difficult for American forces. They have the capability. 

You watch what they're do,ing in Iraq. Their infiltration is everywhere.." 

Franklin seeme~ more frustrated with American policy in Iran than he had the year before. "We 

don't understand that it'"s doable-regime change is doable," he said. "The people are so 

desperate to become free, and the mullahs are so unpopular. They're so pro-American, the 

people." Referring to the Bush Administration, he said, "That's what they don't understand," and 

he added, "And they also don't understand how anti-American the mullahs are.," Franklin was 

convinced that the Iranians would commit acts ofterrorism against Americans, on American soil. 

"'J;hese guys are a threat to us in Iraq and even at home," he said. 

Franklin was not a high-ranpng Pentagon official; he was five steps removed in the hierarchy 

from Douglas Feith, th~ Under-Secretary for Policy. For two years, though, he had been trying to 

change Atp.erican policy., His efforts took many fonns, including calls to reporters, meetings with 

Rosen and Weissman and with the political counsellor at the Israeli Embassy, Naor Gilan. 

According to Tracy O'Grady-Walsh~ a Pentagon spokeswoman, he w~ not acting on behalfof 

his superiors: "IfLanyFranklin was fonnally or infonnally lobbying, he was doing it on his 

own." , 

Franklin also·sought infonnation from Iranian dissidents who might aid his cause. InDecember 

of2001, he and Rhode met in Rome with Michael'Ledeen and'a group ofIranians, including 

Manucher Ghorbanifar. Ledeen, who helped arrange the meeting, told me that the dissidents gave 

Franklin and Rhode infonnation about Iranian threats against American soldiers in Afghanistan. 

·http://www.newyorker.comlprintableslf~ctl05Q7_04ftLf~~t 6/27/2005 

",


, 0 o 

Page 5 of9 

(Rhode- did not return calls seeking comment.) Franklin was initially skeptical~about the meeting, 

Ledeen said, but emerged believing that America could do business with these dissidents. 

Franklin's meetings with Gilon and with the two AIPAC men make up the heart ofthe indictment 

against him. The indictment alleges that Rosen-"CC;.I," or "Co-Conspirator 1"-caIIed the 

Pentagon in early August of2002, looking for the name ofan Iran specialist. He made contact 

with Franklin a short time later, but, according to the indictment, they did not meet until February 

of2003 .. In their meetings, according to seve~ people with knowledge ofthe conversations, 

Franklin told the lobbyists that Secretary ofState Colin Powell was resisting attempts by the 

Pentagon to formulate a tougher Iran policy. He apparently hoped to use AIPAC to lobby the 

Administration. 

The Franklin indictment suggests that the F.BJ. had been watching Rosen as well; for instance, it. . 

alleges that, in February of2003, Rosen, on his way to a meeting with Franklin, told someone'on' , 

the phone that he "was excited to meet with a 'Pentagon 8\1Y' because this person was a 'real 

insi~er..' " Franklin, Rose~, and Weissman met openly four times in 2003 .. At one point, the 

indictment reads, somewhat mysteriously, "On or about March 10,2003, Franklin, CC-I and CC 

2"-Rosen and Weissman"'::"~cmet at Union Station early in the morning. In the course ofthe 

meeting, the three men moved from one restaurant to another restaurant and then finished the 

meeting in an empty restaurant." 

On June 26, 2003, at a lunch at the Tivoli Restaurant, near the Pentagon, Franklin reportedly told 

Rosen and Weissman about a draft ofa National Security Presidential Directive that outlined a 

series oftougher steps that the U.S. could"take against the Iranian leadership. The draft was 

written by a young Pentagon aide named Michael Rubin (who is now affiliated with the 

American Enterprise Institute). Franklin did not hand over a copy ofthe draft, but he described its 

contents, and, according to the indictment, talked about the "state ofinternal United States 

government deliberations." The'indictment also alleges that Franklin gave the two men "highly 

classified" information about potential attacks on American forces in Iraq. 

In mid-August of2002, according to the indictment, Franklin met with Oilon-'identified simply 

as "FO," or "foreign official"-at a restaurant, and Oilon explained to Franklin that he was the 

"policy" person at the Embassy. The two met regularly, the indictment alleges, often at the 

Pentagon OfficerS' Athletic'Club, to discuss "foreign-policy issues," particularly regarding a 

"Middle Eastern couniry"-Iran, by all accounts-and "its nuclear program." The indictment 

suggests that Franklin was receiving information and policy advice from Gilon; after one 

meeting, Franklin drafted an "Action Memo" to his supervisors incorporating Oilon's 

suggestions. Oilon is an expert on weapons proliferation, according to Danny Ayalon, the Israeli 

Ambassador, and has briefed reporters about Israel's position on Iran. A-ccording to Lawrence Di 

Rita, a Pentagon spokesman, it is part ofthe "job description" ofDefense D~partment desk 

6ffigers to meet with their foreign counterparts. "Desk officers meet with foreign officials all the 

time, not with ministers, but interactions with people at their level," he said.. The indictment 

contends, however, that on two occasions Franklin gave Oilon classified information. 

The is~ue ofIsrael's activities in Washington is unusually sensitive. Twenty years ago, a civilian 

Naval Intelligence analyst named Jonathan Pollard·was caught stealing American secrets on 

behalfofan Israeli intelligence cell-a"rogue" cell, the Israelis later claimed. Pollard said that he 

'was driven to treason because, as a Jew, he could not abide what he saw as America's 

unwillingness to share crucial intelligen~ with Israel. Pollard's actions were an embarrassment 

for American Jews, who fear the accusation of"dualloyalty"-the idea that they split their 

allegiance between the United States and Israel. For Israel, the case was a moral and political 

disaster. And there are some in the American intelligence community who suspect that Israel has 

never stopped spying on the United States. 

http://www.newyorker.com!printableslfactJ0507.04(a_fac! 6/27/2005


'0 o 

Page60f9 

b7E 

~ii~rthis month, Ayalon told me iliat lS~el dQes not "collect any intelligence on the United 

S~tes, period, full stop.. We won't do anything to risk tpis most important relationship.~' In any 

case, he said, there was no need to spy, ~'because cooperation is so intimate and effective between 

Israel and th~ U.S." Ayalon als9,said that Gilon, who is returning ~o Jerusalem later this summer, 

remains an important member ofhis staff; in recent months, Gilon has attended meetings at the. 

State Department, the Pentagon, and the White House. 

a...- 

n June of2004, F.B.I. agents searched Franklin's Pentagon office and his h9me in·West 

.rginia, and allegedly found eighty-three classified documents. Some had to do with the Iran 

ebate, but some pertained to Al Qaeda and Iraq. (A separate federal indictment, citing the 

ocumentS, has be~anded d~~. i_n.}\'~t VIrginia.) ~~9r:d~pg.tQ a~p'er:sQn;:with.~owl~~g~ of 

~~i!l~S-~as~,Jh~ilg~J~\q;~~ftT!6':af~~~q~#i~W~!~§ffi~~et~~W-9j@~g:~g~~~ ..~ 

.:": ~~~'::'~~~~lIffanldiii:fiiced·ftiiD%tli~~Qcum~~~~fQ~.na 'ift:,hi~;,Ii.QiJsef29.ulg~~!f~li~nijii~ 

~9.!t~llie~~IlfS2~~:J?~~!!!;~w.h~;!!ig[#,.Q~l&~v~~:I~:wYe~;;~gr~~.g.;t9t~9Jw1m~~!~~~~g~Oh9t 

i?~~~!f~Jl1:W.~i~!~!ialllio~~~~ppiieiitlY;lie:MiaS~ndtgiYeii~fii:reiUrnr~j~p'eCj.~Pt9.iP.~~~j~·"::-·-:::> 

{!~ni'e1i,*;Soon,he was wired, and was asked to contact the two AIP!\C employees. On July-21s~~ 

Fiiiiidin called Weissman and said that he had to speak to him immediately-that it was a matter 

oflife and death: They arranged to meet outside the Nordstrom's department store at Pentagon 

€ity.. 

A month before that meeting, The New Yorker had published an article by Seymour HerSh about 

the ~ctivities o(Israeli intelligence agents in northern Iraq. Franklin, who held a top-secret 

security clearance, allegedly told Weissman that he had new, classified info.rmation indicating 

that Iranian agents were planning to kidnap and kill the Israelis referred to by Hersh. American 

intelligenc~ Iqtew ~out tile threat, Franklin ~aid, but Israel ~ight not. He also said that the 

-Iranians had infi~trated southern Iraq, and were planning attacks o~ American soldiers. Rosen and 

Weissman, Franklit) hoped, .could insurethat senior Administration officials received this news..It 

is unclear whether what ;FranklilJ. relayed was troeor whether it had been manufactured ~y the 

F.B.I. TheBureau has refused to comment on the case. 

Weissman hurried back to AlPAC's headquarters. and briefed Rosen and Howard Kohr, AIPAC's 

executive director. According to AIPAC sources, Rosen and Weissman-asked K.ohr to gtve the 

information to Elliott Abrams, the senior Middle East official on the National Security CounciL 

Kohr didn't get in touch with Abrams, but Rosen and W~issman made two calls. They called. 

Oilon and told him about the threat to Israeli agents in Iraq, and then they called Glenn Kessler, a 

diplomatic correspondent at the Washington Post. and told him about the threat to Americans. 

A month later, on the morning ofAugust 27,2004, F.B.I. agents vi~ited Rosen· at his home, in 

Silver Spring, Maryland, se~king to question him. Rosen quickly called AlPAC'S lawyers. That 

night, CBS News reported that an unnamed Israeli "mole" had been discovered in ~he Pentagon, 

and that the mole had been passing documents to two officials of.AI?AC, who were passing the 

documents on tQ Israeli officials. 

Within days, the names ofFranklin, Rosen, and Weissman were made p~bl~c. The F.B:I. 

informed Franklin that he was going tQ be charged with illegal possession ofclassified 

documents. Franklin was said by friends to be frightened, ~nd surprised. He said that he could not 

afford to hire a lawyer. The F.B.I. arranged for a court-appoiIited' att~rney to represent him .. The 

lawyer, a former federal prosecutor, advised him to plead guilty to espionage charges, ana receive 

a prison sentence ofsix to eight years. 

&16~1Jlj~~F~id1i~t~cii;~fi~~i~li~~I;~~4~~9;~m~;~J~;.~9~m~t!eI~:.o~~n .~ ~ _.~ 

• ..........---...._~..~~..~Lo~ p... _- -=-:a..-..-"'=:. ~.'''- 'C'I.~'''''~"_,,,,--,,:,:"'Ilo.~ 

. . http://www.newyorker.corolpri~!!l!?I~{~~t!Q?Q7Q4t~Ja~ _-. _ _ . '6/27/2005'

- 0 o 


Page.70f9 

policy. "Icalled him and said, 'Larry, what's going on?' "·Ledeen recalled. "He said, 'Don't 

worry.. Sharansky' "-Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident-" 'survived years in the 

Gulag, andI'll survive prison, too.' I said, 'What are you talking about?' He told me what was 

going on. I asked him ifhe had a good lawyer."'Ledeen called the criminal-defense attorney Plato 

Cacheris. "I knew him from when he served as Fawn's attorney," Ledeen said, referring to Fawn 

Hall, who was Colonel Oliver North's secretary at the time ofthe Iran-Contra affair. Cacheris has 

also represented Monica Lewinsky and the F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen, who spied for Moscow. 

Cacheris offered to represent Franklin pro bono, and Franklin accepted the offer.. 

AIPAC launched a special appeal for donations-for the organization, ~ot for Rosen and 

Weissman.. "Your generosity at this time will help ensure that false allegations do not hamper our 

ability or yours to work for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and a safe and secure Israel," AlPAC'S 

leaders wrote in the letter accompanying the appeal. 

But in December four AIPAC officials, including Kohr, were subpoenaed to testify before a grand 

jury in Alexandria, Virginia. In March, AlPAC's principal lawyer, Nathan Lewin, met with the 

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District ofVirginia, Paul McNul~, who agreed to let Lewin see 

some ofthe evidence ofthe Pentagon City sting. According to an AIPAC source, an eleven-second 

portion ofthe telephone conversation between Rosen, Weissman, and the Post's Glenn Kessler, 

which the F.B.I. had recorded, was played for Lewin. In tha~ conversation, Rosen is alleged to 

have told Kessler about Iranian·agents in.southem Iraq-information that Weissman had received 

from Franklin. Inthe part ofthe conversation that Lewin heard, Rosen jokes about "not getting in 

trouble" over the infonnation. He also ~otes, "At least we have no Official Secrets Ace'-the 

British law that makes journalists li~ble to prosecutiQn ifthey publish classified material. 

Prosecutors argu~d to Lewin that this sPltement proved that Rosen and Weissman were aware that 

the info~ation ,Franklin had given them was classified, and thatRosen must therefore have 

mown that he was passing classified information to Oilon, a foreign official. Lewin, who 

declined to comment on the case, recommended that AlPAC fire Rosen and Weissman. He also 

told the board that McNulty had promised that AIPAC itselfwould not be a target ofthe espionage 

investigation. An AIPAC spokesman, PatrickDorton, said ofthe firing, "Rosen and Weissman 

were dismissed because they engaged in conduct that was not part oftheirjobs, and because this 

conduct did not comport with the standards that AIPAC expects and requires ofits employees.tt 

When iasked Abbe Lowell, Rosen's lawyer, about the firings, he said, "Steve Rosen's dealings 

with Larry Franklin were akin to his dealings with executive-branch officials for more than two 

decades and were well1a).own, encouraged, and appreciated by AIPAC.." 

and Rosen in Lowell's office, which these days is a center of 

Washington sqandal management.. (He also represents the fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff.) Lowell 

had instructed Rosen not to discuss specifics of}he case, but Rosen expressed disbeliefthat his 

career had'been ended by an F.B.I. investigation. "I'm being looked at for things I've done for 

twen~-three years, which other foreign-poli9Y groups, hundreds offoreign-policy groups, are 

doing," Rosen said, and went on, "Ourjob.at AIPAC was to understand what the government is 

doing, in order to help fonn better policies, in the interests ofthe U.S. I've never done anything 

illegal orharmful to the U.S. I never even dreamed ofdoing anything harmful to the U.S." Later, 

he said, "We did not knowingly receive classified infonnation from Lany Franklin." Lowell 

added, "When the facts are known, this will be a case not about Rosen and Weissman's actions 

but about the government's actions." Lowell said that he would not rehearse his arguments 

against any charges until there is an indictment. J' 

Lastmonth, I met with Low~ll 

Rosen said that he was particularly upset by the al~egation that, because he had informed OiloD 

http://www~newyorker~comlprintableslfactJOS0704faJ~ct 6/27/2005


. 0 

o 

P~ge8of9 

that Israeli lives might be in danger, he.was a spy forIsrael. "IfI had been given information that 

British or Australian soldiers were going to be kidnapped or killed in Iraq, I think I would have 

done the same thing," he said."'!'d have tried to warn them by calling friends atthose e~bassies." 

He wants to believe that he could return to AIPAC ifhe is exonerated, but this does not seem 

likely. AIPAC leaders are downplayillg Rosen's importance to the organization.. "AIPAC is focussed 

primarily on legislative lobbying," Dorton told me. Rosen's severance pay will end in September, 

although AIPAC, in accordance with its bylaws, will continue to pay legal fees for Rosen and 

Weissman. 

Rosen's defenders are critical ofAIPAC for its handling ofthe controversy. Martin Indyk, who is 

now the director ofthe Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a think tank within the Brookings 

Institution, thinks that AIPAC made a tactical mistake by cutting offthe two men. "Itappears 

they've abandoned their own on the battlefield," he says. "Because they cut Steve on: they leave. 

him no choice." Indykwouldn't elaborate, but the implication was clear: Rosen and Weissman 

will defend themselves by arguing that they were working in concert with the nighest officials of 

the organization, including Kohr. 

Until there is an indictment, the government's full case against Rosen and Weissman cannot be 

known; no one in the Justice Department will comment. The laws concerning the di~semination 

ofgovernment secrets are sometimes ambiguous and often unenforced, and prosecutors in such 

cases face complex choices. According to Lee Strickland, a former chiefprivacy officer ofthe 

C.I.A., prosecutors pressing espionage charges against Rosen and Weissman would have t9 prove 

that the information the two men gave to Gilon not merely was classified but rose to the level of 

"national-defense information," meaning that it could cause dire harm to the United States.. Yet a 

reporter who called the Embassy to discuss the same iJiformation in the course ofpreparing a 

story-thus violating the same statute-would almost certainly not be pro~ecuted., Strickland 

continued, "Twice in the Clinton Administration we had proposals to broaden the statutes to 

include the recipients, not just the leakers, ofclassified information.. TheNew York Times and the 

Washington Post went bat-shit about this legislation. They saw it as an attempt to shut down 

. leaks." IfAmerican law did punish those who receive, and then pass on, or publish, privileged 

information, much ofthe Wasllington press corps would be in jail, ~ccording to Lee Levine, a 

First Amendment lawyer. So would a great many government officials, elected and appointed, for 

whom classified information is the currency ofconversation with reporters and lobbyists. 

Strickland, who said that he had spent much ofhis career a~ the C.I.A. "shutting down" leaks, 

called the AIPAC affair ''uncharted territory." It is uncommon, he said, for an espionage case to be 

built on the oral transmission ofnational-defense information. He also said, "Intent is always an 

element. IfI were a defense attorney, I would-argue that this was a form ofentrapment. The 

F.B.I. agents deliberately set my client up, put him in a moral quandary.." He added, however, that 

although ajury might recognize the quandary, the law does not. "Just because you have 

information that would help a foreign country doesn't make it yourjob to pass that information." 

Even some ofAIPAC's most vigorous critics do not see the Rosen affair as a tradi~onal espionage 

case. James Bamford, who is the author ofwell-received books about the National Security. 

Agency, and an often vocal critic ofIsrael and the pro-Israel lobby, sees the case as a cautionary 

tale about one lobbying group's disproportionate influence: "What Pollard did was espionage. 

This is a much di(ferent and more unique animal-this is the selling ofideology, trying to sell a 

viewpoint." He continued, ''Larry Franklin is not going to knock on George Bush's dOOf, but he 

can get AIPAC, whic~ is a pressure group, and the Israeli government, which is an enormous 

pressure group, to try to get the American government to change its policy to a more aggressive 

policy." Bamford, who believes that Weissman and Rosen may indeed be guilty ofsoliciting 

information and passing it to aforeign government, sees the cas.e as a kind ofbmshback pitch, a 

way oflimiting AIPAC'S long-and, in Bamford's view, dangerous-reach.. 

http://www.newyorker.comlprintableslfacY950704faJ~ct 6/27/2005

, 'The New Yorker: PRINTABLES 

o 

• 

o 

Page90f9 

Other AIPAC critics see the lobby's behavior as business as usual in Washington. "The No.. ! 

game in Washington is making people falking to you feel like you're an insider, thatyou've got 

infonnation no one else has," Sam Gejdenson, a fonner Democratic congressman from 

Connecticut, says. When Gejdenson opposed a proposal to increaSe Israel's foreign-aid allocation 

at the expense of'more economically needy countries, AIPAC, he sai~, responded by "sitting on its 

hands" during his reelection campaigns, despite the fact that he is Jewish. "It's like any other 

lobbying group," he said. "Its job isn'tto come up with.the best ideas for mankind, or the U.S. 

It's narrowly focussed." 

AIPAC officials insist that the case has not affected the organiiation's effectiveness. But its 

operations have certainly been hindered by the controversy ofthe past year, and the F.B.I.. sting 

may force ~obbyists ofall sorts to be more careful about trying to penetrate the,e~ecutive 

branch-and about leaking to reporters. And AIPAC now seems acUtely sensitive to the 

appearance ofdual loyalty. The theme ofthis year's AIPAC conference was "Israel, an American 

Value," and, for the first time,'1'{atikvah," the-Israeli na~onal anthem, was' not sung. The only 

anthem heard was "The Star-Spangled Banner.." + 

http://www.newyorker.comlprintableslfactJ05~0704fa_f~~t 6/27/2005

National News 

~ .. 

. -- .- 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED . 

HEREIN IS TJNCLAS SIFIED ~ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc ba~J1Sg 

Page l,of.5 

Home 

Local NeVIs, _ 

.National News 

Israel News .. -~ 

-.- 

Int~ri1ation-al ~ews 

~l!lnlo~-= 

Books' 

--=---- 

Cal.enda-r 

-c-~. 

~g~dults 

-......- 

~estaurants 

::ron ........- 

Food, . 

~~-t"_~.....c:· 

Milestones - 

- . 

~~~!Idays' ____ 

.- 

SourceBooJ( 

-- 

Sh'opping' 

Marketplace 

- 

Personals 

About Us 

.Adyertisers 

Criinmuni~te,. 

Coinmu.Oity Unks' 

jsea~cti~ 

~ Current 

o Arch~ 

search 

- 

National News 

Lawye:r; Franklin Used In AIPAC Sting 

Ron Kampe~ and Ma~thew E. Berger 

Special to the Jewish Times 

JULy 11~2005 

Washington 

Lawrence Franklin, the Pentagon analyst at the center ofthe 

gove~entts espionage case ~gainst two fonner employees ofthe 

American Israel-Public ~airs Committee, "walke4 onstage" in,to an 

on$Qing investigation ofAlPAC offici~s, according ~o his attorney: ' 

Plato'Cacheri~"o~e ofWashingtonts best-knoW!} espionage lawyers, 

told ITAin a recent interview that,he is representing Franklin for.free 

because he feels his client was unfairly targeted. 

til felt for him,It Cacheris said. "I fett pe was unfairly put upon. It 

.Franklin was indicted lastmonth'on charges th~t he conspired to 

reveal classifie9 information to two AlPAC officials; former policy 

director SteveRosen andfonner Iran analyst-Keith Weissman, and an 

Israeli Embassy employee" 

Franklin's trial is se~ to start-Sept. 6. The midlevel Iran analyst has 

plead not guilty. 

"Franklin~'Yalkoo onstag~; there already was an inve~tigation going 

on not involyinghim,II Cacheris said. 

I _. - -http;/Iwww;jewishtimes.comlNewsl4833.stm.... 

Pro~ecutors and other g~vemment o~cials hav~ refused to comment 

on the case. 

The infQrm~tion that F~nklin allegediy relayed to Rose.~ and 

Weissman centered on Irant~ activities in post-invasion Ir~q. 

·Cacheris t assertion th~tFranklin was an accidental target,in the case 

reinforces the perception held by tho~e close to the defense of 

Weissman a~dRoserl that the't}Vo former AlPAG eD:lployees were the 

FBrs original targets. - 

- -)-f 

~r-OJ.&1IS·-Mfuo05 ;k 

~( ~'&-

National News 

o o 

Page2of5 

Indeed, Franklin's in~ictmetit cites as evidence apparently tapped 

phone conversations ofRosen even before he met Franklin, 

suggesting that the government stumbled across Franklin in the 

course oftracking Rosen. 

Another source familiar with the government's case against Rosen 

says an investigation was launched as early as September 2001 

because the Bush administration wanted to quash what it believed 

was a promiscuous culture ofleaking in Washington. Rosen was 

renowned for his access t9 inside infonnation., 

.Cacheris would not speculate about the government's rationale for the 

case. "There seems to me there is something driving it,II he said. 

"What it is, I don't know yet." 

Five ofthe six charges in Franklin's indictment focus on his 

relationship with Rosen and Weissman; the sixth involves his 

relationship with Naor Oilon, head ofthe political desk at the ~sraeli 

Embassy in Washington.. According t~ the indictment, Franklin's 

acquaintance with Oilon predates his meetings with Rosen and 

Weissman. 

Cacheris said a relationship between Gilon and Franklin - two men 

with a professional interestin Iran - was hardly surprising. He 

characterized the indictment's implication that Franklin sought 

some$ing from Israel in exchange for infonnation as "rather flimsy.." 

The indictment mentions a store giftcard Franklin received from 

Oilon and a letter ofreference Oilon 'wrote on behalf ofFranklin's 

daughter, who was going to visit Israel. 

Franklin sought Cacheris' legal· assistance late last year after the FBI 

said it would press charges againsthim, even though he had 

cooperated with the government's investigation ofRosen and 

Weissman. 

Asked why Franklin agreed to the FBI's alleged request last June to 

participate in a sting operation involving Weissman and Rosen 

without even asking for a lawyer or any quid pro quo, Cacheris 

smiled.. 

"Larry's a little bitguileless - maybe a lot guileless - and maybe a 

bit unsophisticated for a guy with a Ph.D. in Asian studies," said 

Cacheris, a Southerner with an awncular manner and a fondness for 

seersucker suits. liThe questions that you would have asked, he didn't 

ask." 

tllf he had a lawyer up front, we wouldn't be talking today," Cacheris 

said. 

http://www.jewishtimes.comlNews/4833.stm 7/13/2005

National News 

o o 

Page 3 of5 

In the alleged sting on July 21,2004, Franklin called Weissman and 

insisted that they meet as soon as possible., When they met later that 

day at a shopping mall, Franklin told Weissman that Iranian agents 

planned to imminently kidnap, torture and kill Israeli and American 

agents in northern Iraq, according to sources. 

Franklin reportedly asked Weissman to relay the information to 

Elliott Abrams, then the assistant national'security adviser at the 

White House in charge ofdealing with the Middle East. The 

presumption was that AlPAC would have better access to the White 

House than a mid-level Iran analyst at the Pentagon. 

The reliability ofthe information has never been verified, but 

Cacheris insists Franklin was embroiled in a sting operation. 

"He was given a script, II the attorney said. 

Weissman relayed the information to Rosen, and together they told 

their boss, AIPAC's executive director Howard Kohr, asking him to 

pass it on to Abrams, according to multiple sources. There is no 

evidence that Kohr shared the infonnation with Abrams or anyone 

else or that he knew itwas classified. 

The government has assured AlPAC that nei~her itnor Kohr are 

targets in the investigation, AlPAC has said.. 

Cacheris said he does not know ifthe alleged sting was directed at 

anyone beyond Rosen or Weissma~. 

The two AlPAC staffers also relayed the information to Gilon at the 

Israeli Embassy and to Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post's State 

Department correspondent, according to sources close to the defense. 

Those two conversations are expected to be central to the case against 

Rosen and Weissman.. Indictments against the two are expected to be 

handed down sometime this summer.. 

The government will "argue that relaying classified infonnation to a 

foreign agent is an act ofespionage and that Rosen and Weissman 

made it clear in their conversation with Kessler that the information 

was classified, according to defense sources familiar with the 

government's case. 

Weissman and Rosen will say they did not know that the information 

was classified and that the·government is distorting their conversation 

with Kessler, according to sources close to the former AIPAC 

officials. 

In ~ugust 2004, about a month after the alleged sting, FBI agents 

raided the offices ofRosen and Weissman atAlPAC headquarters. In 

http://www.jewishtimes.comlNews/4833.8tm . 7113/2005

National News 

o o 

Page 4 ofS 

January, the government convened a grand jury in Virginia to 

consider the case. 

Cacheris, famous for handling high-profile espionage cases 

including those against the FBI's Robert Hannsen and the CIA's 

Aldrich Ames -- doesn't believe the government has a lot to go on. 

The exchanges that Rosen, Weissman and Franklin allegedly had are 

"very comJ:llon," Cacheris said. "People in this city are talking every 

day about stuffthey're not allowed to talk about. It's not 

inappropriate." 

AIPAC fired Weissman and Rosen in March, after months of 

defending their integrity, citing infonnatio~ that ar.ose out ofthe FBI 

investigation. 

Franklin also faces charges in West Virginia, his place ofresidence, 

where he is alleged to have violated a ban on removing classified 

documents from the Virginia-Maryland-D.C.. region by taking some 

items home.. Franklin was reprimanded in the late 1990s for the same 

reason but was allowed to keep his security clearance. 

Cacheris said he wasn't currently negotiating a deal 'for Franklin.. 

"We will not plead to an espionage count because we don't think that 

is justified,tI he said. 

Cacheris did not rule out agreeing to a plea bargain on a lesser charge 

in the future. 

This story reprintedcourtesy of~he Jew~sh_Telegraphic Agencv. 

To read more, pick.up a copy ofthe Jewish Times at one ofour 

newsstand ~.

•.... 

o 

ALL 


o 

HEREIN IS lU~CLASSIFIED 


TheNation. 

Click here to return to the browser-optimized version ofthis page. 

This article can be found on the web at 

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050801&s=rozen 

The Big Chill 

by LAURA ROZEN 

[posted online on July 14,2005] 

A chill has taken hold lately among both government officials and the US media. It 

comes in the wake ofa US district court's decision to jail a New York Times reporter for 

refusing to reveal to a grand jury her sources in the Bush Administration and the FBI 

investigation ofa Pentagon Iran analyst for leaking classified information to former 

officials with the pro-Israel lobby group A.IPAC. As a result, those who engage in what 

have long been standard Washington practices--reporters ferreting out information from 

government sources, those sources confiding in policy associates, lobbyists and reporters 

-have become increasingly inhibited in carrying out their jobs. 

Even as a press frenzy surrounds a grand jury investigation ofwhether top presidential 

advisor Karl Rove leaked a CIA officer's identity to the press, unease in the Washington 

policy and journalistic communities is also evident. In the wake ofTimes reporter Judith 

Miller's jailing and in fear ofgovernment prosecution, the Cleveland Plain Dealer has 

decided, on the advice ofits lawyers, not to publish two major articles based on ieaked 

government inform~ion. At a recent gathering in a suburban Maryland living room, the 

conversation among a handful offoreign policy experts and reporters was about the sense 

offear and clampdown. One government expertwas convinced office phone 

conversations were regularly monitored by higher-ups, and reporters noted that senior 

government sources, intimida(ed by the Franklin investigation, have become more tightlipped. 

While the Franklin!AlPAC investigation is often described as-a counterintelligence case, 

it too is really about government leaks, and the B~sh Administration's determination to 

plug them. On September 9, 2001, the New York Times published a story by then-State 

Department correspondent Jane Perlez, who reported a major shift in what had been the 

Bush Administration's rejection ofthe ClintonAdministration'sde~p engagement in 

trying to broker a peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. Perlez reported that 

after months ofrefusing to meet with Yasir Arafat, George W. Bush would grant the

o 0- 

Palestinianleader' his first audience with the new,US President at an upcoming UN 

General Assembly gathering in Ne~ York IIifprogress, were made. irihigh-ievel talks 

between ~he Palestinians.and the Israelis. 1t 

That meeting between -Busli and Arafat never happened.'Two ,days after the Times story 

appeared, Al Qaeda terrorists c~hed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon 

and a field in Pennsylvania,·killing"ahnost' 3,'000 people. In,the aft~.l'!lla~ ofthose attacks~ 

few people recalled tqat for a briefmoment in the late'summer of2001, the Bush 

Administration had considered meeting with Ara~at and deepening its poUtic~1 

involv~ment in the Israeli..Palestinian co~ict. 

Everyone forgot, except the FBI. According to a recent report by the Jewish,Telegraphic' 

Agency, it w~ that September 2001 hew~ article; based on leaks ofsensitive 

A4ministration deliberatiQns, that prompted then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza 

Rice to. demand'~ FBI leak inves_tigatio~ that has since taken on.a dramatic life ofits 

~wn. Mo~t recently, the i~vestigation has led to the federal grand jury indi~tment, 

unsealed last ~onth' ofPentag9~Iran desk officer Larry Franklin op charges involving 

conspiracy to disclose classified national defense infonnation ~o unauthorized recipients! 

It is expected to lead to indictments, under the.Espionage Act, oftwo recently dismissed 

employees 9fthe American Israel Pu1?lic Affairs Committee for engaging in a conspiracy 

to receive and-pass on to other unauthorized-recIpients what they knew to be classified 

information. They are AIPAC's former director offoreign pol~cy research, ,Steve Rosen, 

:and his deputy, Iran specialist I{eith WeissIl:l~. Among .those the FBI reportedly wants to 

interview as a potential witness in its'investigation is a"Washington Postjoumalis~ who 

was allegedly briefed on some of.the classifie

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

o 

o 

In interviewing several s~urces knowledgeable about the investigation, what emerges is a 

complex portrait ofWashington Mideast policy-making at a critical time, in the aftermath 

ofthe September 11 attacks, when ther~ were near-constant interagency battles over the 

direction ofUS policy, not just on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but toward Iran and 

Iranian-backed forces in Iraq as well. What also emerges is a more detailed picture ofthe 

modus operandi ofa brilliant and, some say, ruthless bureaucratic infighter at the 

country's premiere Mideast lobbying group, who was emboldened by his long 

relationships with figures in and around the Bush Administration and the Washington 

.scene to behave almost as an unofficial diplomatic entity in' his own right. 

The fact that that brilliant player, Steve Rosen, could become the target ofa 

counterintelligence investigation during this Republican Administration is rich inJrony., 

Several former Rosen associates describe him as a genius at political strategy and 

subterfuge, the Karl Rove ofJewish-American politics, who helped engineer the lobby 

group's shift to the right on the American political spectrum; helped broker a strategic 

alliance between the pro-Israel lobby and Republican far-right legislators, including 

Senator Jesse Helms, in the 1980s; and who marshaled his organization's resources to 

conduct de facto intelligence operations ofhis own. 

As former associates and AlPAC officials describe it, those operations were replete with 

enemies' lists ofjourn~listsand public figures. Rosen sent AlPAC interns as spies to take 

notes on the political views ofother members ofthe small world ofJewish community 

political activism. One former AlPAC intern told The Nation that he was sent by Rosen 

to Arab-American conferences disguised as a WASP-y, pro-Palestinian liberal to find out 

which US Congressional candidates the attending groups were supporting. Former 

associates recite a list ofAlPAC officials with Democratic staff ~onnections on Capitol 

Hill who were purged from the organization in part, they allege, because ofRosen's 

strategic efforts to move AIPAC decisively to the right. (Sources close to Rosen say that 

he wasn't acting on pis own in any ofthese endeavors, but as part ofthe organization. A 

source close to AI;PAC downplays these activities and suggests that many ofthem ended 

years ago.) 

Rosen's "entire goal was to shift the organization away from a heavy reliance on 

Democrats and switch it to Republicans," says M.J. Rosenberg, director ofthe 

Washington office ofthe Israel Policy Forum and the former editor ofan AIPACweekly 

newsletter who overlapped with Rosen at the organization in the early'1980s. "Why? 

Because he thought, maybe correctly, that the wave ofthe future was the right wing of 

the Republican Party." 

While such alleged efforts have made Rose.n an object ofcontroversy among some more 

left leaning members ofthe politically-active Washington Jewish policy communitx, 

even those who are not his fans do not believe Rosen is a spy. They describe a man 

motivated not so much by concern for Israel as a quest for behind-the-scenes power in 

WashingtoJ;l. "Steve Rosen doesn't give a damn,about Israel," a Jewish community 

activist who requested anonymity explained. "These are game players. For them, it's all 

about the game."

o 

o 

For Rosen, that game became focused on Iran some time ago, in the early 1990s. 

According to fonner AIPAC sources, the reasons included a request by then-Israe~i Prime 

Minister Yitzhak Rabin thatAIPAC to stay out ofdelicate OS-Israel negotiations over 

the Mideast peace process. 

"From...when Rabin came in, Steve's mandate has been to go after Iran, largely because 

Rabin didn't want him messing around with the peace process, It says one veteran lobbyist 

who requested anonymity. "Steve took it and ran with it beyond anyone's expectations. 

So what comes out ofit is that you have a [US] Iran'policy that AIPAC is driving. And 

this went well into the last [Clinton] Administration. 

"Then along comes a new Administration that is made up ofthe same neocons that _were 

promoting the [hawkish] Iran policy," the veteran lobbyist continued, "but this 

Administration was divided down the center.... On the one hand, you have the 

neocons...on the other side, you have Powell and Richard Armitage and the State 

department [and the CIA], who want to try to open up a dialogue. One is for 

confrontation, and one is for dialogue.... So the neocons, the Iran hawks, know that they 

have got a natural ally...at other think tanks around town who feel the same way they 

do.... They also have AIPAC, which has made [Iran] its number-one issue.... My guess is 

that they went to AlPAC and the others with the same message: 'You have friends we' 

don't have. Help us to persuade them to see it our way.ttI 

Persuading political heavyweights to see things his way was what Rosen was all about. 

Sources tell The Nation that Rosen has a long history ofcultivating executive.branch 

sources [see Rozen, "Hall ofMirrors," posted here in May], milking them for 

information, boasting about his access to AIPAC's funder~ and leadership, and engaging 

in strategic press leaks as a regular part ofhis efforts to influence policy and engage in 

bureaucratic warfare. 

Indeed, the unsealed twenty-page Franklin indictment offers a fascinating peek into the 

government's view ofthe Pentagon analyst and the AIPAC officials cultivating one 

another, presumably attempting to tip the Bush Administration toward a harder line 

against Iran. For the AIPAC officials, Franklin--who often appears frustrated at 

bureaucratic obstacles to this harder line-seems to have offered grumbling and insights on 

the bitter interagency Iran policy debates inside the AdministratioQ..For Franklin, the 

AlPAC officials must have seemed like sympathetic political sophisticates, freed from 

the tyranny ofworking in *e govemment'bureauc~cybut with impressive influence 

among high-level officials in the White House and key members ofCongress. Indeed, in 

a fascinating reversal ofthe ordinary official-lobbyist relationship, it appears from the 

indictment that Franklin thought Rosen could bypass the bureaucracy and take Franklin's 

infonnation straight to the White House, and possibly "put in a good word for him" to get 

ajob at the National Security Council. . 

But the Franklin indictment raises a key question: What exactly is the nature ofthe 

conspiracy the government believes it has uncovered? The kind ofinfonnation the 

AlPAC officials seemed most interested in wasn't intelligence but policy inf0t:rnation: .

t • 

., 

o 

o 

who in the bureaucracy was arguing which position on Iran, who were the obstacles to 

the adoption ofhard-line policies and the like. 

"I don't think anyone's spying for anyone,II says a Jewish community activist, no fan of 

Rosen's, -who asked not to be named. "Rosen is not working for Israel, because' he was 

working for a separate'sovereign entity [AlPAC]. Franklin just wanted to be' a policy 

nerd, to advocate for a policy he thought wasn't getting enough attention." 

But there, are seeming anomalies to this benign interpretation ofthe relationship to be 

found in the Franklin indictment as well. The most interesting·and surprising'part ofthe 

indictment describes fourteen meetings between Franklin and ,an "FO" (foreign officer), 

widely reported to be Israeli Embassy political officer Naor Oilon. They met in;the op~en, 

at the Pentagon Officers' Athletic Club.and Washington-area coffee shops and 

restaurants, between 2002 and 2004. The last part ofthe indictment asserts that at some 

point Franklin disclosed to Oilon "clapsified United States government information 

relating to a weapon~.test conducted by a Middle Easte11l country," presumably Iran. It is 

hard to discount such an unauthorized disclosure to a foreign government official as an 

ordinary leak. 

Another intriguing issue: The indictment describes Franklin's returning from one ofhis 

meetings with Oilon in May 2003. and drafting an "Action Memo to his supervisors, 

incorporating suggestions made by the FO during the meeting." This suggests the FBI 

may be interested not only in alleged leaks ~om Franklin to unauthorized recip~ents but 

in the possibility ofFranklin's feeding information from those officials back into the 

system, in an effort to influence US policy toward Iran. This raises the question of 

whether tqe government thinks the nature ofthe conspiracy was not only a matter of 

unauthorized leaks but also a coordinated effort by Franklin and perhaps his alleged coconspirators 

to shape the US policy environment in a kind ofagent-of-influence scenario. 

The US Attorney's office declined to comment on the case. 

.--........---.-"-.-----............ 

t:..':.v~~--:-'--". 'V.. _ ".,...--=::::::: -= ... pw , ::--••..• -RAP "'~ 

4~~..~~Ji(rNdiion -has le~ed that among the ~o~uments the FBI ~1s. hiitS possessi~ii:isa~Fn:to 

-·wntten by Rosen In 1983, soon after he JOined AIPAC, to hiS then-boss descnblng hi~. J 

,liaving been informed about the contents ofa classified draft ofa White House positionj 

I, .~aper concerning the Middle East and telling his boss that their inside knowledge o(iti.~ 

',4raft might enable the group to influence the final document. The significance wou!d 

~~em to be an effort by the FBIto establis~ a pattern ofRosen's accessing classifi~d· .r . 

f 

i '!hformation to which he was not authorized, not just from Franklin but over_tnany -Y~ars. 

''':R~~'s:~~~~~~~,~ecU~eg!~q. ~9.l~~~ent .9n,th~:a~I~!!~t~n~ --- ~-:- ~.'~. ..,' .. 

Sa..... 1lIL_~... ~.....;::r:tC. .... ,__ .... __ .. .,.:..,'" .... 

Stephen Green, a Vermont state legislator and former UN official who in the-1980s 

pursued independent scholarship critical ofIsraeli-US relatiqns including by requesting 

thrpugh the Freedom ofInformation Act (FOIA) State Department documentation on 

counterintelligence probes, says the FBI's concerns about Rosen pre-date the September 

2001 news leak incident. Green says in meetings with FBI investigators'last year, "I was 

told by investigators ~at his name has showed up in wiretaps more than '!nce over time, II

o 

o 

Green told Th!! Nation. What's mort!, Green says, he believes the FBI considers Franklin 

only a little fish useful to getting Rosen. 

For,mer FBI attorney Harv~y Rishikof says that both theories, that this investigation is 

a~out leaking, or that it is motivated by graver counterintelligence concerns, could be 

true. "They are not necessarily opposing theories,1I Rishikof told The Nation. IIIfyou are 

worried about counterintelligence.issues, and counterintelligelwe issues are also related to 

leak issues, so that individuals are using strategic leaks baSically for counterintelligence 

purposes, you then'link up the two threads...If you were the government, the leaks then 

become the method py which you are able to shut down what appears to be a 

counterintelligence problem." 

The full picture ofthe government's·case against Rosen will not emerge until an 

i~dictment is handed down, assuming there even is one. It is not even clear how he 

originally appeared on the FBI's radar screen. But ifprosecutors focus on Rosen's alleged 

long-term cultivation ofexecutive branch sources, who might have improperly shared 

with him privileged information about US national security deliberations, it's a twist on 

what we"understand·as a typical spy story, because such behavior, at l~ast in its 

unclassified form, is the very currency ofthe capital: Washington lobbyists cultivating 

inside sources and trading information with them to influence policy. 

Whether it was the FBI's intent~on or not, one result ofthe franklin!AlPAC investigation, 

along with the jailing ofMiller in the Wilson investigation, has been the fortressing ofthe 

executive branch; the danger is that this could enable t~e Bush Administration to shape 

policies with even less consultation from the public and Congress.,

... .. 

.\ 

o 

ALL 




ww w . b ~ ~ ret 1: • com. 

Last update - 09:42 09/08/200~ 

The $ilence of'the Jewish le~ders 

By Shmuel Rosner 

Last week, an indictment was issued agaiilst Steve Rosen and Keith· 

Weissman, two former AIPAC. employees.-They are c~arged'with 

passing claSsified security information, received~during their work at 

the Jewish lobQY, to various people, including employees ofthe 

Israel~ Embassy in Washington~ This charge sheet r~ises trou!,ling 

questions. But is this the whole ~torY?.Is·,this why Rosen-was under 

surveillance for six years? 

'Commentators, reporters, legal expert~ .and va~ous organizations 

have already begun delving into the material. Lucy Dalglish,~ 

executive director· ofthe Reporters CQll)mittee for:F~eedom 'ofthe 

Pre~s, was.quoted in a sho~t"article in The New York Times as saying 

s~e was concerned ~bout-the chilling effect such an investigatipn will 

have on journalists. The same word was used by, Laura Rosen in T~e 

N'ation,-a radical left institution which cannot be accused of 

ip.stinctive sympathy f~r AlPAC, under '~he headlipe liThe Big Chill.II 

'. 

They both appear'to believe that the investigation serve~ the interests 

ofthe Bush administration, 1Vhi~h is stricter onJ~aks th.an its 

predecessors •. Ifone buys this explantion; the meaning is simple: 

Rosen and Weissman are the victims through ~hoin a message is 

being delivered. Anyone who tries to get information will have to 

.face.Fecieral·investigators~l;3ad news for media representatives, 

lobbyists an~ memqers ofresearch institutes. . 

The investigation is also bad n~ws for the Jewish community. Dozens 

ofpeople, most ~fthem Jews, have already been questioned. rhere' 

were those who felt anger, particularly whel.1 asked questions such as, 

"Does AIPAC have dualloyalties?" or "Why do Jews actually have to 

act on'behalfofIsrael?" They'told their friends they were asked ' 

"strang~ questions." Som~ ofthem called one Jewish organization or 

another in order to ask, "Why-don't you say something? Why don't 

you make your voice heard?" 

They are still waiting. Jewish leaders are keeping silent·-- but not 

becau~e·they have nothing ,to say. On the co.ntrary, in private 

,

~' 

o 

conversations in the U.S. and'Jemsalem they have a great deal to say 

about the investigatiqn. For example: "The motives behind it are not 

pure. Even ifI did not always like the organization [AlPAC], I don't 

,feel comfortable with this inquiry;" or "The FBI's motives are anti 

Semitic. It is no coincidence that they made problems for [former 

ambassador to Israel] Martin Indyk because ofa computer he took out 

ofthe office, apd [the former national security adviser] Sandy Berger 

about pocuments. They suspect all the Jews;" or "There is nothing to 

this affair. It is total nonsense. Someone decided to latch onto AIPAC 

to take them down a peg or two;" or "There are people who don't like 

the idea that an organization connected with Israel has so much Rower 

and influence. They anyway consiger the Jews' loyalty as 

questionable.. They are going to trY people for somethiJ:lg that is done . 

in Washington every day.." - 

This is how leaders on the right and left, Orthodox and Reform, heads 

ofcommunities and organizations put it. Dozens ofconversations 

revealed almost identical opinions. It is amazing: In private .. 

conversations t)ley will talk, but in public they keep mum. No . 

persecution, no anti-Semitism and noexaggeratiqn. 

", 

Jewish leaders believe that enmity toward Israel or toward Jews has 

made someone go crazy. But they remain quie~ because this enmity 

paralyses them. It leads Jews to wonder whether it is worthwhile to 

get involved in a public debate that will end in sensitive questionsof 

dual loyalty. A depate that those who hate Israel would be happy to 

see and use to sow dou!>t and suspicion and to incite. The media and 

the Internet are already full ofstupid or b~d people who are eager to 

use the affair to lambast "the.JewishlIsraelilneo-Conservative lobby." 

Those who wish ~osen w~ll are prepared to e-mail anyone who 

requests it an article by Prot: Aaron Kirschenbaum, liThe Bystander's . 

Duty t~Rescue in Jewish Law." The charges against Rosen include 

using classified information in order to warn the Israeli embassy 

about Iranian agents who might abduct Israeli soldiers in Iraq. Is there 

any Jewish leader who would get informatiol) ofthis kind and keep 

silent? It's a difficult question. The answer cannot always be 

explained easily to the public. 

Therefore it is possible that the decision to remain silent makes sense 

from a tactical point ofview. Perhaps, as one ofthose who is keeping 

quiet told Haaretz, it is best to "let the legal au~oriti~s do their job" in 

the hope that the pair will be exonerated. Perhaps, as one expert 

lobbyist proposed, "There are tacit ways to deal with matters like 

this," or perhaps, "We have to wait until the facts ~e completely 

clear." 

..

Q 

Only it.wouid have ~~en tl)uch'easier tQ'beii~ve all.ofPtese 

explanations. ifthose ~ho:express them did..~ot already have firm 

opinioris apout t.he·iJivestjgation, without waiting:for ~he !'facts~' a~d 

without rely~ng oil !'theJegal'syst~in." A re~onable opinion, 

considering the fliiI!sy'nature ofthe ~harges. 

If I'm not mist~¢n~ ·it was law j>.rofesso~ AlaJ:l Dershowitz wlig~aid 

that" Jews in America are not "g~ests-in someone else's ho~se/ ·but 

their silenc'e about the·AIPAC· affair sometimes seems like the silence 

of~' guest. Even -if'ft i~ justified for'reasons o£caiit~QIi or etiquette, . 

even if ~t cmi be understood, it ~everlheless makes' o~e' feel- somewhat 

un.easY· 

... 

·~om€? ofthe .Jewis!l'leadets aQmit t9 this. ~ut onlY.in private.. 

lh,ase:n/obje~ts/pagesiPrintArticleen.jhtml~itemN~=610107 

~ . 

close win~~w· 

..... - . - .. 

... -L-.... _ ~ - •• __ ... -. ...... _ ....._n __ 

-. 

- .....-- ---......... .... --'-''" _A_ _ .................. 

-. 

_... - - .........--. 

-'

Message 


HEREIN IS lTIJCLASSIFIED 

(!)TE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/SabJE)' 

Page 1 of4 

r. 

I. 

, 

KRAMARSIC, BRETT M. (WF) (FBI) 

From: 

Sent: 

8/22/2005 

BRIDGES. TRACEY J. (WF) (FBI) 

Friday. August 12. 2005 8:09. AM 

To: PAULLlN.G. SCOTT M. (WF) (FBI); LOEFFERT. JANICE S. (WF) (FBI); ODONNELL. THOMAS J .. 

(NY) (FBI); PORATH. ROBERT J. (WF) (FBI); FORTIN. BRIAN G. (WF) (FBI); LURIE. ERIC S. 

(WF) (FBI); MARKLEY. JAMES S. (WF) (FBI); DOUGLA,S. STEPHANIE (WF) (FBI); MCDERMOTT. 

WILLIAM R. (WF) (FBI); KRAMARSIC. BRETT M. (WF) (FBI) 

Subject: FW: WpO l"iOO for you guys... 

Two Ex-AIPAC Staffers Indicted 

JewishTimes.com 

Ron Kampeas and Matthew E., Berger' 

August 11. 2005 

'ALEXANDRIA, VA -- The indictment of two former officials 

of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee suggests 

that the government wants to prove ~n extensive pattern 

· of trading classified information. 

Paul McNulty, the U.S. attorney for eastern Virginia who handed down the 

indictment here Aug. 4, decisiyely counted out the pro-Israel lobby as a t?rJ .. 

target in the inqUiry. Still, the broad scope CSf the charges -- stretching back V 

more years and covering a broader array of U.S. and Israeli officials than was C2~AI/ 

previously known _. is sure to send a chill through Washington's lobbying U' · \,~ 

community. The indictment charge~ Steve Rosen, AIPAC's former policy 

\ director,.and Keith Weissman, its former Iran analyst, with "conspiracy to 

communicate national defense information to people not entitled to receive 

it," which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Rosen is also 

charged with actual communication of national defense information, also 

punishable by 10 years in prison. 

The charges against the former AIPAC staffers do not rise to the level of 

espionage, which the defendants and their supporters had·feared. Weis~man 

and Rosen are expected to appe~r in an Alexandria, Va., federal court on 

Aug. 16. Attorneys for Rosen and Weissman expressed confidence that they 

would handily beat the charges. "The charge~ in the indictment announced 

today are entirely unjustified,~'said a statement from Rosen's attorney, Abbe 

Lowell. "For 23 years, Dr. S~eveRosen ha!fbeen a passionate advocate for 

America's national interests in the Middle East. He regrets that the 1'4 

government has moved ahead with this indictmeot but looks forward to being" G 

- {~D..,,\iJF- ~~6%"-JJc../ 

~~ 4Ltlv1~-

Message 

o 

. 

vindicated at tri~I." Weissman's lawyer, John Nassikas, said he looked 

forward to challenging th~ charges "vigorously in court." 

o 

Page 2 of4 

AIPAC announced last Friday that it had hir~d former Justice Department 

officials who now work-for Howrey LLP, a major Washington-based 'aw firm 

that consults with organizations engaged in lobbying, to r~viewits lobbying 

practices. "The conduct of Rosen and Weissman was clearly not p~rt of their 

job," an AIPAC official said. "However, we made a decision that the events of 

the last year warranted an internal review'of policies and procedures related 

to information collection and dissemination." "The goal is to ensure that 

nothing like this can ever happen again," the official said. Previously 

disclosed government documents have focused only on activity dating back 

to 2003. . . 

Those documents outlined interactions with only one midlevel government 

official, former Pentagon Iran analyst Larry Franklin, who has already b~en 

indicted ~in the case, and one Israeli diplomat, political officer Naor Gilon, who 

ended a three-ye'ar tour of duty in early August. The indictment lists charges 

invo·lving incidents dating-back to 1999, four years before the AIPAC staffers 

met Franklin. The charges are re.lated to information o~ °lran and terrorist 

attacks in Central Asia and Saudi Arabia that was allegedly exchanged with 

three U.S. government officials and three staffers at Israel's Embassy in 

Washington. A source close to the defense said pne of the U.S. officials 

involved, who has not been indicted, was rec~ntly appointed to a senior Bush 

administration post., 

The source, who asked not to be identified, wo.uld not name the official. The 

indictment for the first time acknowledges ttlat the 1:81 used Franklin in a 

sting operation against Rosen and Weissman. It includes five charges 

against Franklin in addition to thpse against the two former AIPAC staffers,! In 

indicting all three with "conspiracy to com.municate national defense 

inform~tion to persons not entitled to receive it," McNulty made it clear that 

the target was much broader: those in Washington who trade in classified 

information. "Those entrusted with safeguarding our nation's secrets must 

remain faithful to that trust," McNulty said. "Those not authorized to receive 

classified information must resist the temptation to acquire it, no matter what 

their motivation may be." 

The charges against the two former AIPAC staffers do not rise to the level of 

the crime committ~d by Jonathan Pollard, who plead guilty in 1986 to spying 

for Israel. Pollard plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to ~eliver 

'national defense information to aid a foreign government, which is punishable 

by life imprisonment. The indictment agail:Jst Ros_en and Weissman does not 

anywhere allege that Israeli officials ever solicited the information, nor does it 

say that Israel compensated them for the information. McNulty suggested he 

8/22/2005

Mess~ge 

. 

O· o 

.Page 3 of4 

1- would' argue~thaftheintent was critical. He'described Franklin, ·Ro.sen~n~ 

'Weissmaf) as."individuals who put their own interests and. views of A.merican 

foreign policy af.lea~ of America's national security.1I Lowell, Rosen's, 

attorney, described the charges as a "misguided attempt to criminaliz~the 

·public's right to pa.rttcipate in the politlcal·process." 

The ind~ctment includes' a'iaundry list of contacts Rosen and Weissman, had 

with U;~.governm~ntoffici~ls and Israeli Embassy officials. ,It notes that' 

Rosen had security clearance when he was an official at the Pentagon-allied 

. Rand Corporatio~ think tank in the late 1970s and early 1980s, apparently to 

underscore that Rosen would have known the implications of receiving 

classified Information. The in~ictment also,'lists conversations 'Ro~en 

allegedly had with an Israeli. diplomat in 1999 ab9ut terrorist act~ in Central 

Asia that Rosen allege~ly described as "an extremely sensitive piece of 

intelligence."'It does not name the official. Also outlined is aconversation 

that Weissman had in 1999 with the same official about a, 1996 attack on U.S. 

troops in Saudi ArabiCjl, in Yihich Weissman discu~sed what"he allegedly 

called a "secret .FBI, classified F_BI. report." 

In. 2000, the indictment alle"ges, Rosen relayed classified inform~tion from a 

U:S•.government official'to' the. media. The information, according to the 

indic'tment, concerned U.S. sfrategy in the Mid~le East. hi 2002, Ro~en 

relay~d information about the terroris~ group AI·Qaida from 81l0ther ' 

. government official -- the official a defense source ~ays,was recently 

promoted to a senior gove-:-nment position •• to other AIPAC officials, the 

indictinent..alleges. In Mar~h 2003, Rosen and Weissman allege~ly r~~eived' 

classified informati~n from Franklin on U.S. policy on Iran and relayed"it to 

another IsraeU di~lomat. He also allegedly disclosed the information to a 

"senior fellow·at a Washington, D:~~, think tan~" and to the media, the 

indictment said. 

In ~uoe of the s"ame year, Franklin allegedly relayed to·Weissman 'and Rosen, 

classifi~d. information about Iranian activity ~n Iraq, newly occ,upied by a ~.S.: 

led force. By, July 2004', the indictment said, the gov.ernment,had: co-opted 

Franklin and used him to set up Weissman and Rosen in-a sting. In that 

operation, Franklin allegedly war~ed Weissman that Iranian a'gent~ planned to 

kidnap, torture and kill U.S. and Isra~li C!gent~ in northern·lraq. The 

indictment-alleges that Franklin made clear that the informa'tion was "highly 

classified. 1I . 

According to well-placed sources, Weissman relayed this information to , 

Rosen, who relayed it to Gilon at the Israeli Embassy; Glenn Kessler, the 

State Departme~t correspon~,ent at The Wa~hington Post; and Howard Kohr, 

AIPAC's executive director, identified in the indictment as "another AIPAC 

employee." IYIcNulty made it cl.ear that neither AIPAC nor any.of its other. 

8/22/2005 

...l_ _ ... _ ............ •

Messalge 

o 

o 

Page 4 of4 

emp~oyeeswere targets. "We have no ba.sis for charging anyone else for 

unlawful disclosure of classified information," he said. "And I might add also 

that AIPAC as an organization has expressed its concern on several 

occasions with the allegations against Rosen and Weissman, and, in fact, 

after we brought some of the evidence that we had to AIPAC's attention, it did 

the right thing by dismissing these two individuals." 

4"l'!Ic~JH~~ !'9~ld_notcommen~.pnWJ1~tprol1)p~d_theJriitialj~~~!lg~~iQlflntQ .~ 

~fi~AII?AC-.Q..ff!.cialS:Bu(~Q.~_rc~~s ..~I.Q_s~:-:to~..jhe_de.f~n.sJ~_b_e.lie.v~JsraeILofficials.in) 

rWashington"wereDeing~monitoredJn401999.1AIPAC fired Rosen and Weissman 

..this....pastApril;Eiigilfinonths after the EBI probe came to light. "AIPAC 

dismissed- Rosen and Weissman because they engaged in conduct that was 

not p·art of their jobs and because this conduct did not comport in any way 

with standards that AIPAC expects of its employees," spokesman Patrick 

Dorton told JTA on Aug. 4, repeating the group's previous position. "AIPAC 

could not condone or tolerate the conduct of the two employees under any 

circumstances. The organization does not seek, use or request anything but 

legallly obtained, appropriate information as part of its work." 

A source close to AIPAC said the group is not concerned that the indictment 

identifies two occasions •• in 2002 concerning the AI·Qaida information and in 

2004 concerning the sting -- when Rosen allegedly shared information with 

AIPAC staffers. "There was no indication by Steve Rosen within AIPAC that 

he was" obtaining classified information, said the source, who asked not to 

be identified. AIPAC has already scaled back its lobbying of the executive 

bran.ch of government .- something the indictment pointedly notes was 

Rosen's expertise. Kohr, the group's executive director, has said that AIPAC 

is instituting changes in how it operates ~s·a rft!sult of the investigation, 

without providing details. Israeli officials have confirmed tQ JTA that the FBI 

is seeking an interview with Gilon. It is not clear if the FBI also wants to talk 

with the two other Israeli Embassy officials cited in the indictment; they are 

not named. 

"It's premature to comment on the substance of the affidavit since we've just 

received it,II an Israeli official said. "We're fu~ly confident in the professional 

conduct of our diplomats who fully cond~ctthemselves in accordance with 

diplomatic practice. We have seen no infQrmation that would suggest 

.anything to the contrary." The F:BI raided AIPAC's offices on Aug. 27, 2004, 

the first time the investigation was made public. One major question likely to 

come up during the trial is why the two U.S. government officials listed in the 

indictment as leaki~g the information are not facing trial. "They should be 

going after all the guys who gave the information,II said Malcolm Hoenlein, 

the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major 

American Jewish Organizations. Soliciting classified information is hardly 

unusual in Washington, Hoenlein said. "Reporters do it every single day." 

8/22/2005

,\, 

ALL.INFORMATION CONTAINED 

~ HEREIN IS mJCLASSIFIED O· 

\J DATE 0'7-29-2010 BY 60324 UC bS1j1/ .I1sq 

BEHIND THE HEADLINt;S 

New revelations in AIPAC case 

raise questions about FBI motives 

By Matthew E. Berger 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 (JTA)- New revelations in t.he ca'se against two 

former American Israel Public Affairs.Committee staffers raise questions 

about why FBI investigators ,have been focused on the pro-Israel lobby.. 

The New York Times reported Thursday that David Satterfield, the NO.2 man 

at the U.S. mission in Baghdad, was one of two government officials who 

allegedly gave classified information to Steve Rosen, AIPAC's former director 

of foreign 'policy issue~, but he wasn't named in the indictment handed down 

against Rosen and ~~ others earlier this month., 

Satterfield allegedly spoke with Rosen on several occasions· in 2002 - when 

Satterfield was th.e deputy assistant ~ecretary of state for.Near Eastern affairs 

- and shared classified information. At one point, Rosen allegedly relayed' 

the secret information in a memoranCJum to other~AIPAC staffers. 

Th~ fact that"Satterfield is not a t~rget of the case' and was allowed to take a 

s~nsitive position in Iraq has raised questions about the severity of the 

information allegedly given to AIPAC officials, as well a~ about the . 

g'overnment's motives for targeting Rosen and Keith·Weissman, a former 

AIPAC Iran analyst, neither of whom had classified access. 

i 

rhe defendants and AIPAC supporters see the new revelations as evidence 

that federal pr9secutors are targeting the powerful pro-Israel lobby for simply 

conducting the normal Washington practice of trading sensitive information. 

Officials inside and outsi~e government privately acknowledge that classified 

information routinely changes hands among influential "people iii the foreign 

policy community and that the exchanges often are advantageous to 

diplomats. . 

"If, in fact, Satterfield passed on classified information. that other people 

should not have had, then they ~hould all be. guilty of the same thing,", said 

Malcolm HOEmlein, the executive vice chairman of the Gonference of 

f>residents of Major Americ!ln Jewish Qrganizat!ons. "The fact that Satterfield 

hasn't been' prosecuted suggests that's not the case." 

Rosen and Weissman both pleaded not gUilty Tuesday to a charge of 

conspiracy to communicate national ;defense information. Rosen also is 

charged with communicating national defense information to people not· 

entitled to receive it. 

• 

Larry Franklin, aPentagon Iran analyst" has been c~arged with five similar 

counts, including conspi~acy to communicate classified information to a. 

foreign agent. Franklin, who also pleaded,not guilty, is accuse~,of passing. 

classified information to Rosen and Weissman from 2002 through last year~. 

Observers say the case is likely to create a chill among.lobbyists and others

\ 

o 

o 

who seek to gamer foreign-policy information from the government. 

The second U.S. government official, who allegedly met with Rosen and 

Weissman in 2000, remains anonymous but reportedly has left government 

service. Their identification is seen as central to the government's case that 

the AIPAC staffers followed a pattern of seeking classified information and 

disseminating it to journalists and officials at the Israeli Embassy in 

Washington. A spokeswoman for Paul· McNUlty, the.U.S. attorney for the 

Eastern District of Virginia, would not qomment. 

Attorneys for Rosen and Weissman, who are collaborating on their defense, 

will likely use the same information to show that sharing documents and other 

information was normal practice between government officials and AIPAC. 

Leaders of other pro-Israel groups say State Department and other 

government aides handling the Middle East portfolio frequently share 

information. 

"When we discuss issues, it's an exchange. It's not one-sided." Hoenlein 

said. "What people forget is they benefit from these exchanges too" because 

they learn things from us." 

Those who have worked with Rosen say a,large part of his task was 

capturing sensitive material and that numerous government officials aided his 

pursuits over the years. 

(Tom·l?~ne;:(fC?~~e~~~if~~:.-~~e2~t!~.~re~!

'," 

{ 

,~ 

'. 

are ~xpect~d and requir~d to up,hold'this stand~ud."· 

Satterfl,eld is not co'n'sidereda subject of the government's probe, alJd 'he 

reporte~ly was cleare,d,by, th~'Jus,tice Department for his Iraq po~t. 

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he could not comment 

,.o.n an'ongoi~g inv~s~igati6n. " . 

MI will say, though, that David:Satterfield is an outstanding public servant, he 

is a ~istinguished'Foreign Se'ryic;e officer and ~iplomat, and tha~ he.t1as 

w~rked on behalf of the American people fota"~4mber of years," McCormack 

said Tl1u~sday. . 

~ State Departm~nt official said i,t was withiJ:tSatte~eld's portfolio to work 

'with poli~y'groups'such ~s AlpAC. As.the.deputy assistant secretaryJor Near 

'l;astern aff~irs, Satterjield led the State pep~rtmEmt group. de~l!ng with t~~· 

l~raeli·Palestinian conflict, as.well as other regional issues on AIPAC;s ' 

a~e~~a~ ., , 

'. 

Mit wasn't ou(of the'normal,at all:tor adep'utY assistant secretary, as he was, 

to ~e meeting with AlpAC on a regUlar ba~i~,1J saiCt the offi~i~I, who spoke on 

coraditionof anonymity. "Our offiqe trie~ to meet wit~'inter~sted people of all 

'~ro~ps, an~ it's su~posed to be.~1i in~orma!i(;mal.exchange." 

_ ._ ~.fIr ~ '._~ _ _ _ .... _ 

\. 

...... 

---

c: 

.~ I 

'j 

I 

i, 

-P 

lSJ 

~lJJ 

-ac 

~e, 

err. 

elf. 

811 

10 

su~ 

, • .. .' ~MIDtItrIat~Y-11mI:ls 

I:.awrenee A. Franklin, center, with his lawyers, Plato ~c:heris,left, andJohn Hundleyin .Alexan,~va. alit~r 

admittingyesterday thathehadpassed secretinformation 10pro--Israeli lobbyists and -.Israe=li ~fficiai. 

~ ... •. 

·Pentag()n AnalystAdmitsSharingSeeretData 

). . 

r 7 

i By ERIC LICHTBLAU trat1oD's dealingswith Iran.. tivlties In Iraq ~doth~rtssues. 

• : ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 5 - A Some of the morebawklsh officials' Mr; Frank~ said!Ieassumed that 

*nior Defense Department aJJalyst ID theadmlnlstratlon have pushed such ~dblts \\tere lilireatdy knoWD to 

~dmltted Wednesday .that,he sbared for a barder line In confronting lrm Israe~and he ~ldthatthe Israeliof. 

secret military Information wld1 two about its nuclear ambitions, but the flclal gave Il\~far mco~ information 

gra-Israell lobbyists and an Israeli ~mlnlstration has been deeplyen- than I gavehltll.!' 

dfflcialln an effort to create a ""ack. Vlded about how to-engage with the Prosecutors said Mr. FrankllB 

channel" to the Bush administration • country. knew that th~ classtm~ information 

on Middle Eastpolley. Mr. Franklin worked for a time as he shared "cc)uld be \lSf:d to the inju.- 

: The analyst, Lawrence A. Frank· a senior analyst on Iran under Doug. ry of the Untted Stalte$ or to the ad- 

• lin, pleaded guilty In federal court las Feith. a former under se~retary vantage ofaforeign. nation.... But Mr. 

Jiere to three criminal cOunts for 1m.. atthe Pentagon. Mr. Franklin said D1 Franklin Sald, flit wra$ never my inp'r0P.erly 

retaining and disclosing court that he believed the Alpac lo~ tentto harm the Uniteet States"" 

clas$ified information, :and he gave byfsts had ac¢e~ and influence at He said !\e did IliOt even consider 

the first account of his. motives and the National Security Counell, which one of the clocuments cited by pros.. 

thinking in establishing secret Uai- coordinates policy_ Issues for the ecutors to have·been classlfled but 

sOns with people outside the govern- president and was deeply involved in when he started to discuss the docu. 

ll1ellt. - setting the administration's course ment In o~n court - referring to a I 

The offenses carry a maximum of on Iran. :. one-page tax witb t\ "list of mur.. 

i; years In prison, but as part of a He said he hoped the lobbyists ders," aPparently in Iran - lawyers 

pies'agreement, prosecutors are ex- could help Influence polley by pass- from both Sides jumPed up to cuthim 

pected _to recommend leniency for lng on information that he knew was off. The jUdge, T. S. Ellis agreed at 

Mr.-Franklin in return for his (ooper· classified. "I asked th.em to use theIr the ur~1ng of proseeutor; to put Mr. 

ation in a continuing investigation In contacts to g.et thIS lnfor~atlon Franklm's reference to the list under 

• the January trial of the two lobbyists.· backchannels' to people at the sealln the court record. 

Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weiss:.. N.S.C.:'hesaid. Mr. FrlUlklln will lose his govern. 

man. . Mr. Franklin was also applying for ment penSion, but his wife will be ala 

The lobbyists were dismissed last a position at the N.S.C. in early 2003 lowed to keep her surVivor'S benefits 

year by the American ISn:lel Public:: and asked Mr. Rosen to "put in a from the government in thedeal off,.. 

Affairs Committee. 'or Aipac, arter good word" for him, according to a elalssaid. ' 

the investigation becamepublic. filing on Wednesday by proseOltors Mr. Franklin bas been financially 

Mr. Franklin, 58. 'said in enterlng as part of the plea agreement. Mr. struggling since his arrest last year 

his guilty pleas that he had shared Rosen sai~, "Tilsee what I can do." and he told the Court he bas bee~ 

with the lobbyists Umy frustrations In addition to his contacts \\i.tb the working as a waiter and bartender at 

~ with a particular policy'· during re- lo~byists. Mr. Franklin admitted a pUb, and as a Vtdet at a racetrack 

peated meetings from 2.002 to 2004. mteting Wilh an official with the Is- and has also been teaching course: 

He did not divulge the particular pol- raeH Embassy and passing oJ). classi-. on Asian history and terrorism a 

icy. but officials i.n the case,said he tied information regarding weapons Shepherd University near his hom 

was referring to the Bl1Sh admi!lis- .teslS in the Middle East, militar,Y ae'!. in West Virginia.

Ii 

ALL INFonMATION CONTAINED 



NATIONAL NEWS: 

THE WASHINGTON POST 

I~~~~~:f'~~~~~~~ 

, Defense An~yst Guilty in IsraeliEspion~eCase-, 

.eel the Oct: ,9 

1 the Denver 

101 foolbaU box 

Oct. 1:Sporls 

eellyidentified 

Park ~Id=, 

ted'three eXtra 

,eams 21-7 Vie> 

rar-Field. His 

Pu!dy.. 

Irticleaboutan 

1 Isllinbul, del1'om 

there· in 

specify the nathe 

~ctims. 

were of Gieelc 

they 3]80'; in~ 

ic Armenians 

I~'marly ~ 

ns ' 

" 

-. i 

Metro article 

~ coming. to 

)J' the Sept.'24 

. 1 against the 

scribedPaltice 

~ Olathe, Kan., 

otesler. Cuddy 

lled in. three 

liesaglinstthe 

Qbington and 

1fIc:' I 

errors that 

, tactlngtM 

, =ion.f@ , 

iOOO,'and ask • 

'ForeIgn, ., 

Iysections. In 

'582. 

t 

BY JElUl.Y MumN' 

eralinvestiption. 

Washinp" Po8C StaJfWrittr 

Legal expeitS ca1ted the plea a major 

develo~t ili the long-r:unning 

A Defense Department analyst 

iJM;9tigaliolfOf.whether U.s.'secrets 

pl~~ed guilty~tQ passing were pasSeditO the Istaeli governgovernment 

secrets to two employees 

nient. FrankliD. said he disclosed da&.. • 

of aprooIsraellobbying group and reo 

sifted data to two fonner employeesof 

vealed for· the first lime that he also 

the American, Israel Public Affairs 

gave classified infonnation direclIy to 

Committee. Those empIoyees: Steven· 

anlsraeli government officialin Wash- 

J, Rosen and·:Keith WeisSman, have 

, ington. beenclwged,inwhatprosecutorssaid 

. Lawrence A. Franklin ,told a judge was a broad conspiracY to obtain and 

in u.s. District Court in Alexandria 

i1legaIIy pass:"c1assified infonnation to 

tliat he met at least eight limes with 

foreign offi~ and news reporters. 

Naor Giloo,'who was the Political ofti.. 

Franklin· probably wiD become the 

. eel' at the IsraeU Embassy before be- ..,-.cu.-IMI_rost starwitness ag2instRosen and Wei8&- 

ing reca1Ied last swnmer. Lawrence Fraillelln, left, with attorney man. "'Ibis is not good news for the 

The guilty plea and Fran1din's Ie> ~ohn Richards; after pleading guiltyto other defendants or for AIPAC~"-said 

count appeired to cast doubt on lOng." glvl~g classified Informallon to israeL Michael GreeDberger, a: former 111&0 

stanepng denials bY IsraeH officials 

tice ~t official who heads 

that they engage in any intelligence Franklinentered hisplea, he disclosed' the Center'fciHealth and Homeland 

activities in" the United States. The that some of the material he gave the SeCurity at t& University of,MarypOSst'biJity 

of continued Israeli spying lobbyistsie1ated toIran. Hisattorneys 'land.:" , 

in 'Washington has been a sensitive stopped him from speaking furtheI; -' Prosecutors have said they have no 

subject between the tWo governments' and prosecutors immediately accused .immediate plaDs to ;charge anyone 

\ since Jonathan J. Pollard, a US. Navy Franklin of revealing classified in- else, but Franklin's cooperati~ could 

intelligence analyst; ~tted to spy- fonnation in court.. . change that, said Preston Burlo~ a 

ing for Israel in'1987 and was sen- Franklin said, he .passed the in- Washington defense 1aw)oerwith long 

tenced to life in prisOn. fonnation becausehe was "frustrated" experience inespionage cases. " ~ 

David Siegel, a spokesman for the with the direction of US. poliCy and' "Espionage debtiefings are exhaua- 

Israeli Embassy, said Israeli ,officials th~t he could influence it by hay.. live and meticulous: 'said Burton, 

have been approached by US; in-" ing'themrelaythedatathrough"back whoisafonner lawpartnerofaFrankvestiptors 

and are cooperating. "We channels" to officials on the,National lin attorney, Plato Cacheris, but is not 

have fun confidence in our diplomats, • Security'Council He said he never in- 

involVedin theFranklin case. 

who 'are dedicated professionals"who tended to hann. the United- States, AlsO uncertain is how yesterday's 

conduct themselves in fun accordance "notevenforasecond," andthathe reo developmentswill affectU.s. tieswith 

with estabUshed diplomatic prae> ceived far more information from Gi- Israel, The ~has complicated relatices,"Siegelsaid.' 

Ion than he'gave.."1 knew in myheart tiona between the two counbies: 

Court documents filed along with that his govenunent already had the' wJiich are' close aBies, and angered 

Franklin's pleasaid he provided,~ informatiOD," he said. 'manysupporlers ofthe AmericanISrafied 

data - including infonnation . Franklin. 58, a~on Iran, elcommittee.whichis considered one 

about a Middle Eastem·eountry's Ie> pleaded guilty to twO conspiracy of Washington's JqOSt iDfluentiiJ.lob- ' 

tivities in lJaqand weapons tests con- ,coUnts and a third charge "of P9S8«t' byingorganizations. 

dueled by a foreign countty - to an sing classified documents: As part,of; " . GiIOnis a career Israelif~ set'- 

W1JIa111ed"foreign officia1." the plea a;reement, ,Franklin has' vice offiCer who spent three years in 

The country was not named, but as agreed to cooperate'in the larger fed-' Washinitonfocusing on weapons pro- 

Iiferation issues. His, recaD to Israel 

Was Unrelated to the investigation: 

Siegel said, and he is awaiting a neW 

foreign posting. 

·One of Rosen's a~eys, AbbQ 

LoweD, said Fr3nk1in's plea "has nQ 

impact on our case because agoverni 

ment employee's actions in dealing 

with classified information is simpbt 

not the same as a pri~te person, 

whether that person is a reporteror a 

~~~" I 

Rosen, 63, of Silver Spring, is 

charged with two countsrelated to un-: 

lawful disclosure of national delenlM= 

inforination obtained from Frank1in 

andother unidentified government officials 

since 1999 on topics incIumng 

.Iran. Saudi Arabia' and at Qaeda. Rosen 

was the American Israel commit~ 

'tee's director offo. policy issuQ 

and was iristnimeri.ta1 in making th~ 

committee a fonnidable politic3l 

force. 

weissman. 53. of, Bethesda, faces 

one count 'of ~cy to illega1lx 

communicate national defense infort 

matiGn. His attorneys did not return 

calls late last night. American Israel· 

Public Affaita Committee officials det 

dined comment. ! 

Franklin pleaded guilty.to two 

coun~ of conSPiring to communicalc: 

secret infonnation and a third Chargtt 

of keeping numerous classified documents 

at his West VIrginia home. H~ 

said he took the documents home to 

,keep up hiS expertise and prepare for 

"point..,1aDkquestiona" from his~ 

es",including Defense secretary Don; 

aIdH. Rwrisfeld. 1 

1heDefense Department suspend, 

ed Pran1din, who said in court that he 

.works as a waiter and bartender and 

ata racetraclc. He faces up to 25 years 

in prison athis sentencingIan, 20. . I 

' 

o 

·0.

INFORMATION CONTAINED '0-~ 

O·ALL HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED - 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 603~4 uc baw/sab/lsg 

P~ge 1 of~' 

Kramarsic, Brett M. 

From: Strzok, Reter P. II 

Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 7:48 A"" 

To: Porath, Robert J.; Kramarsic, Brett M. 

Did you see this 0!1 JTA? Need to start calling-Reilly "That's Classifjed!" instead. 

Fonner Pentagon man pleads guilty, 

will testify against ex-AlPAC officials 

By Ron Kampeas 

~~f'ANDRIA, Va., Oct 6 (JTA) - Lawrence Franklin's pleabargain 

p~edge to cooperate with the U.S. government in its case 

against two former AIPAC officials was"put to the test as soon as itwas 

made. 

"Itwas unclassified and it is unclassified," Franklin,'a former Pentagon 

analyst, in~isted in court Wednesday, describing a document that the 

government maintains is classified. The document is central to one of 

the conspiracy charges against Steve Rosen, the fonner foreign policy 

chiefofthe American Israel Public Affairs Committee.. 

Guilty p~eas usually are remorseful, sedate ~airs. But Franklin 

appeared defiant and agitated Wednesday.as he pleaded guilty as part 

ofa deal that may leave him with a reduced sentence and part ofhis 

government pension. 

Franklin's prickliness c,ould prove another setback for the U.S., 

gove~ment in a case that the presiding judge already has suggested 

could be dismissed because ofquestions about access to evidence.. 

Franklin',s performance unsettled prosecutors, who will-attempt to 

prove that Rosen and Keith WeJssman, AIPAC's former Iran analyst, 

conspired with Franklin to communicate secret information. The case 

goes to trial Jan. 2. 

The argument over tlie faxed document furnished the most dramatic 

en~unterWednesday~ 

"Itwas a list ofmurders," Franklin began to explain to U.S. District 

Judge T.S. Ellis when Thomas Reilly, a youthful, red-headed lawyer 

from the Justice Department, leapt from his seat, shouting, "Your 

Honor, that's classified!" 

·Ellis agreed to seal that portion ofthe hearing. JTA has learned that the 

fax was a list ofterrorist incidents believed to have been backed by 

Iran.. 

- -I0/11/2005 .." 

G9Q....\i)f- '9aG~\5'-Alei~~~ 

,.-?~~

.. 

'\l 

o 

There were other elements ofFranklin's plea that suggest-he is not 

ready to cooperate to th~ fullest extent. The governn:te~t says Franklin 

leaked information to the AlPAC employe~s because he thought it 

could advance his career, but franklin says his motivation was 

"frustration with policy" on Iran at the Pentagon.. 

o 

Page20f4 

Franklin said he believed Rosen and Weissman were better connected 

than he and would be able to relay his concerns to officials at the White 

House'sNational Security Council. 

He did not explicitly mention in court that Iran was his concern. But 

ITA has learned that Franklin thought his superiors a~ the Pentagon 

were overly distracted by the Iraq war in 2003 - when he established 

contact with Rosen and Weissman - and weren't paying enough 

attentio~ to Iran. 

The penal code criminalizes relaying,information that "could be used tothe 

injury ofthe United States or to the advantage ofany foreign 

nation.." Franklin's testimony would not be much use to the prosecution 

ifhe believed Rosen and Weissman simply were relaying information 

from the Pentagon to the White House, sources close to the defense of 

Rosen and Weissman said. 

"Iwas convinced they would relay this information back-channel to 

friends on the NSC," he said. 

In any case, the section ofthe penal code that deals with civilians who 

obtain and relay classified information rarely, ifever, has been used in 

a prosecution, partly because it lUDS up against First Amendment 

protections for journalists and lobbyists, who frequently deal with 

secrets. . 

A spokesman for Abbe Lowell, Rosen's lawyer, said Franklin's guilty 

plea "has no impact on our case because a government employee's 

actions in dealing with classified-information is simply riot the same as 

a private person, whether that person is ~ reporter or a lobbyist." 

The essence. of,Franklin?s guilty pl~a seemed to ~e only that he knew 

the recipients were unauthorized to receive the infonnation. Beyond 

, that, he insisted, he had no criminal intent. 

Admitting guilt to another charge, relaying information.t9 Naor Oilon, 

the chiefpolitical officer at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, 

Franklin said that he wasn't giving away anything that the Israeli didn't 

already know.. 

"I knew in my heart tl,at his government had this i~fonnation," 

Franklin said. "He gave me far more infonnation than I gave him." 

Franklin turned prosecutors' heads when he named Gilon, the first 

1011112005 -

'jI 

>J • 

o 0 

public conflnnatlon that the foreign countrY hi~ted at in in~ictments is 

Israel. Indictments refer to a "foreign official." 

-The suggestion'that Franklin was mining Oilon for information;1 and 

not the other way around, turns on its head the hype around the case 

when it first was revealed in late August 2004, after the FBI raided 

AIPAC's offices. At the time, CBS desciibed Franklin, as an "Israeli 

spy." 

Asked about his clien~' s outburs~ Franklin~s lawyer, Plato Cacheris, 

said only that it was "gratuitous." 

, . 

But Franklin's claim reinforced an argument put forward by Israelthat 

Oilon was not soliciting anythi!1g untoward in the eight or nine 

meetings he had with Franklin beginning in 2002., 

"We have full confidence in our diplomats, Who are dedicated 

professionals and conduct themselves in accordance with established 

diplomatic practice," said David Siegel, an embassy spokesman. "Israel 

is a close ally ofthe l.lnited States, and we exchange information on a 

formalized ,baSis on these issues. There would be no reason for any 

wron~doing on the part ofour ~iplomats .." I 

Franklin also p~eaded guilty to removing classified docum~~ts from the 

~uthoriz~d area, which encompasses Maryland, Virginia and' 

Washington, when he brought material to his home in West Virginia. 

He sC?unded.another defeQsive note in explaining the circumstances: He 

brought the material home on June 30, 2004, .he said, to bone up for the 

sort oftough questions he Qften fac;e4 from Defense Secre~ Donald 

Rumsfeld and Ru~sfeld's then-~eputy, Paul Wolfowitz. 

Franklin, who has five children and an ill wife, said he is in dire 

circumstances, parking cars at a horse-race track, waiting tables and 

tending bar t~) make ends meet. Keeping part ofhis government 

pension for his Wife was key to Franklin's agreement to plead guiltY, 

Cacheris told ITA. 

Frankl~n ple~ded guilty to $ree different charges, one I!aving to. do 

with his alleged dealings with the fonner AIPAC offiCials; one having 

to dq with Oilon; and,one for taking classifie~ documents home.. 

.The language ofthe plea agreement s~ggests that the government will 

argue f9r a soft sentence, agreeing to Franklin's preferred minimumsecurity 

faci~ity and allowing for, concurrent sentencing. But itconditions 

iis recommendatio!1s'~n Franklin being "reasonably 

available for debriefing and pre-trial conferences." . 

The prosecution aSked for sentencing to be PostpoI;led until Jan. 20, . 

_more th~ two wee~s' ~fter the trial against Rose~ and Weissman ' 

- > 10/l1/2005· 

Page 30[4

,0 

i begins,'suggesting that gov~rnment leniency w~ll be proportional to 

Franklin's performance. 

Franklin is a star witness, but be's not all the g9vernment bas up its 

sleeve. The charges against Rosen and Weissman, apparently based on 

wiretapped conversations, allege that the two former AIPAC staffers 

shared classified information with fellow AlPAC staffers, the media 

and foreign government officials. 

Two other U.S~ go-v,emment officials who allegedly supplied Rosen and 

Weissman with information have not been ~~arged. They are David 

Satterfield, then deputy assistant secretary ofstate for Near Eastern 

affairs and now the No.. 2 man at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and 

Kenneth Pollack, a Clinton-era National Security Council staffer who 

is .now an analyst at tbe Brookings Institution.. 

The problem with the wiretap evidence lies in the government's refusaI 

to share much ofit or even to say exactly how much it bas.. In a recent 

filing, the government said that even the qqantity ofthe material should 

remain classified.. 

In a Sept. 19 hearing, Ellis suggested to prosecutor Kevin DiGregori 

that his (ailure to share the defendants' wiretapped conversations with 

the defense team could lead to the case being dismissed. 

'~I am having a hard time, Mr.. DiGregori, getting over the fact that the 

defendants can't hear their own statements, and whether that is so ' 

fun

ALL INFOP.HATION CONTAINED 

tr\HEREIN IS mrCLASSIFIED ~ 

\ ~DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/s~sg 

~ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiL-__""'-- _ 

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

Subject: 

(a I I 

h ridalt 'lallban5 2005 11"33 AM 

"""';F=-w--:";';[F=-w..oo:d~:_ L:-e--x-:-is':":N:""""ex-:is~(~R~>'E=-m-a-:i~1 R=-e-q-ue-s-:-t~(":"::18::::2:-=2-::::6~59~1:-::3=75:::7~)]=----------1.. 

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld 

b6 

b7C 

b7E 

-----Original Message---- 

Fr01. I 

To: . 

Sent-:--=S-at~.~O=-c-:'t-. "::'1"'='5--:::-08~:3~4:-:-=5~4~20~0=-:5=--------- 

Subject: [Fwd: LexisNexis(R) Email Request ~1822:65913757}) 

S~CTION: Pg-. 13 

LENGTH: 

HEAD~INE: 

2968 words 

Low Clearance 

BYLINE: by e~i lake 

HIGHLIGHT: 

BODY: 

Troub~e 

tor journalists. 

Copyright 2005 The New Republic, LLC 

The New Republic 

October 10, 2005 

Eli Lake is a reporter for The New York Sun. 

In January '2006, a court in Northern Virginia w~ll hear a case in which, for the first 

time, the federal government has charged two pr~vate citizens with leaking state secrets. 

CBS News first reported the highly classif~ed investigation that led to this prosecution 

on the eve of the Republican National Convention. on August 27" 2004, Lesley Stahl told 

her viewers, that" in a IIfull-fledged espionage invest,j.gation," the FBI would soon ";'011 

up" a "suspected mole" who had funneled Pentagon policy deliberations concerning I~an to 

Israel. At-the heart of the probe, CBS said, was one of Washington's most powerful 

lobbying g~oups, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (aipac). 

With~n th~ee days, the lobbyists involved were ,j.dentified as aipac's directo~ of ,foreign 

policy, Steve Rosen, andap Iran specialist named Keith Weissman; the mole was outed as 

Lawrence Franklin, an Iran analyst-at the Detense Pep~rtment. 

But weeks and then months passed, and the~e were no arrests. Franklin, after initially ~ 

being put on leave (and taking a job parking ca~s at a nearby restaurant), returned \Q 

b~ief~y to his desk at the Pentagon; and, unti~ April, Rosen and Weissman were still :~~ 

writing memos, meeting journalists and government officials, and going about their daily \~~. 

business at aipac. When the indictments from the federal government finally came down this 

summer, none ot these men were charged with spying. ~\~ 

~nstead, all t~hree were indicted for conspiring "to communicate national defense . /~t' 

informat~on ... (to] persons not entitled to receive it. II To t_he lay reader, that. may '1 '\ 

simply sound like espionage-lite. After all, some of ~he people not entitled to receive 

1 0SQ,\))~- g.g.G~\5-~c... 

\ 

~ the national defense informJ::ln in this case were ISraeli d~rnats. But, in fact, a 

Q prosecution of this kind is unprecedented~ 

Far from alleging the two aipac o!ficials were foreign agents, u.s. Attorney Paul McNulty 

is contending that the lobbyists are legally no different than the government officials 

they lobbied, holding Rosen and Weissman to the same rules ~or protecting $ecrets as 

Franklin or any other bureaucrat with a security clearance. The indictment even says that, 

because Rosen long ago held a security clearance wben he worked as an analyst for the rand 

Corporation, he was duty-bound to protect any classified information be came across after 

the clearance expired--on JUly 6, 1982. "steve Rosen and Keith Weissman repeatedly sought 

and received sensitive information, both classified and unclassified, and then passed i~ 

on to others in order to advance their policy agenda and professional standing," the u.s. 

attorney said at a press conference announcing th~ indictment. 

aut, if itls illegal for Rosen and Weissman to seek and receive "classified 

,informat.ion, It t.hen many invE}stigative journalists a~e also .crimi.nals--not. to mention 

~ormer government. officials who w~ite for scholarly journals or t.he scor;es of men and 

women who petition the federal government on defense' and foreign policy. In fact, the 

leaking o~ classified information is routipe in Washington, where such data is traded as a 

kind of currency. And, while most administrations have tried to crack down on leaks; they 

have almost always shied away from going after those who rece~ve tbem--until now. At a 

time when a growing amount o~ information is being classified, the pr;osecution of Rosen 

and Weissman-threatens to have a cbilling effect-~not on the ability of fore~gn agents to 

~n~luence U.S. policy, but on the ability of the American public to understand it. 

Since tbe inception of tbe national security state, tbe ~ntelligence commun~ty has 

worried that ou~ free press is a security risk. In an ~nterview in 

1954 with U.S. News and World Report, under the headline "we tell the russians too much," 

CIA Director Allen Dulles remarked, fIr would give a good deal if I could know as much 

about the Soviet Union as the Soviet Union can lear;n about us merely by reading the 

p~ess." 

Nonetheless, the federal governmen~ has tradit~onally resp~cted an implicit First 

Amendment right of publishers and private citizens to determine the public's right to 

know about national security~ Without journalists' ability to disclose secret information, 

the executive branch would be the sole' arbiter of what information the public could have 

about its government's foreign policy. . 

And, when the public. j.,s kept. ,in the aa~k, it! s hard to combat excesses. For example, it.' s 

unlikely tbat the Pentagon would have taken steps to correct abuses in its detention 

facilities had "60 Minutes II" not obtained photographs of naked prisoners stacked in a 

pyramid at Abu Ghraib. Had u.s. law been similar to the British Official Secrets Act, 

which gives 10 Downing Street the autbority to prosecute journalists fo~ disclosing 

classified materia~, itls unlikely the pUblic. would know about the network of contractors 

responsible .for t,be rendition of terrorists to nations t.bat.. tor~ure prisoners or the 

internal debates within the Bush administration ~egarding the application of the Geneva 

Convention. To be sure, the~e are cases in which the press could do great harm to national 

security, sucn as publishing the details of how we keep $u~ve~llance on our enemies. But, 

as any reporter who cove~s these matters will tell you, most of the timejou~nalists 

negotiate an agreement.--without. the threat of prosecu~ion--on how to report. $ensitive 

material in a way that minimizes harm to intelligence-gathering and military operations. 

"We've al~ held back information when a responsible government official makes a compelling 

case that it.'.s 90in9 to cause some damage," says Newsweek reporte~ Michael Isikoff.' 

And, wbile every administration has ~ade internal efforts to go afte~ leakers, criminal 

prosecutions have been extremely rare~ In the two major anti-leaking cases invo~ving 

classified secrets brought in the last 35 years, both leaker~ were prosecuted for slipping 

government proper;ty to reporters. In the case of Daniel Ellsberg, it was a classified 

history of the deliberations of three adm~nistrations regarding Vietnam known as the 

Pentagon Papers; jn the case of Samuel Mo~ison (the only succes$ful ant~-~eaking 

prosecution)" it was classified aerial photograph$ of a Soviet. naval aircraft carrier, 

which he provided to Jane's Defence Weekly. No one has ever been prosecuted--as Rosen and 

Weissman currently are--tor conveying national security info~mation orally, with no 

documents involved. - 

Steve Pomerantz, the former chief of counterterrortsm fo~ the FBI, says that his 

division--which, in the early I~OS, also investigated classified disclosure cases--never 

got very !ar in their inve$tigations. "I! you look at this as a conspiracy, then there are 

two part.ies:, t.he le~ker and the reporter," he says. 

2

'. 

I "As a matter of practice, wJC:lver wen~ near the reporters'''

And, al;guably, the ,abilit;y of the press to ,seek out. and publish classified information 

is more important. now than ever before. Last. year, t.he National Archives Information 

Security Oversight Office, which tracks the prolifera~ion of classified information, said 

that government'agen~ies reported lS,64~,237 decisions to classify material, a 10 percen~ 

increase from the yea~ before. I~'s hard to believe that ~he Justice Departmen~ or the FBI 

can or should protect that many secrets. 

There are .those who argue tha; t~e war o~ terroris~ pecessitates more secrecy than past 

4

~ conflicts. Representative pe>>oekstra, the chai~an of the C:>se Select Committee on 

~ Intelligence, says he is so concerned about recent leaks that he plans to hold hearings, 

beginning thls month, on whethe~ ~~IS necessary to revise the espionage statute to give 

the Justice Department mo~e authority to prosecute leakers. 'But Hoek$tra also ~ants' to 

revise t_he way information is classified to curb what. he calls "excessive 

overclassification." 

Until that happens, leaks arguably serve a vital functio~ jn U.s. 

democracy--helping to ensure that the pUblic can make informed decisions about national 

security policy. A~ Max Frankel, the former executive editor of The New York Times, put it 

.in 1971, during the Ni.xon administration I s case against_ t.be paper for p;inting the 

·Pentagon Papers, II [Pl ractically everythi_ng t_hat our Government. does, plans, thinks, hears 

and contemplates jn the realms o{ foreign policy is $tamped and treated as secret--and 

then unraveled by that same Government,· by the Cong;ess and by the' press in ope continuing 

round of professional and social contacts and cooperative and competitive exchanges of 

information." The question--to be decided by a Virginia jury next year--is whether that 

unravel~ng will ~ontinue any longer. 

LOAD-DATE: September 29" 2005 

5

f 

• 

ALL FBI INFORHATION CO~rrAINED 

~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

\ajl'E 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/sabl\ill 

.Page I oft 

I 

I 

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

Subject: 

Attachments: 0155.pdf 

Media Advisory - U.S. v. Franklin 


Media Advisory 

United States v. Franklin 

b6 

b7C 

A $10,000 fine imposed this morning on Lawrence Franklin at his sentencing hearing has been vacated because 

he had previously agreed to forfeit his government pension, according to an order Issued this afternoon by U.S. 

District JUdge T.S. Ellis,-III, in Alexandria, Virginia. A copy of the order is ~ttached. 

' 

The other aspects of the sentence imposed this morning by Judge Ellis on'Mr. Franklin - 151 months in prison 

an~ three years of supervised release - remain in effect. He will begin serving the sentence on a date to be 

determined, after he coope.rates with prosecutors. He remains free on an unsecured bond of$109,000. 

Mr. Franklin, a former employee of the U.S. Department of Defense, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the 

Eastern District of Virginia after pleading gUilty on October 5 to three charges: conspiracy to communicate 

national defense information, conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign 

government, and'unlawful retention of national defense information. 

If you have questions about this media advlso 

officer, a 

lease contact 

the court's public information 

- - 

1/20/2006

... 

n 

ALL INFORllATION CONTAINED 


~ATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/s~g 

Page 1 of2 

-==~I;;=====~I-----------------------b6--- 

From: 

b7C 

~:~t:IFrida v ,'annaN 20 2006 2·57 pM 

Subject: JPost 

Mjtiia'2% Wi ONLINE EDITION 

JERUSALEM POST 

Israel: Franklin's trial won't aUeet us 

Nathan Guttman, THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 8,2005 

Israel alleged that it would not-be affected by Lawrence Franklin's plea bargain or by the fact that the names ofIsraeli 

diplomats were mentioned in court. Israeli diplomatic sources said Thursday that Naor Gilon, the form~r political 

officer at the Israeli embassy in Washington, who was in contact with convicted Pentagon analyst Franklin, had no idea 

that the information he got from Franklin was classified. 

"We are not r~sponsible for what is said to us by Atperican officials", said the diplomatic source, "even ifan American 

official did something he was not authorized to do, we had no way ofknowing that." 

Mark Regev, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, saidin response to the incident that "the Israel embassy staffin 

Washington conduct themselves in a completely professional manner in accordance with all international conventions, 

and no one serious has made any allegations to the contrary." 

Naor Giton met between eight and twelve times with Larry Franklin and discussed with him issues regarding Iran's ~ 

nuclear program and the internal political situation in Iran. Israeli sources described these meetings asroutine and ~ 

common practice for any diplomat. 

Franklin himself, in a court hearing Wednesday in which he pleaded guilty to three counts ofcommunicatitlg classified 

information and holding documents at his home, said he "knew in his heart" that the Israelis already possessed all the 

information he was giving Gilon. Franklin added that he received more information from the Israeli diplomat than he 

had given him. 

In a short formal reaction to the Franklin plea bargain, David Siegel, spokesman for the Israeli embassy, said, "we have 

full confidence in our diplomats who are dedicated professionals who conduct themselves in full accordance with 

established diplomatic practices". 

Israel and the US have not reached yet an understanding concerning the method in which Gilon and two other Israeli 

diplomats from the embassy will be interviewed by investigators probing the case.. Israeli suggested th~t the US relay 

its questions to the Israelis and -will get in return written answers, but there was yet to be an American response to th~· slg 

~ ~\/~ 

. v:::~rr 

~\Ur-~~\CS-AJ C- 

1126/2006 ~lI\r.- {§0 J-

t' 

'Page~,6f2 

\ ~ 

,,- 'Whi1~ Israel was mentioneg:only:in.passing and ~ourt 90qumen~~~io.n·sJt~w~d ~t.:w~s~not accus~d 9J~any wrongdoing!, . 

the t*osecutors focused on"two former officia~s at the pro-Israel·lobby. The_ trials qfSteve Rosen, Jormer~AIPAC :~ 

dire,ctor 9fpqIicy, and'Keit~ Weiss~an, fonnerJran analyst at the lobby, were slated,to be~in on January 3rd. 

J.\bbe Lowel}, the attom~:y' r~presenting Rosen in the ~as,e, said·Wednes~ay that he was ~ot suipri~~d by the fact that 

Franklin, who was under great,pressure struck a deal with the prosecutiop. lilt ~as no it).1pa~t on our case because, a 

gov~rnfuent ~mployee's. ~ctions in dealing ,with classiqe4 information are simply not the same as ~ privat

·' 

ALL 

INFORMATION C01lrAINED 

~EIN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

~ 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baW/SabJ~ 

Page 1ofl 

From:I I b7C 

---;:::=======:;---------------------__~b6 

Sent: Wednesday. January 25, 2006 10:30 AM 

To: 1... ........ 

Subject: JTA article 

--- _ 

FOCUS ON ISSUES 

Sentence in F'ranklin case sends 

chill through free-speech community 

By Ron Kampeas 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (JTA) -Itwas surprising enough that the judge 

quadrupled the prosecution's recommended sentence for Lawrence Franklin" 

from three years to more than 12. 

But the true bombshell at the sentencing of the former Pentagon analyst, who 

is at the center of the case involving pro-Israel lobbyists and classified 

iriforll}ation,~~awyers were shutting their briefcases last Friday. 

That't\!Q~.. y:~..:'.QJ~triqr~ji~ge;l~.;I;IIiS;IIJ:toldJt)~ 

...cQ.urjr.o~mJn.Alexandria, 

Va., th~ h!t ~.eJi~~~cl~ilialJs·ar~~j4st·~s:UapJe_Cl~g9Y~(mlJ~ntemp.loyees._7 

~der laws goY~ro.ing Jh~..~ssemi!Wlg!l~9f.9J~~i.(LE!.d.J.rl£r!rl..sYg!)~ ...._ 

(:!'..!l~.§n.s wli~Jl~~~,~'l.~~QJ~9~!~~!i~~.d,~mo~~~J!l!!·i[lto unau~~~~~7 

!'pbsse~~19Q ~(.q~~~!~~~ inf~r:":l~t,on, ~~st ~P.!9!..2~ the (awl Ellis.said.LT!i~9· 

applies to acaCtemics, lawyers·"journ..alists, professors:w~atever~i 

irwas difficult to assess wneth....er-Ellis'Was·thinking·out"loud·or was 

pronouncing tiis judicial philosophy. The jUdge·earned a reputation as a 

voluble off-the-cuff philosopher when he adjudicated the case of John ~Walker 

Lindh, the "AmericanTaliban." 

But if those are Ellis' jury instructions in April. when two former staffers of the 

American Israel Public Affairs Committee go on trial, the implications could 

have major consequenc.es - not just for Stev~ Rosen and Keith Weissman, 

but for how American~ consider national security questions. 

Defense lawyers for Rosen and Weissman have joined a free speech 

watchdog in casting the case as a major First Amendment battle., 

liThe implications of this prosecution to news gatherers and others who work 

in First Am~ndment cas~s cannot be overstated," lawyers for the former 

AIPAC staffers wrote in a brief earlier this month supporting an application 

. _from ~h~ R~port~rs Committe.e for the Freedom of tJle Press to file an amicus 

1/26/2006 

I' 

"

· o 

; 

Page2of3 

bri~f. 

The case is believed to be the first in U.S. history to apply a World War I-era 

statute that criminalizes the dissemination of classified information by U.S~ 

civilians. 

Franklin pleaded guilty to a similar statute barring government employees 

from leaking classified information.·That statute rarely has been prosecuted; 

before Franklin, the last successful prosecution experts can recall was in the 

1980s., 

JTA has learned that the defense team for Rosen and Weissman last week 

filed a brief by Viet Dinh, the former assistant attorney general who was the 

principal drafter of the USA Patriot Act, arguing that federal prosecutors in 

this case were int~rpreting classified information protections much too 

broadly. 

Dinh confirmed to JTA in a brief phone conversation that he had signed the 

brief, which is classified., 

Franklin, a mid-level Iran analyst at the Pentagon, admitted to leaking 

information to Rosen and Weissman in 2003 because he wanted his 

concerns about the Iranian threat to reach the White House. 

His Pentagon colleagues were focused on Iraq, and Franklin believed AIPAC 

could get his theories a hearing at the White House's National Security 

Council. He also leaked information.to Naor Gilon, the former chief political 

officer at the Israeli Embassy. 

By the summer of 2004, government agents co-opted Franklin into setting up 

Rosen and Weissman. He allegedly leaked classified information to 

Weissman about purported Iranian pl~ns to kill Israeli and American agents 

in northern Iraq. 

Weissman and Rosen allegedly relayed that information to AIPAC 

colleagues, the media and Gilon. AIPAC fired the two men in March 2005. 

In sentencing Franklin, Ellis described the former Pentagon analyst's motives 

as "laudable," but said his motives were beside the point. 

"It doesn't matter that you think you were really helping," Ellis said. "That 

arrogates to yourself the decision whether to adhere to a statute passed by 

Congress, and we can't have that in this country." 

Those views could be bad news for Rosen and Weissman, who hoped to rest 

part of their defense on an altruistic desire to save lives. 

More to the point, it suggests Ellis believes government statutes are 

sacrosanct, however little they have been used. That's what cOl1cerns freespeech 

advocates. 

"These provisions of the Espionage Act are widely recognized in the legal 

literature as incoherent," said Steven Aftergood, who heads the government 

secrecy project for the Federation of American Scientists, a nuclear 

watchdog that relies heavily on leaks for its information. 

'We do not arrest and charge every reporter who comes into possession of 

classified information. We do not arrest people who receive leaks of 

classified information, we never have," he said. "For the judge to suggest 

otherwise is quite shocking." 

Lucy Dalglish, the Reporters Committee executive director, described the 

case as "terribly important." 

"If we had a situation where journalists can be punished for receiving 

information, hello police state," she said. 

At the Herzliya Conference in Israel - an annual gathering for top Western 

security officials that Franklin once attended - participants said the case 

was a central behind-the-scenes topic of discussion, and they girded 

themselves for the consequences of the Rosen and Weissman trial. 

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents 

of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the Jerusalem Post that the 

climate in Washington was "unacceptable.~' 

That "two patriotic American citizens who are working for Jewish 

organizations who did nothing to violate American security should have to 

stand trial and be subject to the public scrutiny and public humiliation, frankly 

I find very disturbing, and a matter that we all have to look at in a much more 

1/26/2006

, 

o 

Page 3 of3 

se~us way," Hoenlein said. 

Franklin's sentence seemed exceptionally tough, given the prosecution's 

tentative agreement to recommend a three-year sentence if Franklin 

cooperated in the case againstRosen'an~ Weissman. • 

I;lIis' sentence - abiding by strict govemm~nt sentencing guidelines - was 

mainly a technicality, since Franklin'is not going to go to'jail until his 

cooperation with the prosecution is complete. Prosecutors said they would 

exercise their prerogative to consider freeing Ellis from applying government 

sentencing guidelines. 

In that case, Ellis is likely to apply the three-year deal proseciJtors worked out 

with Plato Cacheris. Franklin's lawyer. 

1126/2006

'ALL INFFION CONTAINED 

HEREIN CLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-~9-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabjlsg 

0(\9 tngton • ost 

rJ1STRICT & 

MARYl~ND 

HOME EDITION 

35¢ 

NATIONAL NEWS 

)for Passing Government Secrets 

olobbyists. who 

and are awaiting ° 

!1 Kevin V. Di 

t1kIin had reason 

nation could be 

ate&. -when you 

information to 

~i~ it." he sai~ 

s control of that 

I wayto know in 

,'s attorney. ema 

longtime dedhas 

had -3 long 

, Cacheris said 

I}1erating exten" 

md that he exea 

motion later 

ceo 

in October to 

o communicate 

ion, conspiracy 

gnite.s 

-sbianswho 

ing denied 

u~across 

1973 state 

: asa union 

"Dave Kole 

~. Nao"'al Re 

)f the pl~un· 

, "VCI" h~' 1h~ 

..... ,It,, f'I'" 

to communicate classified information to 

an agent of a. foreign government, and un· 

lawful retention of national defense iu. 

formation. 

Court documents saidFranklinprovided 

classified data - including information 

about a Middle Eastern cou.ntrYs activities 

in Iraq and weapons tests conducted by a 

foreign country --- to the lobbyists and to 

an unnamed "foreign official· 

The Middle Eastern country was not 

named, but Franklin disclosed at his plea 

hearing that some of the material related 

to Iran. He also said in court that the foreign 

official was Naor GUon. who was the 

political officer at the Israeli Embassy be. 

fore beingrecalled last summer. Israeli officials 

have said they are cooperating in the 

investigation. and they denied any wrongdoing. 

Franklin is e~ed to testify against 

the two former AlPAC lobbyi~ Steven J. 

Rosen and Keith Weissman. at their trial. 

which is scheduled for April. 

Rosen, of Silver Spring, is charged with 

two counts related to unlawful disclosure 

of national defense information obtained 

from Franklin and other unidentified government 

officials on topics including Iran, 

Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda. Rosen was Al 

PAC's director of foreign policy issues and 

was instrumental in making the committee 

a formidable political force. 

Weissman. of Bethesda. faces one count 

of conspiracy to illegally communicate national 

defense infonnation. 

The FBI monitored a series of meetings 

between Franklin and the former AIPAC 

officials datingback to early 2003, multiple 

sources familiar with the investigation 

have said At one of those meetings, a session 

at the Pentagon City mallinArlington 

in July 2004, Franklin warned Weissman 

that Iranian agents were planning attacks 

against U.S. soldiers and Israeli agents in 

Iraq, sources said. 

THE WASHINGTON POST 

BY UVItf WOlf - MSOCMlIll fII($S 

Lawrence A. rrm1Un has said he.. 

fretrMed wItII tile cIireetIon.,U.s. poIiCJ : 

and thougllt lie could Influence It. 

Franklin had faced a maximum sentence 

of 25 years in prison. Ellis said Franklill 

would not have to go to jan until he fiI\ 

ished his cooperatiOD with the goverqmenta 

1IJt.,,, .....__... _.,,~ ... v. _ .... -

• deIIgIII., LcMdaMrs tlu'Dnlllnes........ saltltllll8ltame...... 

d IhIt~t 17..oat IIIII1IIDaI towanlltil" oa the...........WI. StotIy, lU. 

ALL INFORMATION CO~D 

HEP~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

• DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg 

VId. Ban on Gay Marriage 

rites 

auwho 

: deaied . 

8"- 'r.i __ 

auilioa 

~1CDJe. 

Iava1Iebeplainerbythe 

• for 

ld be 6Ir 

rs Mar1" 

deeiBioIl 

d:entioue 

mdU.S. 

tIa1JJau4 

L, a $100 Million Question 

vfqy End Supportfor u.s.-Funded Coca Eradication 

..-we're not doiDg anything the$e 

.,. one soldier said, ignoring the 

~ aJJchting on his .expoeed 

It a mud- forealm& -we're just waiting to hear 

Jmrlanda whaf. goirJ«to happen next.· 

.5OBoIiv- It's the $100 million question in 80 

~Ie "Hm.: What wiD. become of the u.s. 

_ coca' financed program to eradicatecoca, the 

'Ilt weeki plant used to make c:ocain~ now that 

Ide cntcle the longtime head of the coca growers' 

I sagaing union, Rw Morales, isabout to become 

!by mer the counbYa president? 

sthe U.S. Morales..46.who will be inaugurated 

Sunday, said during his campaign that 

he miIht withdraw Bolivia'. support 

for the eradication program, akeystone 

of the U.S.-backed anti-drug and alternative 

crop development campaign 

here. He has hinted at deaimmaHzing 

the tu1tivation of coca, which is legally 

chewed asastimulant andusedintraditional 

medicines, and he has criticized 

regional us. anti-drug programs as 

false pretextsfor establishingamilitaty 

~. 

But Morales has toned down his 

Se~ BOJ..lVlA..A 14. Col. 1 

DC''' KU"~lU""-......, ~.......... ------ -- - -_. 

foral.transit, increase highway construction Lly 

90 and revive stalled road projects. 

Th ey would help build a connected network 

of carpool or express toll lanes on all of Northern Vtrginia's 

major highways. buy railears for VirgiDia Railway 

Express andMetro, widen Interstates 95and 66, 

and fix traffic botUeneeks. 

-We don't need any more studies. We don't need an 

extended session,II Kaine told reporters Friday after- 

See VIRGINIA, A10. Cot 3 

Pentagon Analyst 

Given 12~ Years 

In Secrets Cra:se 

By JEBJlY MAuoN 

Wash.ington Post SmffWriler 

A former Defense DepartmeDt analyst was. sentenced 

to more than 12 years in prison yesterday for 

passing government secrets to two employees of apro 

Israel lobbying group and to an Ismeli government of. 

ficial inWashiDgton. 

U.s. District Judge T.S. Ellia msaid Lawrence A. 

Franklin did not intend to harm the United States 

when he gave the classified data, to the employees of 

the American Israe1 Public Affairs Committee, or ~ 

PAC, oue ofWashingtoD.'smost intluentiallobbyingorganimtions. 

When he pleaded guilty, Franldia, an Iran 

specialist, said he was frustrated with the direction of 

U.s. policy and thought he could influence.itthrough 

'"back channels.II 

"Ibelieve, I accept, your explanationthat you didn't 

want to hurt the United States, that J01l are a IoyaI 

American: said Ellis, who added that Franklin was 

-concerned about certain threats tothe Umted Statesand 

thought he had to hand information about the 

threats to others to bring it to the attention ofthe National 

Security CoundL 

But Franklin. still must be punished, Ellis sai~ because 

he violated important laws govemfug the nondisclosure 

of secret information. 

'1t doesn't matter that you think you were really 

helping,- EJHe said as he sentenced Franklin to 151 

months -12th yeatS - in prison. -nat a:rn>gItes to 

See SECREI'S. A6. Col. 1 

INSIDE 

IW lOIS IIMIllII10 - TIlE YMSHINGTDIl POST 

De 'Rogue' Writer 

Osama bin Laden invited the 

world to read his book. For 

Washington's William Blum, it's 

.. , .• _._.j1r_. __l .._4_ 

Cuba Call PIa, Ball 

'The 16-nation World 

Baseball Cassie gets the 

help itneeds to bring Fidel 

Castro·s team to the 

tournament. SPOIlS, E1 

tflOi8St! vs. Ha»use 

Six bedrooms or justone 

with four bunks? Two 

distinct views of the house 

of the future. 

Also, a bigincrease in 

first-time buyers puttingno 

mo~down. 

Lessons Leamed in Iraq 

Show Up in Army Classes 

Culture Shifts to 

Counterinsurgency 

By THOMAS E. fuexs 

Washington Post S.affWriter 

FORT LEAVENWORTH, !

, 

An.~~ l~ Years fo~ Pass=-&ment Secre~-r-_T_NIW_"'H...-IIIO'I'II_~P~ •.- 

~.I~~I••__._-- 

=~=::,..,: 

.............._IL 

J1h_.....CIIII ~ 

0125,.. iii ,.... lIrnklbl 

.... 1llI1 .... "',:llbjd\Ullll... 

~ ... CClIIlI'ft'IIlI.1IIc1X*llll' 

m..... 



DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg

DA ~ 

. DIFORMATION CONTAINED 0 

RE N IS LrnJCLASSIFIED 

07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJlsg 

jpost.txt 

Hoenlein: Franklin sentence 'disturbing l 

- - 

----------~----------------------------------~---------~------------------------ 

Hilary Leila Krieger, TH~ )ERUSALEM POST Jan. 23, 2006 

----~-------------------~-----~-----------------~~-~-~-------------~--~----~-~-- 

American Jewish leader Malcolm Hoenlein on sunday blasted the sentence handed down 

two days earlier to the. Pentagon analyst who admitted passing on classified 

information to Israeli diplomats and pro-Israel lobbyists. 

Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the conference of presidents of Major American 

Jewish organizations, labeled the ruling "disturbing,1I a comment greeted by applause 

from the audience to whom he spoke about US-Israel relations at the • 

Interdisciplinary Centerls Herzliya conference. 

The former analyst, Larry' Franklin, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in 

prison for three counts of conspiring to communicate national defense information 

unlawfully. The sentence was part of a Rlea bargain between Franklin and the 

prosecution in which he agreed to testify against two staffers of the pro-Israel 

lobby American Israel Public Affairs committee (AI PAC) , Steve Rosen and Keith 

weissman, whose trial begins in late April. 

nThe very fact that this kind of climate can exist in the capital of the united 

.States is unacceptable," Hoenlein said of the. sentencing as wel.l as subtle 

anti-Semitism heard in the corridors of power. 

He added, "[That] two patriotic. American citizens who are working for Jewish 

organizations who did nothing to violate American security, should have. to stand 

tr1al and be subject to the pub11c scrutiny and public humiliation, frankly I find 

very disturbing and a m~tter that we all have to look at in·a much more serious 

way." 

Hoenlein also cautioned Israel about its attitude toward the oiaspora. 

IIThere are more Jews in Tel Aviv than in New york and the majority of Jews will live® 

her.e," he noted. IIS0 there's no need to diminish the importance or the achievements 

of the oiaspora in order to emphasize the centrality an~ singular significance of 

Israel in all of our live~." 

I 

Hoenlein was preceded by Rabbi vechiel Eckstein, who also had some words of ~~ 

criticism -. of oiaspora Jewry. 

He slammed Jewish leaders for making a "major .strategic mistakell by criticizing 

growing ties between evangelical christians and the State of Israel, arguing that 

evangelicals pose one of American Jewryls largest threats since their values are so 

different from tha~ of Ameri~an Jews. ' 

"YOU don't need to accept their vision of America. But you donlt need to make them 

the enemy," said Eckstein, president of 'the International Fellowship of christians 

and Jews. lilt is the height. of irresponsibility for American Jewish leaders to 

jeopardize the critical support for Israel and the fight again$~ radical Islam and 

growing anti-Semitism that evangelicals bring to the table." Eckstein warned Israel 

not to take the support of evangelicals for granted. 

He did, however, praise Acting prime Minister Ehud olmert and former prime Minister 

Binyamin Netanyahu for understanding the importance of this constituency. 

Another speaker at the same session, American pollster Frank Luntz, also heaped ~ 

accolades on olmert. concludin9 a lecture on how to use la.nguage effectively to get ~ 

Israel's message across - "it 1 S not what ~ou say that matter.s in communi cation; \-,,, 

; t 's what people hear" - he, ,sa;d that the former Jerusal em mayor had mastered h~~\, 

page 1 

\)Y\~V" 

. ~ 6 ~'\JJ~ ~'S\r;;...fJC- 'r 

- &:.~\V /~f

,~ 

'" 

~ 

1- 

advice. 

0 0 

jpost.t'xt 

He played a short video clip of olmert defending Israeli policies in heavil~ 

accented English on international TV. 

"This ;s absolutely perfect communication to Americans," said Luntz, who ;s a 

consultant to the Israeli aavocacy organization, The Israel project. He described 

the clip as lI.some of the. best communication of any Israeli spokesperson. Tilank God 

he is where he is right now.II' . 

page 2

o 

~PEIN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJ1sg 

~LL INFOPHATION CONTAINED 

w w w . h a are t z . com 

haaretz article.txt 

---------------~----~------------~------~----~-------~~----~--------~------~-~-~ 

Last update ~ 10:59 23/01/2006 

u.s. Jewish leaders concerned by Franklin conviction 

By shlomo Shamir and-Amiram Barkat 

Two days after former pentagon analyst Larry- A. Franklin was sentenced to 12 years 

and seven months in jail for sharing classified information with pro-Israel 

lobbyists, $everal American Jewish community leaders echoed. a singl~ refrain: 

There's reason to worry, but no need to feel like this is a crisis. 

Franklin pleaded guilty ;n october to sharing the information with AIPAC lobbyists 

and Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. Steve Rosen and Keith weissman, who were ~ired from 

AIPAC in 2004, are facing charges of disclosing confidential information to Israel, 

apparently abou~ Iran. 

Some American Jewish leaders are concerned by the influence the trial could, have on 

th~ relations between Jewish groups and the administration. 

Anti-Defamation leagu~ director Abe Foxman said the Franklin affair could 

potentially pose a thre~t to all Jewish lobbyists. 

Foxman said it is not clear what exactly is allowed in-terms of the relationships 

between the administration and the media and between nongovernmental.organizations 

and foreign governments. The lack of clarity, he said, could have a destructive 

influence on the activities~of all u.s. Jewish groups. 

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of presidents of Major 

Jewish organizations, said yesterday that he found Franklin's sentence Idisturb1ng." 

liThe very fact that this kind of climate can exist in the capital of the u.S. is 

unacceptable," he said at the Herzliya Conference. 

' 

Rosen and weissman, he said, lIare two patriotic American citizens working for a 

Jewish organization, who did nothing to violate the American security." 

page 1

. . ~ ~ "'~- 

ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED " 

HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

1\,. '~ ~ATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc ,baW/S~'3g 

:' ~-F-ro-m-:----~I·-~) (FBi) . - -- 

• 1 

~:~t: I~av EeJl.ruaO! H '0 069 "30 MIl. !vF) (FBI) 

SUbject: 

FYT 

UNCLASSIFIED 

NON-RECORD 

I assume you worthies saw this... 

-Formel7 Official Backs Lobbyists In Leak C~se 


By Walter Pincus 

February 14,2006 

WASmNGTON, DC -- The former hea'd ofthe Justice Department's 

Office ofLegal Policy helped write a 'memorandum oflaw calling for ~ 

dismissal ofEspionage Act charges against two pro-Israel lobbyists, 

arguing that, in receiving leake4 classified Information and relaying i~ 

to others, they were doing'what reporters, thiilk~tankexperts and 

congressionai staffers "do ,perhaps 'hundreds oftime~ every day~" 

Viet D. Dinh, who'helped draft the USA Patriot,Act after the_Sept.t1, 2001, attacks, has 

joined with lawyers defend:ing Steven J. Rosen and ~eith Weissman, former employ~es of 

the American Israel Public AffairsCommitte~(AIPAC), who last year became the first 

non-U.S. governmentlemployees to be indicted for ,allege~ly violating provisions ofthe 

Espionage Act. "Never has a lobbyist, reporter, or any other non-government e~pJoyee 

·been charged ••• for receiving oral information tl;te government alleges to be national 

defen~e matf?rialas part ofthat person's normal"First Amendm~nt protected activ_ties," 

the defense memorandum states. 

In additio.n, since no classified docum~nts are involved, the two lobbyists are being 

accused of receiving or~1 cla,ssified informatiQD during conversations with'government 

officials, one ofwhom warned Weissman that "the information he was about to rece~ve 

was highly~ classified tAgency stuff,t " according to the indictment. That government 

-official in'·this instance was-Lawrence'A.Franklin, who at the time worked in the policy 

offi~e at the Pentagon. He recently pleaded guilty to violations ofthe'Espionage Act and 

was provisi~nally sentenced to ~2 years in prison, with tJte sentence to be reviewed 

depending on his cooperation with the governmenti~ t~eRosen-Weissmantrial aJi~ anx.. CC} 

other relat~4 investigations. 

. J 

.'.

!~ 

-~- 

". 0 9 

!. The defense memorandum was filed under seal in U.S. District Court for the Eastern 

'District ofVirginia on Jan.19 and, according to Rosen's attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, was 

unsealed last Thursday at the request ofthe defense. In the 90 years since the act was 

originally drafted, according to the Dinh memorandum, "there have been ·no reported 

prosecutions ofpersons outside government for repeating information tha~ they obtained 

verbally, and were thus unable to know conclusively whether or to what extent that 

information could be repeated." Dinh, who has returned to teaching at Georgetown 

University Law Center after leaving the Bush administration, said in an interview 

yesterday that the espionage statute is very broad and vague in its language and normally 

requires "bad faith" on the part ofthose in violation. 

The memorandum quotes Patrick J. Fitzgerald, special counsel in the CIA leak case, who 

said in a news conference that the espionage law is "a difficult statute to interpret" and 

"a statute you ought to carefully apply." "Prosecuting the leakee for an oral presentation 

••• presents a novel case because the listener has no evident indicia for knowing what 

relates to national defense," Dinh said. He noted that he could find only one case in which 

the disclosed information may have been made only orally. In that case, an Army 

intelligence officer leaked defense inforptation and only he was charged. He was 

acquitted, "indicating that the government should have thought twice before now trying 

to stretch the statute even further." 

The memorandum notes that the statute contemplates the passing ofphysical evidence, 

such as documents with classifi.cation stamped not just on each page but also alongside 

each paragraph. One section ofthe law says that a person who has improperly received a 

classified leak commits a crime if"he willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to 

the officer or employee entitled to receive it." The memorandum says that the provision 

cannot cover orally received information since recipients tt 'retain' it in memory and it is 

physically impossible to 'deliver' it back to the United States." 

Another reason for dismissing the case, according to the memorandum, is that "ifthe 

instant indictment and theory ofprosecution are allowed to stand, lobbyists who seek 

information prior to its official publication date and reporters publishing what they learn 

can be charged with violating section 793" ofthe espionage statute. The memorandum 

also points out that"on many occasions, the media boldly state that they have classified 

material," which they publish after soliciting and receiving leaks. 

Lowell said that his client and Weissman "have been indicted as felons for doing far lessthan 

for what reporters have been awarded Pulitzer Prizes." In the memorandum, 

reference is made to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest's articles on CIA secret 

prisons for alleged terrorists, for which a leak investigation is underway. FBI agents are 

also investigating the leak to the New York Times about the National Security Agen~y's 

domestic surveillance program. . 

I, 

ị 

lI 

UNCLASSIFIED 

2

I; Q 

~il~ 

INFOIDIATION COm'AINED O' 

IN IS UNCLASSIFIED 

. 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJ1sg~ 

_ 

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

SubjeCt: 

- . 

---~~-~----~~-------~~~-~~ 

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld 

b6 

b7C 

-----Original Message----- 

Sent: Wed Feb 15 18:45:50 2006 

Subject: NY Sun article -t 

lintervie~ed 

C}hat_' s 1l...__lemail? 

Big Impact Seen In Israel Spy Case 

BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun February 13" 2006 

URL: http://www.nysun.comlarticle/27429 ~ 

Lawyers for two former pro~Israel lobbyists under indictmen~ for leaking classified ~ 

information have denounced the prosecution as an assault on the First Amendmen~ and warned~~~ 

that a vas~ array of policy advocates and journalists could ,be in jeopardy if the case 

goes forward. 

The two lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, were fired from their jobs at the 

American Israel Publi~ Affairs Committee last year as the probe unfolded. A former 

Pentagon. official charged wich providing classified information to the pair, Lawrence 

~ranklin, is cooperating .:with prosecutors after pleading guilty. He was sentenced last 

month to more than 12 years in prison. 

In a brief filed in January and released last week, the lawyers for Messrs. Rosen and 

Weissman argue that the statute barring unauthorized' release of classified material has 

never been applied to private citizens. 

"The breathtaking application of that law to this set of facts breaks new legal ground," 

the defense team wrote. "There has never been a successful prosecution of an alleged leak 

by persons outside government persons with no contractual or legal obligation to preserve 

classified information." 

Messrs. Rosen and Weissman are scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Alexandria, 

Va., on April 25. The indictment charges tha~ they received classified information from 

Franklin and other officials, and passed that data on to members o~ the press and agents 

of a foreign government. ~/ 

Prosecutors have not offered a public description of 'the information that was alleg~dly ~{~ 

relayed, nor have they disclosed which reporters or foreign agents were al~egedly 

involved. ~owever, Franklin was the Iran desk officer at the Defense Department and some ~ I' 

~{ the d~t~ he has a~tted to passing on ~ppear to h~ve pertained to Iranian influence in 

1 

Allt~' 

-. _05lt,~~~3\5- ,u c" 

~cB~ -Le'-l-v

t' 

'n ~. 

I~aq. The foreign diplomats~o received classified information in the alleged scheme 

~ 

Ii a~;>pear to have been Israelis. 

In court papers asking that the charges be dismissed, the defense lawyers argue that the 

prosecution is attempting to criminalize the traditional give and take of information 

b-etween lobbyists, journalists, and government, officials. "This is what. members ot the 

media, members of the Washington policy community, lobbyists ~nd members of congressional 

staffs do perhaps hundreds of times every day, II the lawyers wrote. liThe exchange of 

informa~ion between members of, the government and non-governmental organizations is 

p,recisely what policy lobbying (as well as everyday news reporting) is all about. II 

The prosecution's response to the motion·was filed late last. month, but. has not yet been 

made public. In an unusual arrangement, mos~ papers filed in the case remain secret for a 

time while they are reviewed for classified information. 

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Weissman's attorney, John Nassikas III, said the 

p,rosecution should be of concern to all those who play a role in Washington policy 

debates. IIHopefully, there will be some resonance out, in the community over this," the 

l,awyer said. "We think that the government prosecution is off-base and we're challenging 

in every way, legally and factual·ly. II 

H,owever, Mr. Nassikas acknowledged that the defense may face an uphill battle in trying to 

c,onvince Judge Thomas Ellis III, who is presiding over the case, that the prosecution 

would jnhibit the free exchange of ideas and information vital to American democracy. At 

Frank~in's sentencing last month, the jUdge expressed no qualms abou~ punishing 

j,ournali:5ts or others who wind up with classified information and pass it. on. IIPersons who 

~ave ,unauthorized possession, who come into unauthorized possession of classified 

information, must abide by the law," Judge Ellis said in remarks first reported by the 

~ewish Telegraphi~Agency. ,iThat applies to academics, lawyers, journalists, professors, 

whatever. II 

. . 

The brief filed on behalf of Messrs. Rosen and Weissman was co-authored by a conservative 

Georgetown University law professor and for:mer Justice Department official, Viet Dinh. 'Mr. 

Dinh's opposition t~ th~ department's stance in this case is notable because he has # 

generally supported aggressive prosecution tactics and was an architect of the 2001 law 

that broadened the government's anti-terrorism powers, the USA-PATRIOT Act. 

"He's obviously an ~xpert on constitutional law issues, and there have been a-lot of 

constitutional law flaws in the government's application of this statute," Mr. Nassikas 

said. He said Mr. Dinh was enlisted by Mr. Rose~'s attorney, Abbe Lowell. Messrs. Lowell 

and Dinh did not ~eturn calls yesterday seeking comment for this story. 

The case has drawn criticism from some Jewish activists as well as a journalists' group, 

the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the"Press, which has sought to file an amicus brief 

on behalf of the two eX-lobbyists. 

Legal analysts often distinguish the American .lega~ system's approach toward breaches.of 

classified information fro~ t~e tack taken in Britain, where the country's Official 

Secrets Act can be used to prosecute and silence journalists and ordinary citizens who 

come into possession of sensitive infor:mation. In America, the~e have 'been repeated, but 

unsuccessful, efforts to pass a similar statute that would crimdnalize all leaks of 

classified information regardless of the harm caused or the intent or identity of the 

leaker. 

In 2000, President Clinton vetoed ~egislation that would have made the release ot any 

classified information a crime. 

lilt would be fundamentally unfair for the Justice Department to usurp the province of 

Co~gress and create some type of Official Secrets Act through the prosecution of a test 

case," the defense team argued in their brief. 

The brief also quotes a prominent federal prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, about the perils 

of bringing criminal charges in connection with leaks' o~ classified information. "You 

sho~ld be ver.y careful in applying that law because there are a lot. ·of interests that 

c,ould '.be imp~i.cated," Mr. Fitzgerald said at a press conference last. year discussing his 

2.

~ decision not to charge a WhO House aide, I. Lewis Libby, wO"leakiDg a 

J identity. Mr. Libby, who has pleaded not guilty, was charged with perjury 

of justice in the ,probe. 

CIA officer's 

and obstruc~ion 

Details of the defense filing were first reported by an online newsletter, Secrecy News, 

which is published by the Federation of American Scientists. 

Mr. Nassikas declined to say yesterday whether he plans to call journalists as witnesses, 

an effort which could prompt further legal confrontations. "Neither side has indicated 

what witnesses will be called a~ this point. It's clear there are reporters involved in 

the facts of the case," the attorney said. 

In recent months, Messrs. Rosen and Weissman have been at odds with their fo~er employer, 

Aip~c, over payment of legal fees in the case. "That is not resolved," Mr. Nassikas said. 

He said Mr. Weissman plans to launch a legal defense fund this week to cover costs that 

Aipac has, declined to pick up. 

Efforts to reach an Aipac. spokesman last. night were unsuccessful. 

3


i ~IN IS tU~CLASSIFIED 0 

It ~ 07-29.,..2010 B·:r 60324 l.lC baw/sabll.. 

!ll 

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

Subject: 

I 

......_~------------- 

I:=bQl8N15.2006 6:12 PM 

------~--~~-~~--~--------- 

Sent from my BlackBerry Wirele~s,Handheld 

I 

b6 

b7C 

Pre-trial strategies suggest unwanted 

exposure of AIPAC's lobbying practices 

By Ron Kampeas and Matthew E. Berger 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (JTA) -- Federal investigators are asking questions about ties between 

lay leaders of the American Israei Public Affairs Commdttee and two former staffers 

charged in a classified-information case. 

The renewed investigation comes as Viet Dinh, a forme~ assistant u.s. attorney general and 

principal architect~f the Patriot Act, argued in a brief on behalf of Steve Rosen and 

Keith Weissman, the former AIPAC staffers, that the case against them lacks merit because 

it violates thei~ First Amendment rights. 

Taken together, the defense and government actions suggest the shape of the trial to start 

April 25: The defense will argue that culling and distributing inside government 

information was a routine lobbying actiVity. 

It also anticipates the media event AiPAC insiders have said they fear: One that picks 

apart, ina public forum, exact~y how ~PAC goes about its business. 

No one suggests that AIPAC's activities are in any way illegal, and the prosecutor in the 

case already has made clear that t~e organization is not suspected o~ wrongqoing. B~t 

AIPAC closely guards its lobbying practices, and is loath to reveal them to the genera~ 

Washington community. 

In his brief, Dinh, now a law professor and attorney in private practice, argues that the 

First Amendment protects the practice of seeking information from executive branch 

officials. 

~This is what members of the media, members of the Washington policy community, lobbyists 

and members of congressional staffs do perhaps hundreds of times a day," Dinh argues, 

describing the acts alleged in the indictment against Rosen, the former AIPAC foreign 

policy director, and Weissman, a former Iran specialist. 

FBI agents' questions to other former AiPAC staffers inte~viewed in recent weeks suggest 

that the government is trying to assess whether receiving and disseminating classified 

information was routine at AIPAC. 

The form~+ staffers told ~A that .t~e FBI agents asked questions about Rosen's 

1 _

elationship with 

of Beverly Hills, 

influential AI~AC 

three pa~PAC presidents -- Robert Ashe~f Chicago, Larry Weinberg 

Calif., and Edward LeVy of Detroit, as well as Newton Becker, an 

donor from Los Angeles. 

The for.mer employees all spoke on condition ~f a~onymity, because the FBI has told them 

not to speak with the media. 

The office of u.s. Attorney ~aul McNulty, who is trying the case, would no~ comment. 

Weinberg, reac~ed Tuesday, refused to comment. Levy was on vacation and could not be 

reached, and Asher and Becker did not respond to messages. 

The new round of FBI questions is important because the indictment, based on a World War 

I-era espionage statute, rests not simply on receipt of the allegedly classified 

information but on its further dissemination. 

The indictment, handed down las~August, all~ges tha~.Rosen and Weissman relayed the 

infor.mation -- on Iran and on Al-Qaida -- to fellow AIPAC staffers, journalists and 

diplomats a~ the Israeli Embassy in Washington. 

Establishing whether Rosen also briefed board members on the allegedly classified 

information would bolster the defense claim that the acts described in the indictment are 

routine. Board members are regularly briefed, often in lengthy one-on-one phone calls, on 

meetings between the mos~ senior AIPAC staffers and top administration officials. 

Rosen routinely made such phone calls, a former staffer said. 

~He made sure board members knew he was responsible and he was the one doing the work,H 

the staffer said. 

~roving that such briefings are routine, however, will 'not necessarily deter the 

government from going ahead with th~ case: Judge T.S. Ellis, who is' hearing t~e case, has 

suggested that the routine nature of such exchanges doesno~ preclude prosecution. 

~~ersons who have unauthorized possession, who come into unauthorized possession of 

classified information, must abide by the law," Ellis said last month in ~entencing Larry 

Franklin, the for.mer ~entagon analyst who pleaded gUilty to ~eaking information to Rosen, 

Franklin and others. ~Tha~ applies to academics, lawyers, journalists, professors, 

whatever." - 

A defense source said the defendants ~ould no~ recall board member brtefings about the 

central charge in the, indictment, involving allegedly classified information on supposed 

Ira~ian plans to kill American and Israeli agents in northern Iraq. 

However, other alleged leaks in the indictment migh~ have been relayed to board members, 

JTA has learned. One in 2002 involved David Satterfield, then· a deputy ~ssistant secretary 

of state and now deputy ambassador to Iraq. Satterfield relayed information to Rosen on 

A!-Qaida, the indictment says. 

McNulty's office would not comment on whether i~ planned to bring charges against 

Satterfield. Satterfield did not. respon~ to previous JTArequests for comment. 

The defense will maintain that Satterfield would have been authorized to release the 

infor.mation. The administration routinely used.AIPAC as a conduit. to ~nfluence Israel on 

matters where there were differences between Israel and the United States, for instance on 

Israeli arms sales to China. In those cases, the information migh~ have been classified. 

The information Satterfield allegedly relayed to Rosen apparently related to Iran's ties 

to a wanted Lebanese terrorist. 

Dinh's brief was filed last month, but was made publiq only last week. JTA reported on the 

brief las~ month, and has been has been researching for several mont~~ interactions 

between Rosen, Weissman and government officials. 

Patrick Dorton, an AIPAC sppkesman, previou~ly ~as ~aid that Rosen and Weissman were fired 

. 2

~as: ~rCh because infoxmat~ arising out of the FBI inves~tion uncovered ~conduct 

that was not part of their job and was beneath the standa%ds of what AIPAC expects of 

their employees." 

A December 2000 AIPAC staff handbook does not say how to handle classified information. A 

1985 internal memo by Rosen,' recently obtained by JTA, outlines his plans to shifeAIPAC's 

lobbying emphasis from Congress to the executive branch. He explicitly calls for the 

cultivation of mid-level, non-elected officials -- a description that would include 

Franklin. 

Outlining the advantages of such lobbying, Rosen wrote; UThey work for secretive rather 

than open institutions and agencies. And, perhaps m9st important o~ all for effective 

communications, they are in many cases experts in our subject themselves, as oppose~ to 

the 'generalist' in Congress who might be convinced by a few general 'talking points' 

explained by a layman." 

Former staffers say Rosen's memo p~ofoundly influenced AIPAC's mission. AIPAC has never 

repudiated the document, though las~ yea~ the organization said i~ had changed some 

lobbying practices -- without specifying which ones. 

UAIPAC continues to discuss perfectly appropriate and legal informati~n with people on 

Capitol Hill and in all levels of the administration every single day," Dorton said 

Tuesday.

, , ---..~ .' .~ - ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED I"'a18 I or l 

_~.,

~j:-- '\ ' '. 'b6 '::r' .~.- -_••• ~_.~:. 

~ 't •. b7C '" ·0 .::, 

f AwItnes8 said that the kJJtenI h8d on'~ jack~. wom . 

;'L ..,-JheY:itepped oulof..tli8lt..v8liJde;........ ""... biilleti"trito the victims at' . nt-blank range, cheCked the bodlM do8eIy to en .' 

1! 

.U =~-: ~·;:~~Ut1_.l8IgelBd88d18yd;$~..~. 

• ' one1*"6ieii ~'~~. a sal for the deportation toAmerfcaofYousef. .'t":J' 

01 j Yesterday's mur dens wece probably d8eIgnid to"aVenge the guilty venfJd passed by an American court on Mlr Aimal KasI, a 1.~.. ~ 

. t fOur yeat8 ago. He could face the death penalty. ~ . 

tfi ;. ~eaki8tan national who IciJJed two CIA employees outside the agency's headquarters In Langley. near Washington, !flOI'8~ :f:' 

Kasralawyers are pleading with ajury to spare his life and sentence him to life In prison without parole. The defence 

produced family membefw. teachers, friends and fonneremployena to show that Kasf had lived a non-violent life before the 

kJnlngs. The US State Department had given a warning on Tuesday that Americans could betargets after the KasI verdic.t. 

Mike MeCuny, President C&nton's spokesman, saki there was no Immediate direct evidence to link the KaI8Chi murders with 

the KasI conviction, but officials were watchfng for any connection that developed. 

Condemning yesterdayis Karachi attack as barbarous and outrageous. MrMcCuny said that it would not affect Mr CUnton's 

visit to Pakistan next year. 

LOAD-DATE: November 14, 1997 

Copyright.O 2005 LexJsNexfs. a division ofReed Elsevier Inc. AD rights reserved. 

Your use ofthis seNfce fa governed by TJmn~~i!&o.J... Please~ them. 

http://web.lexis.com/xcha-nge/search/dispdoc.aso? aStrinFb4kDb1 F04U2W3%~FCkWn 

- R/~/?nnfi


~IN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

~ 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJl~ 

BRIEF ON IR:AN 

No. 798 

Tuesday, December 9, 1997 

Representative OfOce of 

The National Council ofResistance ofIran 

Washington, DC 

Spying on Foreign Reporters in Tehran, Iran Zamin News Agency, December 8 

P 

~~··1>;'I!11;;;P2~J'~":' ~.~" .~. 

age' ,01." :~" •.,;" 

Dt.s~s~.~ 

C1tle 

Tf:\B C-. 

The regime's Ministry of Intelligence is doing it utmost to prevent foreign reporters from gaining access to the 

realities of the Iranian society. 

According to reports from Iran, the regime has instructed the majority of foreign reporters to leave Tehran 

immediately after the summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference•. 

The reporters·have reportedly asked to go to Com and meet with dissident clergymen. Meanwhile, the regime has 

imposed more restrictions on Montazeri, form.er successor to Khomeini. MOl')tazeri's comments against Khamenei 

in recent weeks escalated the power struggle within the regime. 

Protest Gathering ofMojahedin Families in Tehran, Iran Zamin News Agency, December 8 

According to reports from-Iran, simultaneous with the Organization ofIslamic Conference's 

meeting in Tehran, large groups offamilies ofMojahedin martyrs and political prisoners gathered 

today in the Iranian capital's Behesht..e Zahra cemetery to protest the clerical regime's repressive 

policies. 

The families gathered despite security measures by the regime and chanted slogans against the 

regime's leaders, and in support ofthe National Liberation Army and the Resistance's leaders. 

The protesters condemned the regime's efforts to take advantage ofthe OIC summit to legitimize 

their atrocities in the name of.Islam. 

The Revolutionary Guards attacked the gathering ofMojahedin families and arrested and took 

a'way dozens of people, including elderly mothers, the reports say. 

Iran Denies. It's Involvement in Killing ofFour Americans, Agence France Presse, 

December 8 

ISLAMABAD - Iran Monday denied its nationals were involved in the killing of four US business executives in the 

Pakistani city of Karachi last month. 

\E Police in Karachi said Sunday security agencies had detained eight Iranian nationals in connection wilhthe 

1\ murder of the Americans •. 

The detainees included two people suspected of involvement in the theft of the car the assailants used in the 

November 12 slaying, the police said. 

A police official said that investigators were working on a number of theories including suspicions ofan Iranian 

c9nnection in, the slaying.

- 

Cf. · Q .. . a 

V~ Police were questioning the Iranians but none·of them had confessed to involvement in the crime. said Saud 

)t .Mirza. a senior superintendent of Karachi police. 

Trail Heats Up in '94.Argentina Bombing, The Los Angeles Times, December 6 

BUENOS AIRES--The hunt for terrorists who slaughtered 86 people in the bombing of a Jewish community center 

here in 1994 has picked up unexpected momentum...: 

Investigators believe that the attack also involved Iranian terrorists and members of Modin, a rightist political party 

of former military officers known for coup attempts and anti-Semitic violence. 

The latest and most politically prominent investigative target is congressional Deputy Emilio Morello, a former 

army captain and Modin member. Under questioning by the commission last week, Morello denied allegations 

that he met with Iranian diplomats ~nd traveled secretly to the Middle East.... 

Meanwhile. Judge Juan Jose Galeano sought another piece of the puzzle: the suspected Iranian connection. 

After gathering information in France and Germany on Iranian terrorism, Galeano ftew to Los Angeles to reinterview 

witness Manouchehr Moatamer, an Iranian defector who lives in California. 

Moatamer, who fled Iran in 1994, describes himself as a former well-placed Iranian operative with powerful family 

connections. He says he had access to meetings where intelligence officials plotted the Buenos Aires bombing. 

During his testimony last week in the Argentine Consulate in Los Angeles, he provided purportedly official Iranian 

90cuments on the plot to back his claims... 

Iranian officials, who deny any role in the bombing, call Moatamer a con man. But investigators believe that he 

can help them. During his 1994 testimony in Venezuela, he predicted a bombing at the Israeli Embassy in London 

that occurred days later during a worldwide terror offensive. 

19th Dissident Assassinated Abroad During Khatami's Tenure, Iran Zamin News Agency, 

DecemberS 

yvednesday, December 3, terrorists dispatched by the Iranian mullahs' regime assassinated Seyyed Jamal 

Nikjouyan, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran~ in Kouysenjaq, Iraqi Kurdistan. 

.. 

He was the 19th dissident assassinated on Iraqi territory since Khatami has taken office. 

r-I: Back to Brief on Iran 

http://www.tran-e-azad.orglenglish/boil07981209:-97.html 

5/1'1/2005

• ",,.:'':'1... •u" ""f.' , 

Briefon' irah:'NO:~866~" .~ ,. 

," t, ... ...... 1, • • 

ALL:LION CONTAINED 



O . C( ,... t. \l~" M Page 1 of2 

- D1S~~ I Ptl:J ( 

_ -BRIEF ON IR..w ,~~o..(L

,No. ~U() 

r~ Q 0 

lI!: . rorist attack last month in Karachi, a southern port city, left four Houston oil co~pany e';'ployees dead•••• 

_~ ~ .. ...~~_ .... ~ ........_.. _..... _ ~_ ...................lIIr.4 tIl'l~" .. .: • • _ "f ~.' .. r_JIY. I 

Women Resist Raw Deal in Islamic Iran, Reuter, December 15 

TEHRAN (Reuters). Women were in the vanguard of the Iranian revolution that ousted the Shah 18 years ago, 

but they ha~e had a raw deal in the Islamic republic and are increasingly demanding greater rights. 

I, 

Few of the counUess thousands of women. who poured into the streets, defying the Shah's soldiers to 

demonstrate for change, can have imagined that the revolution would turn the clock back more than half a century 

for their sex. 

Yet that, according to feminist lawyer Mehrangiz Kar, is exactly what happened. 

"The family protection law enacted in the last four years of the Shah's regime, which improved many things for 

women, was abolished and they returned to the previous law approved 66 years earlier: she told Reuters in an 

interview.•.. 

In the name of Islam, the ruling Shi'ite Muslim clergy reinstated laws that give men an absolute right to divorce 

their wives without having to produce any justification and, in the vast majority of cases, custody over the children. 

Women are entitled to keep boys only up to the age of tWo and girls until seven. After that the father has the right 

to custody••.. 

"Although the mother has a very lofty place in Iranian literature and religious tradition, legally she is next to 

nothing," Kar said. 

Women are barred from serving as judges, although there were many on the bench before the revolution. They 

face explicit discrimination in the criminal law and an unwritten "glass ceiling" in ~mployment. 

A woman's evidence in court is worth only half a man's. Kar said, and for some offenses., women's evidence is not 

admissible at all.... 

Blood money for a murdered woman is only half that for a man. Moreover, in an Islamic version of Catch 22, if a 

murdered woman's family insists on her male killer's execution, her relatives have to pay his family the full blood 

money in compensation,Kar said. 

[jiiiiii'IBack to Brief on Iran 

httn:llwww.iran-e-a7ad.on!/enqli~hlhoi/OR06121997.html 5/11/2605

.. 

, '."', 

.• NrnttU ~UUlUC;Lnupun ~UUU ~1J"U:i~n • ' 

.. '-! ALL INFOIDlATION CON:rAINED 


~ 

PROJECT \;b- 

"P~hQr,S" 

DATE 

Pakistan (1992 • first combat deaths) 

Update: .February 2005 . 

o 

07-29-2010 BY 60324.. uc baTN:/~~l~ag,-,,-::-._~>!!!!"~.:...... ...J~.~~ 

ARMED CONFLICTS 

REPORT 2004 

..••. 

DlS~ 

TAB 

A 

Summary: 

2004 Sectarian fighting con~nu6din 2004 as attacks on civilians andsecurity 

forces, bombing ofmosques, and drive-by shootings ofpoliticians killed 

between 100 and 170 people. Most casualties were civilians who died in the year 

Jfi two mostserious attacks, both bombings ofSunni mosques. President 

Musharrafwas entrenched as headofthe government andarmy untilatleast 

2007 bya billapprovedby Pakistan iiilowerhouse.. Pakistan was declareda tt 

ajorally"by US President Bush In recognition ofPakistanIicontribution to the 

fight against al-Qaeda. 

2003 Sectarian violence claimed approXimately 100 lives this year, with Shia Muslim 

civilians accounting for most of the casualties. President Musharraf continued a 

crackdown on militant groups, to which may be linked an attempt on his life in 

December. 

2002 Sectarian violence claimed dozens oflives this year with Islamic militants 

stepping up attacks against Pakistani Christians and foreigners. 

2001 Sectarian violence continued in 2001 with targeted killings ofprominent 

members ofthe community. In August. the Sindh provincial government initiated a 

crackdown on Islamic mifitants. According to one Pakistani media source, more than 

50 people were killed In the violence dUring the year. 

2000 Although violence has declined since the military coup ofOctober 1999, sectarian 

tensions persisted between the majority Sunni and the minority Shimte Muslim groups 

in Karachi. The killing ofprominent religious leaders and political activists resulted in 

violent protests. At least 25 people were killed in the violence. 

1999 Despite the central government. imposition of Govemorfi Rule in late 1998 in 

response to Sindh violence, political and sectarian killings persisted in Karachi, albeit 

at a much reduced level. At least 75 were killed during the year, down from the 

estimated 1,000 conflict deaths in 1998. 

1998 In 1998 reprisal killings between militants ofthe Muttahida Qami Movement 

(MOM) and a break-away faction increased violence in the city ofKarachi. 

Type ofConflict: 

State fonnationJ Failed state. 

Parties to the Conflict:

Nm.,u \Junruct neport ~uuu - 

o 

....aKlstan 

1) Government 

o 

t'age ~ or~· 

b6 

b7C 

b7E 

As of October 1999, led by Chief Executive General Pervez Musharaf foll~wing the overthrow of the 

government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 8 military coup. Under the previous Prime Minister 

Benazir Bhutto. the government engaged the Pakistani ponce Force, Paramilitary~angers· and 

troops from the Frontier Corps (Constabulary) in the conflict 

2) Armed groups: 

Several parties opposed to the government (and each other) are involved in the violence. These are 

seen to be primarily ethnic or religious groups. 

(a) Jeay Sindh (Qadir Magsi Group) representing Sindh nationalists; 

(b) Mohajir-Qaumi-Movement (M-Q-M) led by Altaf Hussain On exile in London since 

1992) representing Mohajirs(migrants) who moved to Pakistan in 1947 when India 

was partitioned. NamE!changed to Muttahida Qaml Movement in 1998: 

(e) M-Q-M (Haqiqi), a breakaway faction led by Afaq Ahmed; 1 

r--------.., MUlat-i! israiJ\tYe PaklStaii (MIP), previously known as S1p8h.&baha-Pakistan, Wh~" ,••~ fP' 

represents Sunni Moslems with support from fundamentalist groups In saudi Arabia ~"'~:I, ~-f ~:~ ... 

and Libya; 

Islaml Tahrik-e Pakistan (ITP), previously known as Tehrik-l..Jaffaria-Pakistan, which 

rePresents.ShiJite Moslems with sOme finanCial support fiom Ira" .Led by 

Mohammad Baqar Najfi; 

-, 

(d) Lashkar-e-Jhangvl, suspected of having links with Osama Bin Laden. al-Qaeda. 

In aac ltion, criminal elements, some working through the above groups, also contribute to the 

Violence, a legacy ofPakistan. involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the related drug trade. 

In January 2002, President Musharraf banned five ,Islamic militant groups inclUding, Sipah-8abaha 

Pakistan and Tehrik-I-Jaffaria. This ban was extended 'in 2003 following the renaming of.several of 

the groups. 

• ban Imposed on three Islamic organizations by the Pakistani government over the weekend. In a move 1hat saw dozens ofIslamic 

activists rounded uP aerosa the country, was the continuation ofa ban imposed last year, acconfll1g to a senior government otIidaI. 

WIlls Is a conUnuatJon ofthe old ban on groups that had become active under new names,- Infonnation Minister Sheikh Rashid 

Ahmad told IRIN.... 

' 

Among the ouUawed groups were the Sunnl organisation. SIpa~e Pakistan. which laterre-emerged as MIJIat.e JsIamI.ye 

Pakistan (MIP): and its rival. the ShHih group, Yahrik-e Jaliari-ye PakIstan. which. thereafter. renamed itself IsIami TaMk-e 

Paldstan (ITP). Both the new organisations have been banned••••(IRlN, November 17. 2oo3J 

Status ofFighting: 

2004 Anned violence continued in the form of attacks on civilians, bombing of 

mosques, drive-by shootings of politicians and attacks on security forces. The 

most serious Incidents of the year were March and October bombings of Sunnl 

mosques that killed over 80 people and wounded hundreds more. 

Itxtremilt strikes and sectarian attacks across the countJy toQeUMH'wtth minHnsurgendes In two ofPakistan 's four provinces have 

increased public insecurity and criticism ofPresident Pervez Mushal1'8f.-(SBeNews. July 1. 2004] 

.oIlceIn the Pakistani city ofKarachi have fir9d tear gasatthousands ofangry moumeISafter an attack onaShIa mosque killed at 

least 20. Ttouble en.tpted after funeml prayers for 1.01 those killed In Monday's attack. which officials beUeve was a sectarian suicide 

•

I"\IIII"U VUIIIIICL nOIJUrL ~UW - t'aKititan 

. Q o 

tJage ~ or tI 

bombing. The funerals i)Iowovernight unrest In whJeh three people died In duheIwiIh the police.·span atytea"mso-bIcI-tlnt-weight 

- bold: font.famlJy: Mar> [BBC News, June 1, 2OCM) 

ltaklatanl police say a bomb hawounded 13 police and soIdleta In the IOUth-westem city ofQuetta •Those Injured were tnMIIIInQ 

In a truck when the bfast occurred. Police haveyet to identify the attackets. One report said a bomb on a bIcyde had been detonated 

by remote control: another said a grenadewas thrown from a motoreyde. Quetta has been a target for lllamic mltltants -In March 

over 40 people died In an attack on Shla MuaUms. -[BBC News. May 24. 2(04) _ • 

• car bomb that exploded on Thursdayoutalde a bible society. ofIIce In the southern port city of I Pakistan President PeMIZ Musharrafnanowty escaped an assassInatSon atIernpt when a bomb 

exploded Just afterhis motoR:ade had passed by••• 0fIIdaIs saJcllt was too eady to saywho was behind the 8Uack. but the most IiIc8Iy 

suspects 818 radical haIdInets opposed to MUlllanaffi policy on Afghanistan •his crackdown on extremism and his etbtsto rebm 

islamic schools. Tbe AssocIated Press reported.-[CNN.com. December 14, 20031 

.rycrowds rampaged through Pakistan. capital on Tuesday. a day after a prominent Sunni Seaderwas shot dead near 

Islamabad••• Maufana Azam Tartq. the leader of the Mifat..lslamiya.... was gunned down by unknown US8IIantI on Monday...-(IRJN, 

Oc;tober1, 2003) - 

rilazara ~Jda community leaders have called 101' Increased security, despite lie nttumlng to nanna' foUowfng a Sumlmilitant attacfc 

on a mosque In the southwestern Pakistani city ofQuettaon" July. The Lashkat+Jhangvl organisation claimed responsibiUty for the 

attack In which 60 people died... - 

Thousands ofSunnl and Shla Muslims have been IdIIed In Pakistan over1he past two decades In sectarian violence... [which has 

been) mostly limited to the eastern Punjab and the southern Sfndh pnMnces. However. In re Karachi Witnessed an atIack on the US consulate In June and a auIdde bombing against French naval engineets 

In May. -(BBC News. september25,2002] 

2001 Sectarian violence persisted in 2001 with attacks by extremists from all sides. 

,.. '" I""",.

. . 

Q 

o 

Sunnl extremists changed their strategy to targeting prqminent community members 

such as doctors, lawyers a.nd businessmen. 

rca~" ,. u. ~ 

. "/ 

• once In PaldUan I1targest city KarachI are under Intense Pr8SSUrelo end en upsurge In sectarian murders ofdocbaand other 

professionals In Ihe city. Extremlsta from the majority Sunnl cOmmunity have been blamed for the IdWng of four ShIa dodorIsince 

Apt1I. as wed althe high profile murder ofthe head ofPakbtan Sta1e Oil. Shaukat Mirza. Fanab from both sides have canted out 

many deadly attacb In Katachl over the years. but the new tactic Is to target promfnent penonaIldea In the community.-(SSC. 

september 3.2001) 

" 

2000 Although violence has declined since the militaly coup of october 1999. sectarian 

ten~ions persisted between the majority Sunnl and the minority Shiate Muslim groups 

In Karachi. The killing ofprominent religious leaders and political activists resulted In 

violent protests. In September. Pakistani police arrested 250 ~mbers of the hardline 

Sunnl Muslim group. Sipah-e-8ahaaba. Other police and anny operations targeted the 

two leading ethnically-based parties In Sindh, the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) 

and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). 

(Soun:es: BSC News. 13 September2000.21 September2000) 

.asked gunmen ambushed a school van.1dUfng five Sunnl MusIfrM and wounding three others In the lateat round ofrellQfoul 

violence In Karachi •PakIstan • pollee said. The attack ted to violent protests. with hundreds ofSunnl Muslim students pelting poUce 

wfth stones, 88Ufng cara on Ire and vandallzlng bIlIboaIdl.·(R6ute~ and AS$OCiatedPress. 28 January 2001) 

• prominent Pakistanii'eUgioulleadet has been shot dead in KarachI ... Or Quresht. Is a former leader ofJamsat-e IsIamI (Party of 

Islam) and a focmer memberof the Sindh provincial assembly. In recent years, Dr Qureshi hadsuppolted calls tw islamic law to be 

introduced In Pakistan .-(BBC News. 18 December2000) 

• leaderof. ainaJI Pakistani Shute Mua&m group has been shot dead In U1e IOU1hem dtyof Karachi •Police say S8rdar Husaaln 

Jafrf. who headed the IitIfe..known group caJted thevOIce OfShia. died on the spot. A person who Identifted himself88 RIaz BaInI, 

leaderofthe extremist antl-Shlite group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvl. phoned the SBC shortly afterthe attack to claim mponsIbiUty.'(BBC 

News, 15 May 2000) 

It.ararnUituy rangers and poUce In SIndh province launched a crackdown against aetMsts and leaders ofthe JSQM and the MQM on 

FebnJaly 19, 2000 afterthe two parties jointly called for a strike against the governments dismissal of400 PakIstan Steel MIls 

workers. Paramlltary troops and rangers responded with searth and siege operations In the cities and a searth for JSQM ae:tMsts In 

tural8l88s ofSlndh. resultfng In the arrestofabout forty adivIsts.-span 1ang='"EN-CA- styIp'"rnso-IJfdf..t)n-slze: 10.0pt; font·famUy: 

Aa1a1; mso-bkfl..t)nt·famiIy:,T1mes New Roman; mso-anaI-tanguage: EN.CA~ [1UnM RlIhU WMch %001 Wortd Report) 

1999 Despite the central government. imposition ofGovern0r8 Rule in late 1998 in 

response to Sindh violence. politICal and sectarian killings 'persisted in Karachi. albeit 

at a much reduced level. The intensity of the violence dropped even further after the 

military assumed federal powers in an October coup. 

Itolitically motivated violence and sectarfan violence continued to beaproblem, although In the weeks following the 0dDbet12 coup 

there were few Ifany reported casea ofsuch violence. Govemor's Rule, Imposed to correct a serIoUs law and onferproblem created 

In part by poIitfcaI tensions In the province. continued In Slndh untl the coup.-/span> ( PaWanOXIntry Repotton Human Rights 

Practk;e$ for1999, BureauofDetnocraey. Human RIghts, and Labor. US Department ofState. February. 2000) 

1998 In 1998 tit-tor-tat killings between the Muttahida Qami Movement (MQM) and a 

break-away faction increased the level ofviolence in Karachi _, 

. 

"he MQU. which changed Ita name to Mutfahlda Qaml Movement from 1M MohaJir QamI Movement. Is locked In a bfaody conflict 

with a dissident 1adfon called the MQM Haqlql. Hundreds ofpeople have died In f8Ceflt months In tIt.fOr4at killings by the mHitants of 

the two 1aclfons.'(1beAssociatedPress. November20. 1998) 

....cethe early summer more Chan 100 people i;I1 the city have died In gun battfes between rival pofltical factions each month. In 

recent days the violence has gathered pace.-[The Guan1ian Weeldy. 0Ct0bet 18, 1998. p5] 

Number ofDeaths: 

Total: Estimates range upwards from 5.000. 

Ahousands ofSunnl and Shia Muslins have been kiDed in Pakistan over the pasttwo decades In sectarian violence fueled by 

htto://ww'W.oloumshares.ca/cnntAnt/ AnR/ A~Rnn / A~Rnn-p~lt;~~" "'+",,1

Armea liOntllCt Keport ~UUU - t"8K1stan 

. . 

~ . O· 

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

o 

t'8ge.~ ot 8 

• ~ .... 4. ..... '" 

extremist outfits ofthe two Muslim sects.·[/RIN. July 17,2003) 

"he MOM launched an anned uprising In 1993 after the city government was dismissed, and brought KarachI to Its tcnees.1e8vIng 

more than 5.000 people dead and afppIIng the economy ofPakIstan .. main c:ommetdal centre. Karachi" descent reached Its 

nadir last year when more than 2.000 people, including 242 poIce otIk:ers, dfed In nfghUy street baUfes.· [. st1 :Clty w:sta'"on'"> Karacht 

pays high price for peace.'John Stackhouse. Globe a['dUall. OCtober 28. 1998) 

2004 Between 100 and 170 people, primarily civilians, were reported killed in 

sporadic Intercommunal violence. 

ftroops have been caRed In to maintain order In tbe Paldstanl ctty of Mullan after a car bomb kJISed at least 40 people at a meetInG of 

Sunnl Musllms.·(SBC News, October 7,2Q0.4]· 

• 

litleast 11 people have died In a gun attack on the motorcade ofthe army commanderIn Pakistan's lOutbem ctty ofKarachi •the 

authorities say. [BBC News. June 10,2004] 

Itonce In the Pakistani city of Karachi have ftt'8d tear gas at thousands ofangry mourners after an attack on a Shls mosque killed at 

least 20.'ISBC News, June 1, 2004] 

• bomb attack on a packed Shls mosque In the southern Pakistani city of Karachi has left at least 15 people dead, ofllclals say•• 

[BBC News, May 7, 2004) .. 

litleast 42 people have been killed and over 100 wounded In an atiac:k on Shla Musftms In the Paldstanl city ofQuetta , hospital 

ofllclals say.'[BBCNews. March 2,2004) 

2003 Independent media reports indicate that approximately 100 hundred people, the 

majority of them Shia Muslim civilians, were killed in 2003. 

~ violence and tensions continued to bea serious problem uuoughout the country••• At least 100 persons were kiUed In 

sectarian violence durfng the year, most can1ed out by unldentifted gunmen.-(US State Depattment ofState. Mountry Repods on 

Human RJQhts PractIces· 2003.·February 25. 2004] 

2002 A number of media reports estimate that dozens ofpeople were killed in 

sectarian violence and attacks on government officials. 

Ahere have been sevenli attacks on foreign targets In Sindh induding".... 

S A suicide attack on a navy bUs In KarachI In Maywhich IcIIJed 1.. people•••• 

SA eat bomb at the US consulaf8 in Karachi In June, which killed 12 peopIe.-[SSC News. september 24,2002) 

.tleast 36 people have been killed and about 100 Injured In sevetal violent attacks this year against Christian and western targets••• 

Police in Karachi have arrested dozens of alleged Muslim extremists in connecUon with the recent attacks on Christian targets•• 

ISBC News. september29, ~OO2J 

2001 According to at least one Pakistani media source, more than 50 people were 

killed in sectarian violence in Karachi. • 

b6 

b7C 

AIle highest number oftsrrorist atfacks was recorded In Karachi where In 33 incidems,54 pefSOI1S were kIaed. The second [highest) . 

remained FATA. where 81 pelSCX1SWet8 killed In seven Inddenta ofsectarlan violence. Dera lsamilKhan remained [third highest) 

where 10 people were kiUed and 19 injured In 8 terrorist attacks. 1.. people were IcIHed and 8 InjunKI In 5 attacks In lahore ,,,killed 

and 3 Injured in 3 incidents In Multan ... kiIIed in 2 atMaiIsy.·(PakNews. August 21, 2001] 

2000 At least 25 people were kiUed in Karachi ,mostly due to sectarian violence. 

Marlier. gunmen riding In two C8IS Intercepted a van belonging to the~Madrfa Sunnl Muslim schoolon a congested road 

and opened fire with automatic assauft rifle$, wItne8ses said. 1111'88 deftcI. a teenage student and the drlveiwere kIIed Immedlatefy, 

while three other people.lnc:fudlng a poUceman guarding the van, were wounded. police said.·[ReutaI3 and AasocIaIed Press, 28 

January 2001] • • 

ItaldstanlIawyer and Shite leader has been shOt deed byunidentified gunmen In KarachI. Waqar,NaqvI, .'ieidot~Orthe 

ShIIte group. Tehrik+JafMa. was Idled along with histeen. son and his driver as "he"was taking his c:hDdren,1D schoOl No group 

has said It canied out the leiltfnga. but a spokesman for Tehrik+Jaftiia Hasan Turabl blamed a mlHtant SuMI Muslim group - SIpaha 

Sshaba ~aJdstan .'(BSCNews, 7 April 2000] - 

, .. , , .. , 

.... ..--. ...........-_ ...... _ ......... -- It!'

·1U1Tl8a vOnTtlct Naport ~UW - ot"aKJstan 

" 

"here has been wfdeIpread cPatuptfon In the Pakistani dtyofKarachI •foIfowfng the IcIBng of.a pmmInent...SunNI Mudm~ 

Mullah rUMLudhIanvf. tit Ludhianvr. drtvetwas alsO kited and his son serlouIIy wounded.-lBBC IHWI. 18 May 2000] 

1999 At least 75 people were killed in Karachi due to'political violence. 

i!espfte improved security conditions under Governocis Rule. bnwore 75 deaths 1hat were presumed to be the resutt of poIItJcaI 

violence In Kar8chI.~1 Pakittan CountlyRepotfon Human R1Qhb Practk:ea for 1999. Bureau ofDemoaacy, Human RIghts. and 

Labor. US DepaI1mentofState. FebnJary.2000J 

1998 More than 1,000 people died in violence. 

(Aasociated PreS$. November 20. 1998] 

.tleast 750 people have been kIIJed In KaraChI this year. mainly. says tt1e MOM. as a result ofattacks on Itself by a breakaway 

factlon.-(T1Je Economist. November 7. 1998) 

Political Developments: 

2004 President Pervez Musharrafwill remain head ofthe army and government 

until at least 2007, after a bill passed in Pakistan • lowerhouse extended his 

tenure in both roles_ Musharref also named Shaukat Aziz, a political novice, as 

Prime Minister in August_ Although the government ordered an inquiry in~o a 

March attack on civilians, several strikes were called (mainly in Sindh province) 

to protest government handling ofthe conflict. The Sindh provincial govemment 

failed to fonn a fBoalition of national unity-with the seven opposition parties In 

an attempt to stem the tide of conflict and the minister ofthe Sindh province 

resigned after violence escalated in June_ US President Bush declared Pakistan 

a ttajorally·in recognition of its contribution to the fight against al-Qaeda 

allowing Pakistan access to special benefi~ including expanded foreign aid and 

priority delivery of military equipment. 

-st1:pIace w:st="on"> Pakistan's lower house ofpar1iament has passed a blH allowing Gen Pervez Mushanafto remain as both 

president and head ofthe amy. The biD will artaw the president to keep both posts unUl2007.-(BBC News. OCtober 14. 20041 

.rale ti Of 9 

ahe reins ofpa.ver ~e once again been handed overIn PaJdstan •And once again. It's a man hand.pIcked by the c:ountry'a military 

ruler. Gen Pervez Musharraf. And though ithas all been done constitutionaJJy. thequestion being asked Is whethera poIitk:aJ novICe 

Ike Shaukat AzJz. has the competence and capability to deal with thecounby's complex poIitJcal and laW and Older situation. or even 

bigger issues IJke combatfng aJ.Qaeda-backed terrorism.·(BSC News, August 28. 2004] . 

• 

atln Paldstan the chief ministerofthe southern province ofSindh has resigned aftera series of'vIol8nt Jnddents over the last few 

weeks. The provincial governor told reporters thatchief minister AU Mohammed Mehr had JeSlgned b'petIOn8I reasons.-[SBC 

News. June 7.2004] 

• strike called by Pakistan 's hardllne Islamic paItfes In r8sponse to a week ofsectarian violence has been aJmost fully obserVed In' 

Karachi. There were sporadic reports ofunrest as worshippers attended Friday prayers In 1he tense southern dty~:[BBCNews, ,June 

".2004] • 

Ahe govemin9 Pakistan Muslim League party (PML) In the southern pnMnce ofSIndh hasoffeced lofonn a coalition with seven 

opposition parties. It wants to form a government ofnational unity In Sindh to tackle the law and order crisis thenJ. The move comes 

afterthree days of\riolence between Shuand Sunnls left over 23 people dead In the provincial capital. Karachi •But there Is 

disagreement as to who should be the d1lef mlnister.-(BBC News. June 3, 2004J 

JluthOfftles In Pakistan have ordered an Inqulty Into an attack on Shla Muslims which left at least 43 people dead as they marked the 

holy day ofAshwa. A curfew Is in place In the clty ofOuetta wheAt the attack took place. with soldiers patrolling Its snet:s.-(BBC 

News. Marth 3. 20041 . 

2003 The leader ofthe militant Sunni organization Miffat-e Isrami-ye Pakistan (MIP) 

was assassinated in OCtober, leading to rioting in Islamabad. The govemment· 

sustained a crackdown on banned Sunni and Shia militant groups and arrested their 

leaders. President Musharraf continued to support US Initiatives in the J§ar"on terror-In 

neighbouring Afghanistan •a position not welcomed by many Pakistani citizens.

.. . 

" 

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

--~- 

'0 

~ ITP [IsIamI Tahrfk-e PaJdstan)Ieader. sajld N8qvf. was anested In a late-nlght taJd In 1aIamabad. butiwas notckt8rwhether his 

8IT'8It wuIn his c;apacIty aUte leaderofthe MCfatian outftt. or becawe he Is deged to have been InvcMId In the nwnSet ofhis mllf 

rtval. Azam Tariq:of the MIP;Who was gunned down In • hal ofbuleta by unknown aasaJIanta earty last month near the Paldltanl __.......__-, 

capltal.-(/R/N. November 17. 2003) 

o 

2002 lri'.aanUaJYi the' go~emment ~nn.~.!i"e mill1aDtlslam1egnS(i"ps. Induding the- 

Slpah-8abaha-Pakisfan and TehnlC-I.Jaffiiiia. Ai\umber of groups reacted to the ban 

and to Pakistan" support of the US-Ied liaron terror'by.attacking foreigners and 

Pakistani Christians. prompting the Christian community to demand protection from the 

government and the international community. The government responded by 

introducing new security measures around non~uslim places ofworship. Fighting 

continued between the Sunn; and Shia communities in Sindh despite govemment 

efforts to increase security in the province• 

• sulclde bomber blew up a bus y88tanIaY In Paldatan • port city of KsIIChI.1dlIfnQ 1

• _ Armea ~Ont1lct Heport 2UUU -Oklstan 

~ 

o 

complexity ofconflict. Sindhis are calling for a Sindhi state; the mohajirs, led by the MQM, are 

seeking a separate state around the provincial capital, Karachi; and there are sectarian differences 

~tween'the majority Sunni and minority ShiJite Muslims. The proximity ofthe Afghanistan war has 

fed the violence by providing weapons. crimina) elements, including drug traffickers, and reported 

foreign support for Muslim extremism. From June 1992 to November 1994 the Pakistan Army was 

deployed in a major, and ultimately unsuccessful, operation to control Karachi and after the anny. 

withdrawal, police and paramilitary troops contributed to a rising toll of·shooting deaths in the city 

Following earfy 1997 elections, the MQM joined the majority Muslim League in the national and 

Sindh provincial governments. A month after the MQM walked out ofthe provinCial government 

coalition in late 1998, the then federal prime miQister. Nawaz Sharif, declared Govemor1fl Rule (a 

state ofemergency) in Karachi, called out the anny to quell the violence, and announced the 

establishment of military courts for the city_ Since a coup in OCtober 1999, the Pakistan government 

has been controlled by the military under General Pervez Musharraf and sectarian violence has 

declined. The Pakistani government intensified its crackdown on militant sectarian groups following 

the 2001 US invasion and occupation ofAfghanistan , fueling further resentment between the 

extremist groups and the government Several attempts have been made in r~t years on 

President Musharraftii life. 

QCJn Slndh, open gun battles between the Muhajlr Qaumi Movement (MQM), which represents Urdu-epeaJdng migrants from India , 

S1ndhllandlonllashkars (private milltfas) and the anny are daily occurrences. The MQM has begun to."..b'the sepAt8tJon of 

Karachi tram the rest ofthe provfnce. VIolence threatens 10 pamlyze the capital. even though the anny has had dlr8c:t msponslbtRty 

for Its administration slnce June. 1992. A plan announced recently to replace the miIitaty presence with police and rangers Is unlikely 

to ease tensJons.-(-au:CJty w:"on'"> J

•,.6 

'. 

EMAIL 

ARMED CONELIC~S RI;.P0.BI PAGE; 

l' ,-. 

v 

'.01; 

:_ 

Project Ploughshares 

Institute of Peace and ContUet StudIes. Conrad Grebel College 

Waterloo, Ontario, canada N2L 3G6 

tel (519) 888 6541 (ax (519) 8850806 

aU rights reserved ~ 

... '. 

...

_TlME.com PrintPage: NatioroExclusive: Feds Probe a Top DemOCCORelation~p 

wi... Page 1of3 

- 

TIME 

NATION 

Friday, Oct. 20, 2006 

Exclusive: Feds Probe a Top Democrat's 

Rela.tionship with AIPAC 

The Department ofJustice is investigating whether Rep. Jane 

Harman and the pro-Israel group worked tog~ther to get her 

reappointed as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence 

Committee 

By TIMOTHY J. BURGERJWASHINGTON 

Did a Democratic member ofCongress improperly enlist the support ofa 

major pro-Israel lobbying group to try to win a top committee assignment? 

That's the question at the heart ofan ongoing investigation by the FBI and 

Justice Department prosecutors, who are examining whether Rep. Jane 

Harman ofCalifornia and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee 

(AIPAC) may have violated'the law in a scheme to get Hannan reappointed 

as the top Democrat on theHouse intelligence committee, according to 

knowledgeable sources in and out ofthe U.S..government. 

The sources tell~ that the investigation by Justice and the Federal 

Bureau ofInvestigation, which has simmered out ofsight since about the 

middle oflast year, is examining whether Harman and AIPAC arranged for 

wealthy supporters to lobby House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on 

Harman's behalf: Harman said Thursday in a voicemail message that any 

investigation of- or allegation ofimproper conduct by.-·her would be 

"irresponsible, laughable and scurrilous." On Friday, Washington GOP 

super lawyer Ted Olson left voicemail messages underscoring that Hannan 

has no knowledge ofany investigation. "Congresswoman Hannan has 

asked me to follow up on calls you've had," Olson said. "She'is not aware 

ofany such investigation, does not believe that it is occurring, and wanted 

to make sure that you and your editors knew that as far as she knows, that's 

not true....' No one from the Justice Department has contacted her.n It is . 

not, however, a given that Harman ,would know that she is under 

investigation. In a follow-up phone call from California, Olson said 

Hannan hired him this morning because she takes seriously the possibility 

ofa media report about an investigation ofher, even though she does not 

believe it herself. 

A spokesman for AIPAC, a powerful Washington-based organization with . 

more than 100,000 members across the U.S., denied any wrongdoing by the 

group and stressed that it is not taking sides in regards to the committee 

assignment. Spokespersons for Justice and the FBI decline4 to comment. 

The'case is a spin-offofa probe that has already led to charges under the 

Espionage Act against two AlPAC lobbyists, whose case is still pending, 

and to a 12-and-a-half-year prison sentence for fonner Defense Intelligence 

Agency official Lawrence A. franklin. Franklin pleaded guilty a year ago 

http://www.time.comltimelnaQonlprin!outlO.88 I~, 1.S49Q~9,OO.h~1 



DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/1sg

TIME.com Print Page: Nati0ne>Exclusive: Feels Probe a Top DemocrabRelationship wi... Page 2 of3 

to three felony counts involving improper disclosure and handling of 

classified information about the Middle East and terrorism to the two 

lobbyists, who in tum are. accused ofpassing it on to ajoumalist and a 

foreign government, widely believed to be Israel. The two lobbyists, who 

have denied any wrongdoing but were dismissed by AlPAC in April of 

2005, were indicted on felony counts ofconspiring with government 

officials to receive classified infonnation they were not authorized to have 

access to and providing national defense infonnation to people not entitled 

to receive it. 

Around mid-200S, the investigation expanded to cover aspects ofHannan's 

quiet but aggressive campaign to persuade House Minority LeaderNancy 

Pelosi to reappoint her to the prestigious position on the House intel panel. 

The alleged campaign to support Hannan for the leadership post came amid 

media reports that'Pelosi had soured on her California colleague and might 

name Rep. Alcee Hastings ofFlorida, himselfa major supporter ofIsrael, 

to succeed Harman. 

Th~ sources say the probe also involves whether, in exchange for the help 

from AIPAC, Hannan agreed to help try to persuade the Administration to 

go lighter on the AIPAC officfals caught up in the ongoing investigation. If 

that happened, itmight be construed as an illegal quid pro quo, depending 

on the context ofthe situation. But the sources cautiQn that there has been 

no decision to charge anyone and that it is unclear whether Hannan and 

AIPAC acted o~ the idea. 

AIPAC spokesman Patrick Dorton denies that the organization has engaged 

in any improper conduct.. "Both Congressman Hastings and 

Congresswoman Hannan are strong leaders on issues ofimportance to the 

pro-Israel community and would be exemplary Democratic leaders for the 

House intelligence committee,tI Dorton said. IIAlPAC would never engage 

in a quid pro quo in relation to a federal investigation or any federal matter 

and the notion that it would do so is preposterous. AIPAC is not aware that 

the Justice Department is looking into issues involving the intelligerice 

committee, and has not been asked any questions or contacted by the 

government on this matter, but certainly would cooperate with any 

inquiry." Dorton added that AlPAC has previously been assured that the 

organization and its current employees' are not being investigated.. Inthis 

same investigation, the JU$tice Deparbnent has previously suggested that 

AlPAC had questiQnable motives in trying to help a valued government 

contact remain in a sensitive national security post. The Justice Department 

alleges in its indictment ofFranklin that he asked one ofthe two AlPAC 

lobbyists to "put in a good word" for him in seeking assignment to the 

National Security Council. The document says the AlPAC official noted 

that such ajob would put Franklin "by the elbow ofthe President ll and said 

he would lido what I can." 

AIPAC lists praise from Pelosi among a series ofquotes from world leaders 

on its website: "The special relationship between the United States·and 

Israel is as strong as it is because ofyour [AIPAC's] fidelity to that 

partnership..." But congressional sources say Pelosi has been infuriated by 

http://www.tim~.comltimtVna~onlprintoutlO.8816. 1549069,00.html 1012312006

TIME.com Print Page: NalionOXclusiV!l: Feds Probe a TQp Democra()ReIaliOnSbiPwi... Page 3 of3 

pressure from some major donors lobbying on be~alf ofHannan. In a story 

touching on tensions between Pelosi' and Hannan, an alternative California 

publication, LA. Weekly, r~orted in May that Harman "had some major 

contributors call Pelosi to'impress upon her the importance ofkeeping Jane 

in place. According to these members, $is tactic, too, hasn't endeared 

Hannan toPelosL" 

" 

A congressional source tells TIME that the lobbbying for Harman has 

included a phone call several months ago from entertainment industry 

billionaire and major Democratic party contributor Haim Saban. A Saban 

spokeswoman said he could not be reached for comment. A phone call 

pushing for a particular member's committee assignment might be 

unwelcome, but it would not normally be illegal on its own. And itis 

unclear whether Saban - who made much ofhis fortune with the Mighty 

Morphin Power Rangers children's franchise -mewthat lobbying Pelosi 

might be view~d by others as part ofa larger alleged plan. 

Saban has donated at least $3,000 to Harman's campaign, according to 

Federal Election Commission records, and the Saban Center for Middle 

East Policy, which he sponsors at the prestigious Brookings Institution, 

boasts Hannan among its biggest fans. "When the Saban Center talks, I 

listen," Hannan said at aSaban Center briefing in Feb~ary on U.S. strategy 

in Iraq. Hannan quipped that, in order to attend the session at Brookings, 

she had to "blow off" .a senior intelligence official's appearance before a 

House committee. 

' 

Copyright 0 2006 Time Inc. All rights reserved. 

Reproduction In whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 

PriYaey Polley 

.http://www.time.coml~melpati9n1priQtol:ltlQ.88~6J1549069.OO.html 10123/2006

........ _ ............ o'\..................~ 

t. 0 ,be\) 

1/ 

I 

.i} 

"... 

i 




 

~ 

• "" 

...... 

.. - 

.,_ .... 

, .... 

~~ 

, -~). 

~ (; 

1 

I ~ 

H 

.) 

tt 

:I 

d 

~ 

.. 

-. 

, \:' 

. next week with O'Donnell and another 

. _~ agent) William McDermott, at the Sun 

Spot Cafe, adjacent to the lobby.of 

AIPAC's office building. Over a bever· 

age and cigarette, Weissman described 

having metwith Franklin four or five 

times over the previous two years to talk 

about non-j\rab Middle East countries, 

primarily Iran) according toa court doc~ 

ument..The agents asked him ifFranklin 

had ever disclosed classified information 

to him oranyone else he knew, and they 

noted his answer: "No." , 

~ 

The two AIPAC officials) hunch that 

a phone call to the post had found its 

way onto the'FBPs radar was correct. 

They had shared what law-enforcement 

officials considered "national-defense 

information" with Post reporter Glenn 

Kessler about stepped-up Iranian activ-, 

ity in Iraq. Thegovernment would later 

charge that Rosen described it to Kes-, 

sler as "agency information" from an 

"American intelligence source." 

But tha~ call to the Post was 

a small piece ofthe story. And 

contrar¥~o what agent Hanna 

told Rosen, this was"acriminal 

matter.." }3y the time the agents 

approached Rosen and Weiss-. 

man, they were nearing the, 

final stageS ofan investigation 

into leaks ofclassified informa-. 

tion that would wreck the two 

men's careers and throw oneof . 

Washington's most powerful 

lobby groups on the defensiv~. 

The FBI prQbe included 

hours ofWiretaps approved 

by the secret Foreign lntele; 

Iigence Surveillance Court in 

Washington and surveillance of 

o· 

mation, there is a clear line in the law," 

then-US attorney Paul McNulty said 

when the indictments were announced 

in August 2005 •. "Today's charges are 

about crossing that line." 

Rosen, Weissman, and Franklin were 

accused under a rarely used section of 

the World War ~-era Espionage Act., 

A conviction could land Weissman, a 

father ofthree, in prison for up to ten 

years and Rosen, also afather of. thre~ 

who faces an additional charge, for up 

to 20.. But the potential impact extends 

beyond these two men and AIPAC. It 

could also send a chill through the ranks 

ofWashington lobbyists and consultants 

for foreign governments. 

To influence the US government or 

even react knowledgeably to US actions, 

many countries thinkan·embassy staffed 

with diplomats isn't enough. They'r~ 

willing to pay large fees to hire Ameri... 

cans with contacts at high levels and 

an understanding ofhow po~iqmakers 

• Former Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin, middle, pleaded 

guilty to conspiracy and helped the FBI set up asting. Lawyer 

meetings at Washington-area r-Ia~r cach:is, left, hopes his client's cooperation will mean a 

restaurant$. It also included a 19 er sen nee. 

search ofAlPAC's offices in 2002 that ,think. Often these are ex-government 

appears to have been surreptitiously officials. While barred from lobbying 

conducted, because the offices' entrance former colleagues immediately upon 

is monitored 2ihours a day and no one leaving office) they nonetheless bring . 

appeared with a search warrant ~round valuable experience and eventually get. 

that time_ 

inside for meetings and to open doors 

Federai prosecutors theorized that. for foreign visitors. 

Rosen and Weissman had engaged in a For instance, when India was negofive-year 

conspiracy to cultivate govern-, tiating its 2006 civilian nuclear agree~ 

ment sources with 'the aim ofobtaining ment with the J3tish administrationsensitive 

«national-defense informa-. fraught with strategic implications for 

tiont which they would pass on to col-, both countries-it enlisted the lobby-. 

leagues at AIPAC, Israeli officials, and ing firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers for 

journalists. By August 2005, prosecu-: advice. The firm had previously signed 

tors persuaded a federal grand jury in on the former US ambassador to New 

Alexandria that the two NPACofficials I:;>elhi, Rob.er~ Blackwill. Although 

were not only assiduous in collecting Blackwill wasn't involved in getting the 

classified information but almost flam-. firm's India contract:, he has since been. 

boyant in sharing it with others.. a prominent advocate for a n~w US/In· 

"When it comes to classified infor~ dia partnership. 

78 I WASHINGTONIAN I JANUARY 2008 

o 

Robert Litt, a d~fense lawyer who has 

represented people caught up in leak 

investigations, sees the indictment of 

Rosen and Weissman as partofa broad 

crackdown on leaks by tJle Bush admin-, 

istration: "People formerly in the intelligence 

community are looking at [the 

AIPAC case] and the leak investigations , 

widl great trepidation." 

But a conviction is by no means a 

sure thing) due in part to'an aggressiv~ 

dlree-year fight by the defense team, led 

by Abbe Lowell for Rosen and by John 

Nassikas III for Weissman.. The law~ 

yers' no·stone-unturned litigation fills a 

foot-thick file ofmotions and rebuttals 

in US District Court in Alexandria. I\. 

series ofrulings by the resolutely even.. 

handed presiding judge, T.S •. Ellis III,. 

has knocked $ome ofthestuffing outof 

the government's case and required the 

Bush administration to'put some ofits 

top officials on the wiUless stand. 

In fact, what the US attorney called the 

"dearline in thelaw" isn'tdear 

at all, particularly where the 

question ofintent coines into 

play. When the case comes to 

trial in late ~pril, assistant US 

attorneys Kevin DiGregoiyand 

William N. Hammerstrom Jr.. 

will have to meet a big burden 

ofproof•. Showing that Rosen 

and Weissman obtained, talked 

about', and relayed sensitive 

national-defense information 

won't be enough. Prosecutors 

will have to prove that the two 

men did so knowing that ifthe 

information were revealed, it 

would damage US national 

security and also knowing tha~ 

disclosing it was illegal.; 

Convincing ajury that Rosen 

and Weissman possessed this criminal 

state ofmind won't be easy., TQ counter 

the charge, defense lawyers intend to lay 

bare th.e largely hidden world ofbackchannel 

Washington diplomacy. They 

will try to'show that senior officials reg~ 

ularly'gave AlPl\C officials sensitive in'"' 

formation With the full expectation that 

it would be passed along t~ Israelis and 

others. In that way, they will comend 

that AlPAC played a role in developing 

US foreign policy. 

Over prosecutors' objections, defen... 

dams won court approval to subpoena 

15 current and former top administra"l. 

tion officials. Their names read like the 

lineup for a crisis meeting in the White 

House Situation Room during Presi-, 

dent Bush's firsnerm: national-security 

adviser Condolee~za Rice (now secre...

ta.~y ofState); current national-security 

adviser Stephen Hadley; Richard.Armitage, 

former deputy secretary ofState;. 

William Burns, US ambassador to Rus-, 

sia; Marc Grossman, former undersec-. 

retary ofState for political affairs; David 

Satterfield, now the State Department's 

coordinator for Iraq; Elliott Abrams, 

deputy national-security advis~r; Paul 

Wolfowitz, former deputy secretary of 

Defense; and D!luglas Feith: for:mer underSecretary 

ofDeferise.. 

Judge Ellis didn't okay these subpoenas 

lightly. He did so after being 

persuaded that each ofthese officials 

would be able to testifY about specific 

meetings or conversations--either with 

the !\yo defendants or with others at 

,AIPAe-that dealt with information 

comparable in sensitivity to the kind 

Rosen and Weissman allegedly obtained 

and passed on. 

Ellis also knew that the subpoenas 

might derail dle case., Ifthe administration 

balks at allowing sworn testimony 

by senior officials about sen" . 

sitive conversations, the case 

against Rosen and Weissman 

could be dismissed. 

The line'between inform;ttion 

thatcan and can't get passed is 

blurred by the amount ofof~ 

ficially sanctioned daily intel-. 

ligenee sharing between the 

United States and its ~lIies.. 

Such exchanges are particularly 

intense between the United 

States an~ Israel" which regu-, 

larly trade information and 

assessments on terrorism and 

otherperceived threats. 

"It's absurd for anyone. to 

think that. the Israelis have 

to enlist people to spy," says 

Sandra Charles, a forme~ Pentagon and 

..National Security Council official who 

consults in Washington for Persian Gulf 

Arab governments. "They can go t

", 

"TJiis Is the FBI'? 

continuedfrom page 79 

~ouncil staffunder President Bill Clin'! 

\;;Ion. Merward, Rosen allegedly ~lked to 

a reporter about then-classified US stratcountries 

in a ~ariety ofspheres froni mis- egy options against Iraq. In January 2002, 

sHe defense to homeland security._ The aid Rosen metwith David Satterfield, a senior 

package for Israel tends to be the engine State Department Middle East official, 

thatgets the whole US foreign-aid budget about the sharing ofintelligence between 

through Congress. 

t,he United States and Israel following the 

While nonpartisan and not direcd¥ in- Karine A episode, in which the Israelis 

volvedinpoliticalcampaigns,AIPACkeeps seized a large Palestinian arms shipment~. 

its !llembership ofmore than 100,000 ap- Theepisode damaged the US relationship 

prised ofcongressional votes importantto' with Yasser Ararat. Thegovernmentalleges 

Israel. This kind ofscrutiny can have an that, in a memo to other AIPAC staffers, 

intimidating effecton lawmakers because Rosen included classified information he 

it has the potential to influence where had picked up. 

AIPAC members send their campaign 

contributions. Critics have contended that The lobbyists' co·ntacts with Lawrence 

~PACshould be required to register as a Franklin developed in 2002 when the de... 

political:'actioncOf!lmittee. Butneither the fense analyst joined the Pentagon's newl¥ 

courts nor the Federal Election Commission 

has forced the issue•. 

Douglas Feith.. 

formed Office ofSpecial Plans under 

Other detractors contend that because Rosen had been watching with growing 

it lobbies for aid and policies that benefit alarm the signs thatTehran's cleric-domi-, 

> Israel, AIPAC ought to register ,vith the nated regime was seeking to develop a 

Jus~ceDepartment as a foreign agc:nt. But nuclear weapon, compounding thedanger 

unlike organizations and firms that represent 

foreign interestS and governments, 

posed by Iran'~supportfor terrorist and 

AIP~Cdoesn't get money from and is not 

contractually l.inJ

ought hom~ illegally over three decadeS.. 

..... Franklin was vulnerable.. He had a record 

01'security breaches for taking documents 

~o.me. Lacking substantial assets and with 

a.wife afflicted with crippling rheumatoid 

arthritis, Franklin did not hire a lawyer; in.. 

stead: heagreed to cooperate with theFBI. 

Authorities enlisted Franklin in a sting~ In 

July 2004, he attempted to arrange meetings 

with Rosen and Weissman, armed with 

the kind ofinformation'that clearly would 

be ofinterest to Israel. At one point, he re.. 

quested an urgent meeting with Weissman, 

telling him lives were in danger. When the 

two met, Franklin, who was wired, warned 

him that Iran had discovered the presence 

ofIsraeli agents in northern Iraq: The in-. 

formation was highly classified "agency 

stuff," and Weissman could get in trouble 

for having it, Franklin told him. 

Weissman in turn told that to Rosen, 

and-the two contacted Naor Gilon, a po", 

Utical officer at the Israeli Embassy. Rosen 

and Weissman aJso called Glenn Kessler at 

the Post to report an increased threat to 

US soldiers in Iraq from Iranian-backed 

militias. 

Franklin also helped thee FBI witb a 

counterintelligence probe ofChalabi, 

who has denied divulging any US secrets. 

Among those hecalled was Francis Brooke, 

a Chalabi aide in Washington. Accord-. 

ing to Brooke, franklin also called active 

members ofthe Iraqi National Congress, 

Chalabi's political party.. 

"He. was asking questions about Ahmad 

Chalabi and my dealings with Iranian of-. 

fidals,"· Brooke says. Herecalls that Frank~ 

lin said, "There's a lot ofstuffgoing on. 

: You should tell me the straight story. I'm 

:1 in contact with journalists, and I could 

Ii spin it for yo~." 

~ Says Brooke.: "I thought he was offhis 

rocker." 

The Chalabi probe foundered, but tbe 

AIPAC investigation gained momentum. 

The calls to Naor Gilon and Kessler pro: 

vided what prosecutors considered new 

evidence that Rosen and Weissman had 

violated a section ofthe 1917 Espionage 

Act, barring the possession and transferof 

"national-defense information" by anyone 

not authorized to have it.. . 

. . 

Three....ve~ks after their meeting with Weiss... 

. man a~ the Sun Spot Cafe, FBI agents 

knocked on Rosen'$door in Silver Spring 

shordy before 8 AM. They told Rosen they 

knew Franklin had provided classified in-. 

fonnation to an Israeli official. What would 

•Rosen say, they asked him, ifthe Israeli of... 

. ficial told Franklin thatthe information had 

already been supplied to him by Rosen? Ac.. 

cording to the agents' report, "Rosen said 

he had done nothingwrong." 

~gents confronted Weissman out... 

side~ome in Bethes~a. They played 

him a recording ofthe July conversation 

between Weissman and Franklin. "Look," 

Weissman told them, "Iwas told by people 

at the office nor to talk to you~" 

Tha~ afternoon, the FBI searched 

Rosen's office atAlPAC headquarters, this 

time presenting" a search warrant.. CNN 

cameras filmed the agents entering the 

building. Apparendy tipped offbefore the 

raid, CBS called AlPAC with questions. 

Initially, AIPAC circled the wagons 

around its two officials, defending them 

in public statements, assigning them legal 

counsel, and paying the legal fees. Rosen 

and Weissman both received bonuses at 

the end of2004.. But the investigation 

continued. Although AIPAC was assured. 

in December that it was not a target, four 

senior AIPAC staffers were called to testifY 

before a federal grand jury in Nexandria. 

According to defense documents, in 

February 2005, US attorney Paul Mc- 

Nulty--who later became deputy attorney 

general-metwith AlPAC's executive di-. 

Weissman and Rosen 

were fired. AIPAC also 

halted payment Of 

their legal fees. 

rectorand AIPAC lawyers and urged them 

to cooperate. AIPAC,'s counsel called law-. 

yers for Rosen and Weissman the next day" 

·telling them that McNulty "would lik~ to 

end itwith minimal damage toAI-PAC. He 

is fighting with the FBI to limit the investi-. 

gation to Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman 

and to avoid expanding it." Prosecutors 

disclosed to AIPAC lawyers someevidence 

they had obtained under a secre~ warrant. 

Rosen and Weissman were fired. AIPAC 

also halted payment; oftheir legal fees. At: 

the time, the Justice Department viewed 

an organization's payment oflegal feeS for 

employees u~der investigation as a sign of 

a lack ofcooperation with the probe. An 

AIPAC spokesman" Patrick Dorton, de-. 

nied thattheorganization had acted under 

government pressure:. "~y suggestion 

thatAlPAC acted at the government's be~ 

hest is completely false. Our decisions on 

dismissal and legal fees w~re made inde·. 

pendendy, b;lSed on the facts and ourcom~ 

mitment to doing the right thing in a very 

difficult siwation." . 

One source dose to AlPAC noted that 

Weissman and Rosen had refused to waive 

their rights to sue the organization. Re-. 

cendy, Dorton repeated a statement he had. 

made atdie time ofthe indicnnent: "Rosen 

and Weissman were disinissed .beca~ they 

engaged in conduct that was not partof 

their jobs and ~use tJtis conduct did no~ 

comport~hestandards that AIPAC ex-· 

peets and ~es ofits employees." 

Franklin" despite helping with the sting, 

was indicted along with the two AIPAC 

lobbyists. He pleaded guilty to two con·· 

spiracy counts in October 2005 and drew 

a 12"year prison sentence. Judge Ellis held 

J;he sentence in abeyance until the AlPAC 

case is over. Theattorney Franklin acquired 

late in the probe, Plato Cacheris, expects 

his client to be called as a witness. He 

hopes, as a result off'ranklin's cooperation 

\vith the prosecution, that his sentence will 

be reduced to a "minimal" t~rm. 

The FBI's investigation didn't end with 

the conspiracy'indictments ofRosen and 

Weissman in August 2005, a year after 

Weissman gotthatinitiaJ phonecall in Bos... 

ton.o. One reason maf have been a gap ~n 

the government's case. The two men were 

charged with oral receipt and transmission 

ofnational-defense information. There is 

no evidence that classified documents ever 

exchanged hands. 

The next year, the FBI and one ofthe 

prosecutors approached the family ofthe 

late muckraking columnist Jack AO.derson" 

seeking access to his ar~hive. Anderson's 

son Kevin told a congressional panel that 

he was told they "wanted access to Dad's 

documents to 'see ifeither Rosen's or 

Weissman's fingerprints ~ere on any gov'! 

ernment documents•." Anderson's widow 

initially consented to the request, but the 

family coUectively decided to refuse. 

When the trial gets under way, parts of 

it will be closed to the public. Judge BI·. 

lis has allowed the introduction ofsome 

classified evidence that only the jurors will 

see or hear in fitU. He also has allowed the 

defense to probe potential jurors for indio, 

cations ofanti-Jewish bias.. 

AIPAGhas regained its place as one of 

Washington's premier lobbying groups 

and is building a newheadquarters. Within 

the last few months, AIPAC agreed to pay 

Rosen's and Weissman's legal fees, which 

have climbed into the millions ofdollars. 

No explanation was given, although the 

decision came after Ellis ruled tha~ any 

government pressure on AIPAC was "in", 

appropriate and fraught. with the risk of I 

constitutional harm.." 

Franklin, Rosen, and Weissman have 

all failed to find permanent employment 

while the case is pending. Franklin works 

atodd jobs, his lawyersays. Rosen received 

financial help from friends and has done 

part-time consulting. Weissman spends a 

good deal oftime with his children-his 

•daughter is studyingArabic at·college; one 

son is a high-school senior, and another is 

in middle school-walking his two golden 

retrievers and pondering bookprojects, including 

one on rock ,n, roU. 

lVl 

JANUARY 20081WASHINGTONIAN 1167 

I 

ț 

"'



~IN ISl~CLASSIFIED ~ 

~ 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sabJ1~ 

Page 1 of7 

Defense For AIPAC SPY: Suspe~~s: 

Haaretz.com 

OS:33 

By Josh Gerstein 


Data At Cor~ Of~ase y.I~s Not.Really tT~p Secretl 

RICHMOND, VA -- The defense oftwo pro-Israel lobbyists accused ofillegally obtaining and 

disclosing American national security secrets will argue that some ofthe data the men allegedly 

conspired to reveal came directly from the Israeli government and was not truly secret, defense lawyers 

told a federal appeals court last week. 

Three judges from the U.S. Court ofAppeals spent mo~e than 90 minutes Wednesday wrestling with the 

issue of~ow much classified information the defense should be pennitted to introduce in the case of 

Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees ofthe American Israel Public Affairs Committee 

(AlPAC). The beginning ofthe unusual court session was held in public, but the lawyers and the judges 

retreated behind closed doors in a specially-cleared and guarded courtroom to discuss the most sensitive 

aspects ofthe case about halfway through the hearing. As they waited for the arguments to begin, 

defense lawyers leafed through fat binders marked i~ orange with the words, "TOP SECRET." 

Rosen and Weissman were indicted in 2005 on charges that they gathered secrets from U.S. officials 

and passed the 90nfidential information to journalists, Israeli diplomats and others in violation ofthe 

United States Espionage Act. Rosen and Weissman are not charged with receiving or distributing any 

classified documents, but solely with relaying information orally. Some-free speech advocates have 

argued that what the two men allegedly did is not much different from what journalists do every day. 

Prosecutors have indicated that covert wiretaps captured the men acknowledging they knew the·data was 

classified. 

Trial dates for the pair, who were fired from AlPAC, have been repeatedly canceled as wrangling 

dragged on.over what classified information could be revealed at trial, which could take place as soon as 

February. A parade.ofprot:Uinent witnesses are expected, including Secretary ofState Condoleezza 

Rice, fonner U.S. Army General Anthony Zinni and leaders ofU.S.-based pro-Israel groups. Rosen 

and Weissman, who have pled not guilty, face the possibility oflengthy prison terms ifconvicted. A 

Pentagon analyst who admitted leaking information to the duo, Lawrence Franklin, was sentenced to 

more than 12 years in prison and is cooperating with prosecutors. . 

The government filed the appeal last week, arguing that the trial judge, T.S. Ellis lIT, erred when he 

ruled the defense was entitled to use a classified State Department document and another from the 

Federa. Bureau o(InyestigatiQn. "That information is not actually relevant to the crim~ that was 

charged," an attorney in the Justice_Department's counterespionage. section, Thomas Reilly, told the 

judges. Rosen's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said the State Department document shows that Israel was 

circulating the intelligence reports Rosen is accused ofdisclosing to 9ther AlPAC employees and a 

foreigner not named in the indictment. "You have to be able to prove what the Israelis knew," Lowell 

said. "In our defense, it is important that this infonnation,· discussed down the .line by,our client, is 

Israel-based." 

Lowell did not detail the Israeli information in the open session, but declassified court records .indicate 

the document describes intelligence about the Karine A, a ship seized by Israel in 2002 in the Red Sea. 

Israel sai~ the vessel was loaded with rifles, anti-tank missiles,·rockets, mortars and other weapons 

destined for the Gaza Strip. Sources close to the case said the State Departinent memo relates to a 

briefing Israeli Gen. Yossi KUp'erw~ser_gave.American.diplomats.aboutiheJ{atjlle A du~n!l a trip to 

Washington in January, 2002. lRosen.gQt.a.similar_briefing.from Kupe[Wa§!~rJhe.satTI~ d!y~ - /J.. ~ 

Lowell suggested that the State Department memo was nearly identical to a note Rosen sent to fellow 

AlPAC employees. "you'd be able to draw a line between the allegation and the assertion and where it's 

http://sioc.fbinet.fbi/documents/IntranetlInformationiSentineV2008/November/03.htm 11/3/2008

I. 

T!le Sloe Sentinel 

o 

'Page20f2 

from, '," Lowell said. Lpwell alsQ said a forme~ State Department official, Carl Ford Jt., was prepared to 

testify that the bulk ofthe memo was actually unclassified. "Who gets.io define what's classified is the' 

Executive Branch," Reilly insisted. The nature ofthe FJJ.l document was less clear, but a lawyer for 

Weissman, Baruch Weiss,··said prosecutors want to prevent the defense from disputing which portion of 

the report made it so sensitive. "The government wants to use the part ofthe document that is helpful to 

them and they don't want us to use the part ofthe document that is helpful to us," Weiss said. 

The appeals judges, Robert King, Roger Gregory and Dennis Shedd, issued no immediate decision, but 

Shedd said he was reluctant to disturb the rulings Ellis arrived at after protracted hearings. "You have a 

very high hill to climb, especially with the timethe judge spent in this case," he told Reilly. All three 

appeals jurists expressed skepticism about the government's claim that the ruling o~ classified 

information opened up Judge Ellis' .other decisions for immediate appe,!l. "That wQ.l!ld be a change to 

what we nonnally apply," Shedd said. Generally, federal prosecutors in America cannot appeal p're-trial 

rulings on legal and evidentiary issues and defendants can do so only ifthey are coftvicted. Weiss said 

those basic rules should be kept despite the classified information issue. "I was a prosecutor myself. 

Many times, I lost things I'd have loved to appeal," Weiss said. "I was stuck. 1t 

Reilly argued a law passed in 1980 to govern the use ofclassified information in criminal cases made 

clear that Congress wanted court proceedings involving national secrets handled differently. liThe point 

is to get it right before classified information is disclosed," he said. Through his attorney, Rosen asked 

to be admitted to the secret portion ofthe argument but was never allowed in. The three-judge panel 

assigned to the case is fairly diverse politically, with Shedd appointed to the bench by the elderBu,~h, 

King named, by President Clinton, and Gregory on the panel via an unusual recess appointment from 

Clinton a~d a subsequent nod from the current President Bush. Either the defense ,or prosecution could 

ask for reconsideration ofthe appeals judges' ruling by the full II-judge bench ofthe 4th Circuit or 

review by the Supreme Court, but such requests are rarely granted. . 

-- .......... , 

http://sioc.fbinet.fbildocumen~lIntranetlInfonnation/Sentine1l2668iNovember/03.htm 1113/2008

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

SUbject: 

UNCLASSIFIED 

NON-RECORD 

I 

ALL 

IMFOPXATION COI~AINED 

~M IS UNCLASSIFIED O~ 

D~07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/ls 

WF) (FBI) 

I(FBI) 

1~:~;':""1::l'T:Z::,,:,~Y_M_a~:_b_1_7_2_0_0_9_9_.1_1_A_M_. 

b6 

b7C 

~FBI) 

You should see the actual paper today. It is not only on the front page, it is the top story all the way across the front page. 

From: 

Sent: 

To: 

Subject: 

:-"':"IIr:~es_aa_v_M_a_rffi_I7_2_0_n!_(:_~5_1~_4: 

.....II(FBI) 

UNCLASSIFIED 

NON-RECORD 

Note the author 

Israel's National Security Aide Bal1·ed From U.S. 

. . 

The Washington Times 

By Eli Lake 

March 17, 2009 

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL -- Uzi Arad, who is expected to serve as national security adyiser in the next Israeli 

government, has been barred from entering the United States for nearly two years bn the grounds that he is an 

intelligence risk. 

Mr. Arad, a former member and director ofintelligence for the Mossad, Israel's spy service; is mentioned in the 

indictment ofLawrence Franklin, a fOlmer pentagon analyst who pleaded guilty in 2005 to providing classified 

information about ~ran in a conversation with two employees ofthe American Israel Public Affairs Committee 

(AlPAC). Beyond Mr. Arad's status, Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to face difficulties 

abroad because ofhis choice, announced Monday, ofAvigdor Lieberman to serve as foreign minister in a 

narrow new rightist government. : 

Mr. Lieberman, head ofthe Israel Is·Our Home party, has advocated requiring Israel's 1.46 million Arabs to take 

a loyalty test or risk expulsion. The choice ofMr. Arad for national' security adviser has been reported in the 

Israeli press and was confirmed by sources close to Mr., Netanyahu, who has been tasked with forming the next 

government. Mr. Arad acknowledged to The Washington Time$ thathe has not been able to obtain a visa to 

come to the United States but said the Israeli government is trying to change that. ."The director-g~neral.of.the _, 

Israel Foreign Ministry did tell his American counterparts that there has been no cause to deny !1\et~~risa'~'>Mr'l ~ l I 

Arad told The Times. I ' t" ~ t 

" • , r 5! 

I ': t T t. I 

Israeli and U.S. officials said Mr. Arad has been denied a U.S. visa since June 2007 under sectio~:~~2 ~(~) of. . 

the Immigration and Nationality Act. This gives consular officers and the Justice Department' ati.i4~rity··to bar,- (' ~ 

people who may seek "to violate any law ofthe United States relating to espionage or sabotage~' ft

,... 

o 0 

l~ the past 21 months, pro11?-inent Israelis and Americans have quietly'but unsu'ccessfully pressed U.S. officials 

to grant Mr. Arad a visit. "Overtures were made, and, by. and large, tHere was not a satisfactory answer," said 

Herb London, president ofthe Hudson Institute, where Mr. Arad worked from 1972 to 1975 after obtaining a 

doctorate from Princeton University. "He has invited luminaries from around the world to talk about foreign 

.policy at the annual Herzliya conference," Mr. Lpndon said. "There are people from the left and the right who 

recogni~e that he has extraordinary insight into the foreign policy issues ofour time. II 

In a June 18, 2007, letter to U.S. officials, the president ofthe Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, Uriel 

Reichman, wrote, "I very much hope that such visa will indeed be granted as expeditiously as possible since 

prof~ssor Arad's travels to the United States are essential for his work at the Interdisciplinary Center." One 

mystery about Mr. Arad's difficulties in obtainiQg a visa is that Mr. Franklin did not plead guilty to spying. 

Indeed, the U.S. attorney handling the case against Mr. Franklin andiwo former AIPAC employees, Steven J. 

Rosen' and Keith Weissman, charged all three men with mishandling national defense informatioh, a count listed 

in the U.S. code under the Espionage Act but less serious than being"an agent ofa foreign power. 

Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman are fighting the charges, which are controversial because they are the first private 

citizens to be accused ofleaking classified information. The indictment against Mr. Franklin makes two 

references to "a person previously associated with an intelligence agency of[foreign official's] country." Two 

former U.S. officials and a former Israeli official have confirmed that Mr. Arad is the Ilperson." The passage 

refers to a meeting between Mr. Franklin and Mr. Arad on Feb.. 20, 2004, at the Pentagon cafeteria and an 

earlier recommendation by an Israeli diplomat that Mr. Franklin meet with Mr. Arad. 

In his letter, Mr. Reichman referenced the section ofthe Immigration and Nationality Act that deals with 

espionage issues, saying, "it being absolutely certain to me and to all who know him, that none ofthe causes 

specified ... apply to him. 1I A Washington immigration lawyer, Glen Wasserstein, said Mr. Arad was being 

barred under the section Qf law that Ilallows the government to deny entry to those foreign nationals it deems as 

spies or saboteurs, and those who help or assistJn such spying or sabotage. II Mr.. Wasserstein said the president 

or attorney general could waive the restriction on the visa. 

Buck Revell, a former associate director ofthe FBI who oversaw counterintelligence investigations at the 

bureau, added that as national security adviser, Mr. Arad would not be in a position to engage in espionage or 

intelligence activities. Nonetheless, Mr. Revell said, the suspicion surrounding Mr. Arad could hamper U.S. 

Israel relations. liThe [Israeli] national security council chairman has access to all ofIsrael's intelligence and all 

the intelligence we share with them, normally, II Mr. Rev~ll said. 

IlWhether or not our agenci~s would restrict any type ofintelligence from going to him would be very 

problematic. That is something they will have to deal with." A senior official ofthe incoming Netanyahu 

administration, Who spoke.on the condition that he not be naqtedbecause ofthe sensitivity ofthe issue, told The 

Times that he,expects Mr. Arad to be able to travel to the United States for official business. "This is an i~sue 

that the new government ofIsrael trusts can be resolved," the official said. 

UNCLASSIFIED 

UNCLASSIFIED 

2

The~SIbc Sentinel 

'-;r' 

o 

ALL INFOPXATION CONTAINED . . 

HEPLIN IS UNCLASSIFIED ~ 

DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc ba~~J1Sg 

Page 1of2 

--- 

Politico.com 

10:48 PM EST 

By Josh Gerstein 

June 1.1, 2009 

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- A federal j~dge ~as virtually ':Viped out the prison sentence ofmore than 12 

years he first imposed on a Pe!1tagon analyst "Yho pled guilty to leaking classified information to two 

pro-Ismellobbyists. 

At a hearing Thursday evening in Alexandria, Va., Judge T.S. Ellis reduce4 the sentenc~ for the former 

defense QfficiaI,Larry Franklip., to probation plus 1omonths in "community confinem~nt," likely a 

halfway house. Prosecutors had'asked the judge to drop the sentence t~ 8 years in light ofFranklin's 

cooper~tion, w~ile a def~nse lawyer (or Franklit.t, Plato Ca~heris" aske.4 for "no seJ:}tence at all." In 

explaining his decision to dr~atically reduce Franklin's sentence, Ellis cited the lack ofpunishment and 

light punishments imposed on other leakers, as well as Franklin's ~ooperation in the prosecution ofthe 

two lobbyists later ~red from the America~ Israel Public Affairs committee, ~teven Rosen and Keith 

Weissman. 

. . 

Last month, days ~efore the case against the p~ir was' setto go to trial, t,he government dropped the 

prosecution. Th~ Justi~~ Department said legal ridings in the case and'the threat ofnew disclQsq~es of 

classified information maae a trial unadvisabl~. "I~'~.a very difficult and unusual situation," Elli~ said. 

"'~his one is unique." The judge said he did not quib~le with the government's decision to drop the 

Rosen and Weissman prosecutions, but that the move was '''significant'' and had· "some relevance" to 

what punishment Franklin should receive. He said, it was "very disputable" whether some ofthe 

information at the heart ofthe case was actually the kil}d of"national defense information" it is illegal to 

relay outsid~ the government. - 

Ellis railed Thursday against p~ople who leak classified information, including those whQ leaked 

na~ional intelligence estimates about Iran and revealed the existen~e ofthe warrantless w~retapping' 

program maintained.by: the National Security Agency. How~ver,Jle also said he had no p~oblem with 

people"YhQ disclosed such information as. an act ofcivil disobedience and accepted what follpwed. 

"Disclosing it was ok~y, ifa per~on is willing to stand' up and say, II.dia it. Give me the consequences,llt 

the judge,said. Ellis said he wanted Frank!in's punis.hmeQt to serve as a "b~acon" to' other officials,that . 

they wou~d face serious consequences ifthey committed similar breaches. 

"Secrets a~e important to a nat~on. Ifwe couldn't keep our' secrets, we would be at great risk," ~he judge 

said. Franklin pled guilty it\,2005 to thr~e felony,counts involving illegal distribution and possession of 

classified information. He had been free pe~ding the.trial for the two ex-Aipac officials. His attorney, 

Plato Cacheris,'saia the fonile~ policy'analyst h~d trouble finding good work. "He's been digging 

ditches. H~ls been cleat:ling cesspools," the attorney said. The infonnation that Franklin gave to the two 

AIPAC lobbyists has never,been officially detailed, but it related to the threat Iran posed to U.S. fo~ces 

in.the region. He also acknowledged numerous meetings with an Israeli diplomat,':Nao! Gilon. 

In a pleaJor lenienctThursday,:Ftanklin said he was,motivated solely by "love ofour republic and by 

the safetY ofour militarypersonnerthat were about to go' into Iraq." ..He insisted .~e wasn't tryipg.toJeak 

anything, but simply to use a'back channel to alert "a particular NSC source" to the danger~\hi,Iraq .. .The,~- . 

ex-Pentagon analys~ didn't know at th~ time that Rosen and Weissman worked for th~ pro-i~i~J 1 t ~ ! i 

lobby~ng group. Franklin said he wanted to spend time'instructing Y0'!1lg people ~'about th¢ t~e~t that I!. ~'f 

civilization faces from those who would replace us," who he indicated were theJorces of "~ad~~ai' I .i't ... \ 

Islam.". "0~e object of..our ~dversaries is to force us to change internally. What I did was P.1!ly'.~~g into; ~ -'1" t. 

that obJectJ.ve,"·Franklm satd. l .\ . 1I -I 

Franklin said he was "grateful to' b.e.in a countrY. where the rule ofla~ Rlld a respect for hurpa*$gh~is \ ~ " :~ 

r I,! 4" 

,l 

\ I I ' ( 

• ' oj 

http://sioc.fuinet.fbi/doctimentslIntranetlInforma!!.9n1Sentine1l2009/June/12.htm 6/12/2009


o 

.... 

d 

Page 2 of2 

}~ vibrant." Ellis quickly interrupted. "You believe rule ofla'V is i.1nportant? ....I've lived in-countries 

where there isn't rule oflaw. I was born in one," the Colombian-bomjurist said. "And what really 

[matters] is whether government officials obey the law." Franklin said he did believe in the rule oflaw 

and he acknowledged "serious errors in judgment. II That triggered another salvQ from the judge: IIAn 

error is putting on the wrong color tie," Ellis sai4. "We're talking about crimes." 

Earlier, Cacheris argued that the.govemment's request ofeight years imprisonment for Franklin "smacks 

ofvengeance" stemming from the decision to abandon the prosecution against Rosen and Weissman. 

"It's just not justified," the defense attorney said. He insisted the decision to drop the case against the 

two ex-lobbyists "was not because ofanything Mr. Franklin did." Cacheris's description ofFranklin's 

cooperation also produced some intriguing news. "He's given them other cases involving people who 

cannot come into this country, II the defense lawyer said cryptically. Cacheris also sugge...sted that 

Franklin was the target ofwitness tampering in the Aipac case. ~ 

"Someone came to approach Franklin to have him, in effect, disappear," the defense attorney said. He 

said Franklin immediately reported the incident to authorities. -Cacheris did not elaborate Qn the 

episode, but it could help explain why the EJU sought to interview Jewish leaders several years ago 

about attempts to provide financial assistance oremployment to Rosen and Weissman. Prosecutor Neil 

Hammerstrom suggested Franklin deserved more severe punishment than Rosen and Weissman, had 

they been convicted. 

"I~ many ways, he was a more significant violator than Rosen and Weissman ever were alleged to be," 

the prosecutor said. "Ifyou don't have people like Mr. Franklin in government doing that, you don't 

hav~ people [outside] passing classified information." Hainmerstrom also noted that Franklin took topsecret 

information to his home even after being disciplined for such activity. "You have before you an 

individual that just can't seem to f~llow the law when it comes to cl~sified information," the prosecutor 

said. He said Frankliti deserved credit for cooperating, but that his assistance had not been "ideal." 

In response to a question from Ellis Thursday, Franklin confirmed speculation thathis rende~ous with 

Rosen and Weissman was arranged by Michael Makovsky, a former energy analyst for the Pentagon. 

Makovsky, who has left the government, was not charged in the case and was expected to be a witness 

at the trial ofRosen and Weissman Before the main hearing Thursday, lawyers spent nearly halfan hour 

arguing behind closed doors about whether the re-sentencing snould be open to the public. 

The judge eventually allowed the press and public into the courtroom, though he said portions ofcourt 

,filings about Franklin's sentence will remain under seal. As the hearing concluded i!1 the case, which 

has been the subjected ofhard-fought legal battles for nearly four years, the judge stniggled to 

maintained his composure. He praised prosecutors and defense lawyers. "You all did a very goodjob," 

said Ellis, who is now semi-retired. - 

.. 

http://sioc.fbinet.fbi/docum~ntslIntranetlInformation/Sentinel/2009/June/12.htm 

6/l2/2009

Full Release - IRmep

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?