Ex-Pentagon man gets 12 years in AIPAC case

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Former Pentagon analyst Larry A. Franklin was sentenced Friday to a 12 years and seven months imprisonment for passing classified information to former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists

Franklin was also found guilty of sharing classified information with Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. He was also fined $10,000.

In sentencing Franklin, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said the facts of the case led him to believe that Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not harm it.

Franklin, 59, had worked with top Pentagon officials, including former undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith, and has expertise on Iraq and Iran.

Franklin pleaded guilty in October in a plea bargain, and will testify in the trial of former AIPAC lobbyists Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman slated to start in April 2005. Franklin's sentence could be then further reduced because of his cooperation with the government."

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[tatertop]

1. Isn't it time to boot AIPAC out of this country?

Boot.

[Trevelyan]

3. In the Israel article the judge said that Franklin had the best interests

of the US at heart!!! :wtf:

[tatertop]

9. That judge probably thinks Osama does, as well!

Some things just make you say: what?

[Coastie for Truth]

12. No - But it may be time to boot API and APIPAC

API =

APIPAC = - check it out, good stuff on Cheney doing a good job, why we should not fiddle with Corporate Average Fuel Economy, why Global Warming and Kyoto are "Junk Science", why we are not running out of oil, and why the petroleum industry should be allowed to discriminate in hiring based on gender, gender prefernce, race, religion, creed, national origin, etc.

"Coastie"
PhD, Chemical Engineering (That's "petroleum industry centric, petroleum refinery centric" engineering)

[Trevelyan]

2. Was it only printed in the Israeli newspaper? Tell MSM to report this!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/672973.html

I agree with the comments:

Are you kidding me? This guy is a traitor. He deserves to be executed as provided in law for act of treason. I can`t believe he gets to live.
Israel may be an ally.....but treason is treason. And treason in a time of war should warrant the death penalty.

[FOM]

4. BS

If he wasn't associated with Israel would you be calling for his head.

"treason in a time of war should warrant the death penalty" We are not at war with Israel. Nor was he convicted of treason.

This has been widely reported on. Why do you think the informatin he passed on was so bad?

Why do you think the judge is wrong or would lie about whether Franklin had the best interests of the US at heart?

When was the last time we executed anyone in this country of treason?

Didn't we find moles for the soviets in the FBI recently who weren't executed.

Your post reaks of what it is.

[spun_in_montana]

7. I get this all the time

here in ol Montan', if you speak out against these spies (AIPAC) and the Office of Special Plans (Feith, etal), the PNAC and you are an anti-semite.
Bullshit.
A spy is a spy.
We have a "B*sh hatin'" blog here that actually has a link (friendly) to PNAC and AIPAC.
Nope.

[FOM]

11. Thanks for the ad hominem

Tons of Dems are affiliated with AIPAC, and the Dem leaders spoke at the last AIPAC convention. Are they all spies?

I didn't call anyone an anti-semite. I asked some legitimate and unanswered questions about why this person should be treated worse than other people in related situations.

As for the blog, I haven't posted on it in a while, but the people who post are of diverse opinions.

[spun_in_montana]

17. You do not have the blog I

cited, he is currently in Israel.
And sorry, but "reaks" (sic) was meant to convey "anti-semite" IMO, like I said, I get this all the time and Im used to it.

[FOM]

38. Reaks was regarding the anti-Israel viewpoint

I clearly said in my post, that the reaction would have been different if he had not been associated with Israel, I didn't mention Jews.

Being anti-Israel isn't necessarily the same as being anti-Jewish, you know.

I get this all the time too, people complaining that you have called them an anti-semite for no reason.

[tatertop]

8. all spies should be hung, period

Does not matter where they are from.
If you get caught and you are a spy
you deserve to die.
All three spies should be hung.

[FOM]

10. Well that is obviously not our nation's policy.

And pretty ridiculously black and white considering, he was not convicted of espionage.

[Coastie for Truth]

15. What is he was an "American" member of Opus Dei

spying for the USSR for money - and giving the USSR the names of our spies.

[tatertop]

19. I would HANG 'EM right beside these AIPAC bastards

are you trying to make a point?
I think I have been clear: HANG all AIPAC spies
HANG all US insiders

[Coastie for Truth]

22. Let's take them to Huntsville

you, me, Al Gonzales, Judge Cornyn, and all us real texans.

[tatertop]

25. Let us begin with the AIPAC boys

You must agree, the AIPAC boys deserve the full measure.
The full monty. Death by hanging.
(You agree, do you not?)

[Coastie for Truth]

26. Unlike Brother Hansen or Aldrich Ames

The AIPACers did not reveal intelligence methods, operatives, sources or hardware. Nor did they reveal crypto codes, weapons capabilities, or op orders.

Yes, I was a war time veteran -- and yes I know about "Security of Classified Information" and yes I was a "ComSec Officer" and yes I survived three IG inspections.

[tatertop]

29. Please take the time to actually read my posts

I harbor no ill will toward you.
I spent time at sea, as well.
I love this country, as well.

[Behind the Aegis]

32. So, death for spies, but not war-mongers? Interesting.

In the thread titled: "Saddam prefers death by firing squad," you state, "I am anti-death penalty.
Put him in the same cell with Bush and cheney, his peers." That post was scribed on January 3rd of this year.

So in the span of 17 days, what has changed? Is it that you were never really anti-death penalty, or is it that the ones convicted are 'special' for some reason? Saying some "deserves" to die seems very un-anti-death penalty.

[Colorado Blue]

34. Hmmmm. Wonder what it could be.

[Tom Joad]

35. No one should be hung.

[Colorado Blue]

33. self delete

[Coastie for Truth]

13. When the truth comes out about Cheney

(Former CEO of Halliburton, THE oil field services company) and our wars for oil (2300 Americans dead, 100,000's of Iraqis dead) -- he should be ...

And there's Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen. Hansen's spying is said to have resulted in thedeaths of US spies in the former USSR

[tatertop]

20. what is your point?

[Coastie for Truth]

23. I'm in "The Industry"

I hear what I hear, and talk to other energy folks. Cheney's war was a war for oil - bought by big oil, paid for with 2300 American lives and over 100,000 Iraqi lives. Like I said - I'm in "the industry."

[tatertop]

28. Wrong again

This is mainly a war about the petro dollar/euro dollar
oil bourse.
Saddam tried it on a small scale and got invaded.
Iran's bourse would succeed wildly (the world's hatred of
the occupation of Iraq and Palestine will not hurt them).
Plus: countries want to shed US dollars.
(Be in Euros, Swiss Francs, and Canadian Dollars.)

Granted, Israel WANTS us to thump Iran.
Granted, the US will TAKE that oil, one way and another.

But it is the petro dollar they are invading for.
Without the petro dollar in place, we will fall into the gutter
where we belong.

[Coastie for Truth]

30. At core --- OIL

whether it's scrapping Bretton Woods over Iran's Euro Brouse or just drilling out and stealing the oil.

I've only been posting that since I've been here.

[Coastie for Truth]

14. What if his name was Hansen,

and he was a mmber of Opus Dei, and spied for the USSR for money .....

[NoAmericanTaliban]

5. Traitors should be hung...link to another DU discussion ..

from earlier today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2054404

[Coastie for Truth]

16. Like Opus Dei member Robert Hansen

who SOLD the Russians the names of US spies who were later killed.

[tatertop]

18. yes, he TOO, should be hung

[Coastie for Truth]

21. Why don't we get Alberto Gonzales and Judge Cornyn

to let us take Ames and Hansen down to Hunstville TX, and get us a rope, and string them on a good tree in Huntsville.

[tatertop]

24. Is this what you wish?

You seem adamant. Those are scary waters.
Be careful.

[Coastie for Truth]

27. What do you mean scary waters

After we Dems gather in a circle, face inward, and commence firing (like we did in 1968 and 2000 etc.), President Jebbie Bush will appoint Alberto, Judge Cornyn, and Judge Session to SCOTUS, docs who provide abortions will go to Huntsville, and gays will be burned at the stake, all Google and Yahoo searches will go directly to both the FBI and NSA.

[tatertop]

31. Yes, we need to start working together on these issues.

I am not the enemy. Really.

[martymar64]

40. What's with the Texas bashing?

Not everyone is Texas is pro-death penalty or see Gonzales and Cornyn less than an embarassment to our state.

IMHO, these spies should get Life Without Parole, they can join Hansen, Ames, Pollard and Christopher Boyce in NEVER getting out.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

6. Let the wrist slapping begin....

Oh there's that terrible sound again when Repukes are convicted... Wonder if this will get any real media play? Just checked with CNN web page & not even listed on their main page, but eco-terrorist are up front & center. This will be swept under the rug... I remember when this story first hit the press during the Repuke Convention in NY, but it did not stick. Franklin may have been working in Rumsfield special defense 'intelligence' center that manipulated the Iraq WMD data & connection to Osama. This is part of the GOP culture corruption.

<snip>

In sentencing Franklin, U.S. District T.S. Ellis III said the facts of the case led him to believe that Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not hurt it.

The 12-year, 7-month sentence was on the low end of federal sentencing guidelines.

Franklin had said at his plea hearing in October that he was motivated by frustration with U.S. policy in the Middle East when he gave classified information to the diplomat and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He said he received far more information from the Israeli diplomat than he ever disclosed.

The two former AIPAC members, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, have also been charged and are scheduled to go to trial in April. Their lawyers have argued that the two were engaged in routine lobbying work and their discussions with Franklin are protected under First Amendment guarantees of free speech....

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20060120/D8F8HVH0C.htm...


'Get a Brain Morans' - unknow right wing moron protester

[Tom Joad]

36. AIPAC, as an organization, has repeatedly violated US laws.

http://www.counterpunch.org/petras01072006.html
AIPAC on Trial
By JAMES PETRAS
<snip>
The Franklin-AIPAC-Israeli investigation was more than a spy case. It involved the future of US-Middle East relations and more specifically whether the '",neo-cons' would be able to push the US into a military confrontation with Iran. Franklin was a top Pentagon analyst on Iran, with access to all the executive branch deliberations on Iran. AIPAC lobbying and information gathering was aggressively directed toward pushing the Israeli agenda on a US-Iranian confrontation against strong opposition in the State Department, CIA, military intelligence and field commanders.

Franklin's arrest on May 4, 2005 and the subsequent arrest of AIPAC foreign policy research director Steve Rosen and Iran specialist and deputy director for foreign policy, Keith Weissman on August 4, 2005 was a direct blow to the Israeli-AIPAC war agenda for the US. The FBI investigation proceeded with caution accumulating detailed intelligence over several years. Prudence was dictated by the tremendous political influence that AIPAC and its allies among the Conference of the Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations wield in Congress, the media and among Fundamentalist Christians and which could be brought to bear when the accused spies were brought to trial.
<snip>
Never in the history of the United States had so many leading Congress members from both parties pledged their support for an organization under suspicion of spying, based only on information supplied by the suspect and in total ignorance of the federal prosecutor's case. Contrary to the bipartisan Congressional support for AIPAC, a poll of likely voters found that 61 per cent believed that AIPAC should be asked to register as an agent of a foreign power and lose its tax exempt status. Only 12 per cent disagreed.

[Scurrilous]

37. Judge: Those who receive classified info are liable

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=1005

<snip>

"The judge in the leak case against two former staffers of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said classified information laws bind civilians, including journalists.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III made the comment after sentencing Lawrence Franklin, a former Pentagon analyst, to over 12 years in prison for communicating classified information. Franklin is expected to testify in the case against former AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman when it goes to trial April 25. The two men allegedly relayed classified information to an Israeli diplomat, a journalist and to fellow AIPAC staffers.

Ellis’ comment was the clearest sign yet that the Rosen-Weissman case could have broad First Amendment implications. Rosen and Weissman are believed to be the first individuals ever charged under a World War I-era statute that makes it a crime for civilians to relay classified information."

[Scurrilous]

39. U.S. Jewish leaders concerned by Franklin conviction

<snip>

"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, several American Jewish community leaders echoed a single refrain: There's reason to worry, but no need to feel like this is a crisis.

Franklin pleaded guilty in October to sharing the information with AIPAC lobbyists and Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, who were fired from AIPAC in 2004, are facing charges of disclosing confidential information to Israel, apparently about Iran.

Some American Jewish leaders are concerned by the influence the trial could have on the relations between Jewish groups and the administration.

Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman said the Franklin affair could potentially pose a threat 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."

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