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OSP-AIPAC SPY CASE REVEALS ISRAELI PLOT
Wed Jun 15, 2005 14:39
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OSP-AIPAC SPY CASE REVEALS ISRAELI PLOT TO PLANT IRAN WMD DATA
Wed Jun 15th, 2005 at 09:17:06 PDT
Details revealed yesterday in the indictment against accused Pentagon spy Larry Franklin implicate Israel in a plot to illegally influence United States policy toward Iran. Counts in the indictment show that the Franklin prosecution is not a conventional spy case involving the passing of documents to a foreign agent. Instead, it appears that the OSP-AIPAC espionage conspiracy involved efforts by Israel to use American neocons to "cook the books" on Iranian WMDs, much as occurred earlier with false documents fed to the Bush Administration to justify the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Published details about the indictment unsealed yesterday against Franklin show that the FBI busted up a plot by an Israeli intelligence officer and two AIPAC lobbyists to advance the career of Franklin, get him "by the elbow of the President", and to plant information provided by Mossad in Pentagon documents about Iran.
The following article in the New York Sun was linked in Laura Rozen's blog, WarandPiececom. Rozen is a well-informed spectator on the emerging spy case. That case confims that the FBI has been investigating long-suspected espionage activities in the United States of persons associated with Israel's ruling Likud government. The indictment shows that Frankin, who was the Iran desk officer within Douglas Feith's now disbanded Pentagon policy office, secretly conspired with a contact at the Israeli Embassy to influence U.S. policy concerning an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program. Rozen describes the article below as "the most comprehensive take I've seen on the unsealed Frankin indictment". See, in particular, the bottom five paragraphs in the report.
Details of a Plot Unveiled in Case Against Franklin
BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 14, 2005
URL:
http://www.nysun.com/article/15374SNIP
The grand jury's indictment charges Mr. Franklin, who has served as a desk officer on Iran at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, with six counts, including mishandling classified information, communicating defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it, and, most serious, "a conspiracy to communicate classified information to agent and representative of a foreign government, without specific authorization."
SNIP
The 20-page indictment filed initially on May 26, 2005, in the U.S. district court of Alexandria, Va., details meetings Mr. Franklin had with two unindicted co-conspirators, not named in the court document but widely known to be Messrs. Rosen and Weissman. The indictment also describes a series of meetings with a foreign official, also widely known to be the
Israeli Embassy's chief political officer, Naor Gilon. Mr. Gilon remains to this day the embassy's point of contact with the Bush administration on Iran policy.
Despite a wealth of fresh details on the dates, times, and locations of those conversations, the indictment is vague on exactly what Mr. Franklin is alleged to have passed on to the Israelis and the lobbyists. For example, it refers to conversations about a "certain Middle Eastern country," widely known to be Iran. The indictment says that Mr. Franklin faxed one of the lobbyists a "classified appendix to the classified draft internal policy document defendant had previously discussed" with the two
lobbyists.
One source familiar with the document described it as a "list of horribles about Iran. The sorts of things most people knew already, such as Iran's sponsorship of Hezbollah." Mr. Franklin's attorney last month said the document did not contain classified material.
The indictment states that Mr. Franklin tried to enlist Mr. Rosen's help in getting him a job at the National Security Council. Mr. Rosen, referred to as co-conspirator 1, said on February 14, 2003, that he would see what he could do to get Mr. Franklin a job "by the elbow of the president."
That incident stands out because Mr. Franklin's defenders have said that Mr. Franklin sought out the two Aipac lobbyists in order to get threat information to the White House.
The indictment also alleges that Mr. Gilon may have influenced Mr. Franklin's work. In a meeting on May 23, 2003, at the Pentagon Officer's Athletic Club, Messrs. Franklin and Gilon, who was referred to in the indictment as "FO," for foreign official, discussed European views on Iran - referred to as the "Middle Eastern country" - and its nuclear program.
Following the meeting, the indictment says Mr. Franklin drafted an action memo to his superiors "incorporating suggestions made by the FO during the meeting."
All told, the indictment lists 14 times between August 15, 2002, and June 23, 2004, that Mr. Franklin met with Mr. Gilon. The frequency of the meetings and phone calls suggests that Mr. Franklin did not need Messrs. Rosen and Weissman to reach the government of Israel.
- Mark G. Levey
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Larry Franklin's indictment made public
Jerusalem Post, Israel - Jun 13, 2005
Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin has been indicted on charges he leaked classified military information to employees of AIPAC, according to court papers made ...
Charges against Pentagon spy revealed ISN
Brosh: US seeks business advantage over Israel Globes Online
Pentagon official indicted for leaking classified info to AIPAC Ha'aretz
Ha'aretz - Antiwar.com -
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