THE REAL AIPAC SPY RING STORY--IT WAS ALL ABOUT IRAN

[dArKeR]

Here's what the stories in today's Washington Post and New York Times on the new indictments of the two AIPAC spies aren't telling you: their espionage was principally about helping to prepare an attack by Israel on Iran. And one of the Israeli embassy officials who knows all about AIPAC's role in helping plan the attack on Iran has been whisked out of the country and out of the reach of U.S. prosecutors, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reports this morning.

The neo-cons in the Pentagon had long been arguing for an attack on Iran to take out its nuclear facilities that had the potential to be converted for development of nuclear weapons. Wolfie's man Doug Feith (below left) had been particularly assiduous in pressing the case for a "forward strategy" against Iran. Feith's views are madly extremist, and Jim Zogby collected them in an April profile of Feith that should scare the pants off of anyone rational. (Feith's been a major activist for years with the viciously anti-Arab crazies of the ZOA, the Zionist Organization of America).

When, for purely electoral reasons with the Iraq occupation going so disastrously, the White House decided against a direct attack by the U.S. on Iran, the neo-cons went to Plan B -- an attack on Iran by proxy, from Israel. The principal classified documents leaked to Israel through AIPAC -- the leaks that that began the investigation of the AIPAC spy ring, which has been going on now for over a year -- concerned Iran. They were leaked by Feith's deputy, Larry Franklin, also now under a five-count indictment for spying. (At right, Feith and Franklin)

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/08/the_real_aipac_.html

[H5N1]

1. The ugly truth

[leveymg]

2. THE REAL AIPAC SPY RING STORY--IT WAS ALL ABOUT IRAN

THE REAL AIPAC SPY RING STORY--IT WAS ALL ABOUT IRAN
Doug Ireland
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/08/the_real_aipac_.html
05 August 2005

Here's what the stories in today's Washington Post and New York Times on the new indictments of the two AIPAC spies aren't telling you: their espionage was principally about helping to prepare an attack by Israel on Iran. And one of the Israeli embassy officials who knows all about AIPAC's role in helping plan the attack on Iran has been whisked out of the country and out of the reach of U.S. prosecutors, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reports this morning.

The neo-cons in the Pentagon had long been arguing for an attack on Iran to take out its nuclear facilities that had the potential to be converted for development of nuclear weapons. Wolfie's man Doug Feith (below left) had been particularly assiduous in pressing the case for a "forward strategy" against Iran. Feith's views are madly extremist, and Jim Zogby collected them in an April profile of Feith that should scare the pants off of anyone rational. (Feith's been a major activist for years with the viciously anti-Arab crazies of the ZOA, the Zionist Organization of America).

When, for purely electoral reasons with the Iraq occupation going so disastrously, the White House decided against a direct attack by the U.S. on Iran, the neo-cons went to Plan B -- an attack on Iran by proxy, from Israel. The principal classified documents leaked to Israel through AIPAC -- the leaks that that began the investigation of the AIPAC spy ring, which has been going on now for over a year -- concerned Iran. They were leaked by Feith's deputy, Larry Franklin, also now under a five-count indictment for spying. (At right, Feith and Franklin)

The plan for an Israeli attack on Iran has been long envisioned -- both in Washington and by Sharon's government -- but this attack is now in a highly advanced state of planning and could come as quickly as Sharon snaps his fingers to order it. Back on March 13, the London Times -- in a report that was largely ignored in the U.S. -- reported that: "The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave 'initial authorisation' for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert,"

SNIP

Mr. Ireland gets most of it. He does miss, however, the central importance of the fact that Franklin's been indicted (twice) and is going to trial in the Fall, two AIPAC lobbyists are under arrest, Feith's been fired, AIPAC's offices have been searched (twice) by the FBI, and the Plamegate Grand Jury is moving toward indictments of members of Bush-Cheney inner-circle. The US Gov't isn't nearly as monolithic as Mr. Ireland makes it out to be. The career CIA and uniformed officers at the Pentagon aren't going to allow Iraq Times Ten and another Big Bloody. A lunge toward a contrived war with Iran would bring down the other shoe down, breaking the back of the Administration and the Republican lock on Congress. BushCo is terminal - let's hope the Iranians understand that.

[H2O Man]

3. Great post!

Valuable information on an issue that people should be very interested in. Thank you for posting it.

[rodeodance]

4. are you sure Feith was actually fired?

....Feith's been fired,

[H2O Man]

8. The current (Aug 6, 05)

link at: http://defenselink.mil/bios/feith_bio.html
indicates that he is the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Department of Defense.

* on edit: In the upper-right corner, the 8-6-05 bio notes it was last updated in March '05.

[H2O Man]

9. I thought his

resignation was one of the classic "I want to spent more time with my family" things. I don't remember him being fired.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. I agree, a great post, but what a scary scenario

This is going to turn into world war, and it seems that there is nothing we can do about it.

We have a bunch of fucking loonies in charge of our government. I just hope the rest of the world acts with maturity and rationality - the exact opposite of these guys.

[bemildred]

6. There are very sound military reasons not to attack Iran in this way.

Or to allow it. So I agree with this:

The career CIA and uniformed officers at the Pentagon aren't going to allow Iraq Times Ten and another Big Bloody.

At least, I would hope that would be the case.

[Tigress DEM]

13. But do those who see the truth have the means to stop the madness?

I would think they need huge public support.

[bemildred]

14. That's the exciting part, seeing how it all comes out. nt

[Zan_of_Texas]

7. Yes! I had not read Ireland before. This is good.

I'm recommending.

[Igel]

10. My understanding was that the report

that was stolen was a couple of years old.

If that's true, I'm not sure how much that would help that if I were to set up a raid on an on-going project: things move and change.

Any word on an overall description, date the report was stolen/transferred, and when it was authored? Seems to me those would be highly pertinent bits of info for the argument.

[Tigress DEM]

11. But the Ease Up of Export Restrictions on WEAPONS Grade Uranium...

in the Energy Bill and Haliburton's involvement with helping Iran seem to me to forshadow another 9/11.

When I saw a professor on CNN discussing the theory that the government was behind 9/11 and that explained why they purposefully let the family of Osama Bin Laden leave the US and why a part of the Pentagon that was harder to get to and less occupied due to a construction project was hit instead of the main offices... I thought he was pushing things a bit far.

However, here is proof that the rethuglicans hijacking the US are intent on making Iran the next target... as they promised at one point and they are 3 months behind schedule, B*** said June.

Add to this the fact that they keep trying to tell us that Iran is WMD ready.... (how could they really know when Rove went and destroyed the undercover operation that was investigating these things?) and that investigations put them at 10 years out until Haliburton went over and lent a hand - now it's down to 5 1/2 years. Put this clause to make it easier to get WEAPONS GRADE Uranium...


"Gee, Dick, why don't you just go hand them a bomb?"

"Now there's a plan."


Also, if Haliburton is helping Iran and Iran supplied the "sophisticated" bomb that burned 14 soldiers to death in their amphibious vehicle ... if Haliburton can be proved to have given that technology to Iran - then Haliburton is party to giving aid to terrorists which is treason, isn't it?

[Tigress DEM]

12. It's really great you have put this out here, however, we need to ...

get ahead of these maniacs and cut them off at the pass.

How can citizens call for an investigation of Haliburton? At one time I heard there were 17 seperate investigations going on at one time. How does a company survive that level of scandal? Especially when they are probably guilty?

Same way B*** won Ohio, they had people in charge of running a fair show rigging it and sitting on the evidence. Cheney can't let Haliburton go down, he'd be next, so who hears anything about those investigations?

[enough]

15. I'm wondering why you think that a lunge toward a contrived war with Iran

would "would bring down the other shoe down, breaking the back of the Administration and the Republican lock on Congress." I want to believe this, but why do you think that career CIA and uniformed pentagon have waited this long to openly oppose what is happening? And what would make them decide to come out now?

Not arguing, just asking.

[leveymg]

17. The arrest of Franklin was a shot across the bow. There's a split

within the national security "community" (a misnomer) over Israeli espionage and influence peddling in the U.S. There's a parallel struggle going on over Saudi operations within and against the U.S.

By and large, and up until recently, the career professionals within the alphabet agencies have stayed in their seats and kept their mouths shut. That's what they're trained to do, and most of them still are.

I can see that there has been a shift since the fall of 2003, when everyone in Washington realized that there were no Iraq WMDs and that they had been taken for a group ride in a plane that's been hijacked and the pilot does not know how to land. The sight of intelligence officers being outed and careers destroyed has had a deeply unsettling impact within the ranks. My feelers tell me that there's a growing consensus to storm the cockpit in order to save the U.S. from another disasterous war and/or a catastrophic terrorist attack.

The attempt by the Bush Administration to stick it to the Agency and DIA, and to push the professionals aside in order to force march the military into Iraq, was seen as appalling arrogance in early 2003. Today, with 1800 US dead and some twenty thousand American casualties, that has hardened into an institutional view that the WH is incompetent, and some within it have committed acts that border on treason. The uniformed services know that they were ordered to commit war crimes, and there will be trials of the higher-ups.

At the very least, the JCS staff officers feel betrayed, and do not trust the political appointees any more. The career people still obey orders, but no longer will do this unthinkingly and without hesitation. There is a new tolerance for whistleblowers, and everyone is documenting and alert to deception and illegal orders from above.

As for the push toward a wider, bloodier war in the Middle East, there is virtually no support for this within the military and the agencies. The CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI and other agencies are watching the politicians and foreign intelligence services. The situation is much as it was with Nixon in 1973 and 1974. Most of all, everyone just wants to prevent another catastrophe and for Fitzgerald and the justice system to complete its job. Everyone knows there is period of maximum risk leading up to indictments of Bush's inner-circle.

Intelligence officers are damned well aware what the neocon agenda is, and what counter-measures the Saudis and Iranians are taking. They know that the offensive war plan calls for a round of provocations, diversions and escalations. But that calculated spiral into war can't happen with suspicous national security agencies dragging their heals, leaking, surveilling politicians, and arresting the operatives.

It's been a long, hard process getting to this point. There is no open mutiny, as yet. But, this isn't 2002, either. Nobody's going to war just because BushCo orders it.

[Coastie for Truth]

16. My blog (which is a vanity web site - and can't be linked to in DU)

says that any attack on Iran is for the benefit of Dr David O'Reilly, Dr. Lee Raymond, and Sir John Browne, OBE.

Based on 30+ years of research - I stand on my opinion.

My basis

1) William Engdahl, "A Century Of War : Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order"
2) John Keay, "Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East", and
3)

[leveymg]

18. For the benefit of Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp., and BP.

Is there a rank-order? Won't argue that. We all know what "The Prize" is, and it isn't in Iraq, Iran or Syria.

[not systems]

21. You can link vanity sites just not as...

topic starters or if they are hate sites.

Coastie I have a question about "A Century Of War" which I
have read based on your recommendation. I found it a very
good read and very informative.

Thanks.

On page 119 it Engdahl said:

"Riots were deliberately incited in industrial cities like
Newark, Boston, Oakland and Philadelphia by government-backed
'insurgents', such as Tom Hayden. The goal of this operation
was to break the power of established industrial trade unions
in northern cities by labeling them racist."

This is believable in general but I have never seen information
that Tom Hayden is anything other than honest idealist and worker
for justice.

Do you have any comment on this?

[laststeamtrain]

19. Thank you for posting this. Doug Ireland's site is a real 'find'...

I personally enjoyed his tribute to Marcuse from the other week.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leveymg]

22. Second that motion.

Please.

[Lithos]

23. Sorry, it will not be moved.

It is here due to a meme which states this story is about AIPAC doing the spying, not the indictment for spying of two people who happened to work for AIPAC and abused their positions there.

One statement has a bigoted sub-text, the other does not. Because of I/P's stronger guidelines over the matter we are able to stake out a more rational set of expectations. And because we expect this to be about AIPAC and not the two men and because past discussions of AIPAC have strongly involved I/P it will remain here.

Lithos
I/P Forum Moderator
Democratic Underground

[Gyre]

24. Israel; the real 3rd rail of American politics

and 800lb gorilla in the corner that everybody in Washington pretends isn't there.

I find this situation treasonous and the mainstream political parties detestible for their covert obesance to Israel. I consider Israel an irresponsible and insincere partner in the ME peace process and a drain on the American treasury. This is obvious. NO POLITICAL LINKS TO ISRAEL should exist in our government due to the conflict of interest inherent when drafting foreign policy in the ME. When such links exist and America is executing Israel's agenda using the bodies of American troops, treason is the watchword. Bush is only the latest president to preside over this particular treason.

Gyre

[Coastie for Truth]

25. Lee Raymond PhD, Dave O'Reilly PhD, John Browne OBE

The real culpruits.

Israel won't be a decent pimple on any of their left butt cheeks.

This war is all for Lee Raymond PhD, Dave O'Reilly PhD, and John Browne OBE.

Why are we still at a CAFE standard set in in 1980. For Lee Raymond PhD, Dave O'Reilly PhD, and John Browne OBE.

Why are we kissing King Abdullah's royal butt. For Lee Raymond PhD, Dave O'Reilly PhD, and John Browne OBE.

Don't blame Congressman Dave Camp for the give aways to Lee Raymond PhD, Dave O'Reilly PhD, and John Browne OBE in the energy bill. Blame Lee Raymond PhD, Dave O'Reilly PhD, and John Browne OBE.

[Gyre]

26. If the neo-cons attack Iran

I predict they'll be fighting two wars simultaneously. One here, and one there.

Gyre