Octagon1: Abramoff's Link to Israeli Arms Dealing and More?

[leveymg]

The major media has all but ignored the story that Jack Abramoff discussed U.S. war plans with Karl Rove a year before the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq. That is probably because, in the estimation of most news editors, such chatter between two Washington insiders is not, in itself, news or particularly significant. The whole world knew that Bush had Saddam Hussein in his sights when he gave the January 2002 "Axis of Evil" speech.

I know, I know. Rove denied for a long time that he had any relationship with Abramoff other than contact at "a few staff meetings". Also, their chat in Abramoff's skybox shows that Rove benefited personally from Jack's largess, and that it coincided with other important international planning meetings for the Iraq war, including some descibed in the Downing Street Memos.

Did I say international there? I must be getting ahead of myself.

However, what is potentially very significant is the identity of the recipient of that e-mail, "Octagon1". This has been discussed here at DU, and at other blogs, but apparently nowhere else. According to MagickMuffin, the name of Octagon1 is Shmuel Ben-Zvi, and he is apparently an Israeli. http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MagickMuffin/51

Assuming that identification is factual, let's take that information as a starting point, and try to answer the obvious question: Who is Shmuel Ben-Zvi, and what is his relationship with Jack Abramoff?

*****

Earlier this week, Rep. Waxman's House Investigations Committee minority office released a collection of several hundred Abramoff e-mails. One of these, located at p.26, revealed the following message to Octagon1: http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/abramoff/docs/0949_001.pdf

From: Jack Abramoff
To: 'octagon1'
Monday, March 18, 2002 8:31 AM
Subject: RE: Sunday

I was sitting yesterday with Karl Rove, Bush's top advisor, at the NCAA basketball game, discussing Israel when this email came in. I showed it to him. It seems that the President was very sad to have to come out negatively regarding Israel, but that they needed to mollify the Arabs for the upcoming war on Iraq. That did not seem to work anyway. Bush seems to love Sharon and Israel, and thinks Arabfat , is nothing but a liar. I thought I'd pass that on.

Several sources, including Newsweek, reported last year that Jack Abramoff has had a long friendship with an Israeli dual national named Shmuel Ben-Zvi According to Michael Isikoff's account, Ben-Zvi is a Right-wing extremist who has been arming Israeli settlers with Russian-made night vision glasses and other military equipment through a "Sniper School" supported by Abramoff. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7615249/site/newsweek/

In other words, Isikoff tells us, Ben-Zvi is a fanatic -- but a small-time -- arms merchant. One may of course note, these same settler groups have been involved in numerous border clashes with Hamas and one source says, Hezbollah, adding to the tensions that trigered the July War in Lebanon and the occupation of the Gaza Strip. But, perhaps, that's not the bottom-line for Octagon1 and his clients.

There is at least one more Shmuel Ben-Zvi, someone much, MUCH bigger. If this bigger Ben-Zvi is actually Abramoff's e-mail buddy, it points to a very different picture about the scale of Abramoff's money and arms dealings with Israel, and tells us that Jack wasn't just a provincial political fixer and a con-man, but was really a central money and dirty-tricks operator serving the Right-wing elements of both the Israeli government and the GOP. The identity of Octagon1 doesn't necessarily prove or disprove this interpretation, but it sure as hell would be worthwhile to know. Now, that would be a MUCH bigger story than the one we're being told.

Behind Door #2 we find Brigadier General Dr. Shmuel Ben-Zvi, Financial Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/staff.html
http://www.ict.org.il/conferences/Conferencedet.cfm?ConferenceID=8

That post would make Gen. Ben-Zvi the principal budget officer for the Israeli military, a position that would involve Ben-Zvi in cultivating foreign funding sources, particularly those in the U.S. Abramoff was a major conduit of American donors to Israeli projects requiring money and guns, such as the Sniper School. Abramoff's Russian contacts also served this same purpose, and on a larger scale, his insider ties to major American defense contractors and the GOP was also, undoubtedly, useful to the IDF. All of this would explain why Abramoff was for many years an untouchable by U.S. law enforcement looking into the web of international dirty money and arms trafficking.

A third possibility is this man, who runs Israeli State Radio. His biographraphy tells us:
http://www.israelradio.org/director.htm

Shmuel Ben-Zvi has been the Director of Israel Radio International since 1991. His department is responsible for 13 language sections: Western - English, French, Spanish and Ladino; CIS – Russian, Bukharian and Georgian; New immigrants - Amharic, Tigrenga, Hungarian, Mugrabi, Romanian and Yiddish. Programs for overseas audiences are broadcast on short wave, for new immigrants on the REQA network, while the English news is broadcast on Reshet Aleph – first radio network. The total daily airtime is 17 hours.

Shmuel Ben-Zvi was born in Vilnius in 1948 and immigrated to Israel in 1971. His career in broadcasting began at Kol Israel in 1972 when he joined the Russian language section. In 1989, he left for two years to head the Jewish Agency office in Vienna and then in Moscow, returning in 1991.

While one could not imagine more perfect cover for an intelligence officer, I am inclined to go with Door #2 as someone who Abramoff is most likely to have actual business dealings. That would make the IDF Abramoff's potentially biggest client. MagickMuffin indicates that, indeed, the arms Abramoff arranged for Octagon1 came from a major U.S. defense contractor, Raytheon, which points to an arrangement that is much bigger than just a few hundred dollars worth of sniper matts and night-vision googles alluded to by Isikoff in Newsweek.

MagickMuffin tells us: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MagickMuffin

Email from the Senate Indian Affairs Hearings:
Posted by MagickMuffin in General Discussion
Sun Oct 01st 2006, 09:30 AM
I have been doing research and trying to catalog all the pages of emails, invoices, checks, etc. for months now. I still haven't decoded everything, but here's some of my efforts.


Notice more emails from Octagon1
Page 109-110: Oct. 19, 2001 @ 3:45 am email from Octagon1 (Shmuel Ben Zvi) to Jack Re: Haskacha Pratis! Details equipment to be purchased for IDF. Mentions Raytheon & FLIR supplying equipment. Also mentions the Zohar/Moshiach/Rome and the World Trade Center.

This email was concerning the Sniper's School in Israel, that Casino Jack was funding through his Athletic Academy
Page 110: Date: Oct. 18, 2001 @ 11:18 pm email from Octagon1 to Jack Re: Weekend Forcast Wild, Details concerning the Sniper's Schools successes.
Request for more equipment.


Page 111: Date: Oct. 18, 2001 @ 3:24 pm email from Octagon1 to Jack Re: Thermal Vision, requesting equipment from Russia.

This email concerns buying equipment from Russia.
Page 111-112: Date: Oct. 15, 2001 @ 3:36 am, email from Vadim, Assistant to Mrs. Nevskaya NAFTASIB to Jack: Re: Thermal Vision Equipment, Details the cost of the Thermal Vision Equipment.

I'm pretty sure they went with Raytheon for the equipment.

I need to find more time to devote to finishing my research. What makes it so difficult is the pdf's are photocopies, not actual pdf's. So, it becomes challenging on some of the docs.


For my part, I think it would be very helpful if MagickMuffin were to actually link to his or her source documents. A PM and post on this string would be most welcome.

Finally, there is lenty of other circumstantial evidence that Jack served as a cut-out for Likud and the GOP. Ohio Rep. Nye and his chief aide were recently convicted for corruption and bribery charges related to Abramoff. Nye came under intense FBI and CIA scrutiny after he pushed a deal through his House Committee on behalf of Abramoff's client to award a contract to an Israeli-based firm to install a wireless phone system in the House office buildings, a system that many considered to be vulnerable to eavesdropping. See,

Abramoff Deal | TPMCafe
On January 3, 2006 - 5:00pm leveymg said:. Abramoff Plea May Mask GOP Foreign Influence-Peddling A plea agreement has been reached between the Bush Justice ...
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/3/14512/79740

Daily Kos: Abramoff's NSA and Domestic Spying Scandal
Abramoff's NSA and Domestic Spying Scandal. by leveymg. Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 10:25:59 AM PDT. The National Security Scandals of Jack Abramoff - Part II ...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/25/132559/979

Daily Kos: Abramoff Linked to NSA Contracting Scandal
Abramoff Linked to NSA Contracting Scandal. by leveymg. Tue Jan 24, 2006 at 09:11:56 AM PDT. Enron-Global Crossing-Qwest common link: Jack Abramoff ...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/24/121156/129

mparent7777: Abramoff Plea May Mask Bigger Crime: GOP Foreign ...
by leveymg. Wed Jan 04, 2006 at 04:14:05 AM NZDT ... Greenberg Traurig claims it had no knowledge of Abramoff's wrongdoing until it was revealed in The Post ...
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777/5449650.ht...

Certainly, the fact that the Israelis knew about the planned invasion of Iraq long before the fact should come as no surprise to anyone. I believe that we're all about to find out that Jack was nothing more or less than a back-channel between the Bush Administration and certain Right-wing elements within the Israeli government and military. That explains why he had so many White House meetings.

- Mark

[leveymg]

1. This from the Texas Observer confirms most of MagickMuffin's details

08/26/2005 http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2016

So wrote Jack Abramoff to his executive assistant at Greenberg Traurig’s Washington, D.C. lobbying office. An Israeli paramilitary organizer to whom Abramoff was sending high-tech military hardware had offered his sniper school letterhead to help comply with IRS requirements. Abramoff had spent $140,000 from his non-profit foundation to buy optics, stands, cases for sniper rifles, and a jeep for Schmuel Ben Zvi’s sniper school in the occupied West Bank. But the IRS allows educational foundation money to be used for educational purposes only, such as the Abramoffs’ Jewish day school in the D.C. suburbs. Ben Zvi, who despite the e-mail trail has since denied he ever knew Abramoff, suggested the Sniper Workshop letterhead and logo to accommodate the IRS. He was, after all, involved in education. He ran a sniper school in the ultra-orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit.

Keeping accounts straight was a frequent problem for Abramoff. His tax accountant warned, “military expenses don’t look good on the Foundation’s books.” It was also odd that money donated by the Mississippi Choctaw and the Saginaw Chipewas ended up training snipers in an Israeli settlement. But Abramoff was more concerned about moving hardware than cooking books. He was delighted when Ben Zvi wrote that they would expedite shipment by obtaining a signed letter from a paratroop brigade commander in the Israeli Defense Force. With the letter in hand, they could buy weapons from Raytheon and FLIR, and “end user” clearance from the U.S. State Department would be easier to obtain.

The “end user” wasn’t the Israeli Army. But Ben Zvi assured Abramoff he was still getting a bang for his buck. “The army for the most part creates soldiers, not WARRIORS,” Ben Zvi wrote. He talked of a fifth column of Jewish warriors that will someday issue its own “call to arms.” He also regaled Abramoff with accounts of sniper positions his group set up to cover IDF soldiers as they worked, “neutralizing” terrorists, and watching “the dirty little rats” on the Palestinian side of the fence.

Another e-mail from Ben Zvi suggests how the attack on the World Trade Center inflamed the radical settlers’ already overheated eschatology: “And parchas Balak in the Zohar says that before Moshiach comes three towers will burn in the gate of Rome (edom), I freaked out when I saw how the schematic drawing in Newsweek referred to the smaller (45 story) world trade center is referred to as the ‘third tower.’”

Like American End Times Christians who believe the 9/11 attack is an augur of the second coming of Christ, Abramoff’s End Times Israeli Jews believe the 9/11 attack anticipates the coming of the Messiah. Abramoff’s CPA was so moved by accounts of sniper patrols in Beitar Illit that she decided they would somehow make the accounting work to satisfy the IRS. As always, Abramoff was ready to move: “Oh boy!” he writes to Ben Zvi. “Get me the letter from the army! Good Shabbos.”—LD

[leveymg]

2. Does Raytheon sell night-vision equipment? Yes.

I was wondering whether Raytheon Corp., which is better known for producing big, expensive aerospace weapons (such as cluster bombs), actually manufactures and sells sniper equipment. It turns out, yes, it makes night vision goggles and cameras under the ATN name. http://www.atncorp.com/ATNNightVisionPDF/Thermal-EyeX100xp/Thermal-EyeX100xp_SpecSheet.pdf.

[leveymg]

3. Why was Jack never charged for evading arms export controls?

It seems the U.S. Attorney had an airtight case against Jack for evading U.S. Commerce Dept. export control regulations through his role in conspiring to obtain a fraudulent end-user letter. Jack clearly knew the sniper equipment was going to a private militia rather than the IDF, as documented. Abramoff was an active and willing part of the crime, which seems to be a violation of the US Foreign Arms Export Control Act of 1976.

There are some serious federal penalties that can be applied to people who do this, and he could have been sent to a federal pen for decades, if the US Attorney had charged him. Strange. I've never heard that Abramoff was charged with this type of crime.

Usually, when someone isn't charged of a serious felony, and there seems to be a good case, it means a law enforcement agency or the prosecutor has convinced the perpetrator to give someone up higher in the criminal enterprise, or to provide some other valuable service in exchange. Seeing as how Jack is supposedly the prime defendant, why wasn't he charged?

Did Jack give someone up, or was this prosecutorial avenue never pursued for some other reason, such as "foreign policy" considerations?

If it's the former explanation, than the party given up may well have been Ohio Congressman Ney.

GOP's Ney pleads guilty in Abramoff probe

By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
Last Update: 3:30 PM ET Sep 15, 2006
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B23433138-D581-4DC8-A421-5E686B4A06B6%


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Rep. Robert Ney, an Ohio Republican, on Friday became the first lawmaker to admit to wrongdoing in a federal corruption probe into the activities of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, reaching an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to charges that include making false statements and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Under the agreement, which must be approved by a judge, prosecutors will recommend that Ney serve 27 months in prison. The deal marks a major turnabout for the formerly defiant congressman, who until this summer had planned to run for re-election from his Ohio district.
The investigation has already garnered guilty pleas from Abramoff, two former aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and a former Ney aide. DeLay retired from Congress this summer, and has not been charged in the probe.
Prosecutors this summer also won a conviction against David Safavian, the Bush administration's former chief procurement officer, as part of the Abramoff probe.
Ney, 52, in a statement issued by his lawyers, apologized for his actions and said he would seek treatment for alcoholism, reported CQ Daily.

SNIP

In a criminal information filed in federal district court Friday, prosecutors said Ney admitted to taking a number of actions designed to benefit Abramoff clients in return for lavish trips, campaign contributions, free fundraisers, expensive meals at Abramoff's restaurant and other enticements.
Ney also admitted that he took thousands of dollars in free gambling chips from a foreign businessman, prosecutors said. The unidentified businessman was seeking an exemption to the U.S. export laws prohibiting the sale of his goods to a foreign country, and a visa to the United States.
Ney had denied wrongdoing and insisted he would stand for re-election from Ohio's 18th district. Ney abandoned those plans at the urging of party leaders who feared the seat would be lost to Democrats if he remained on the ballot.

SHADES OF IRAN-CONTRA, Ironically, the intended beneficiary of the Ney bribe was Iran. Here's what ExportBlog has to say about it:http://www.exportcontrolblog.com/blog/2006/01/index.html

Ney Tried to Help Cypriot Firm Get License for Iran Export
Thanks to Newsweek (via Josh Marshall), the heretofore elusive House Republican ethics scandal-export controls connection is coming into focus:

Ohio Rep. Robert Ney personally lobbied the then Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax U.S. sanctions on Iran. Who asked him to? A convicted airplane broker who had just taken the congressman and a top aide on an expense-paid trip to London, NEWSWEEK has learned. Ney's lawyer confirmed to NEWSWEEK that federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records on Ney's February 2003 trip paid for by Nigel Winfield, a thrice-convicted felon who ran a company in Cyprus called FN Aviation. Winfield was seeking to sell U.S.-made airplane spare parts to the Iranian government—a deal that would have needed special permits because of U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

Winfield never got the license, but things worked out better for Ney himself. On a subsequent gambling outing with Winfield's business partner the Ohio congressman just happened to parlay $100 into $34,000 in winnings. Quite a coincidence considering the $30,000 in credit card debt Ney carried at the time.

SNIP

Here's a bit of unsolicited career counseling for Rep. Ney. When you eventually resign in disgrace, send your resume on over to former Attorney General John Ashcroft's eponymous consulting firm. He's already lobbying on behalf of an Israeli defense company looking to reexport some US technology to South Korea, so I'm sure he'd be thrilled to bring someone on board with your experience. And what better way for a high-class outfit like the Ashcroft Group to hedge its bets than to lobby for both Israeli concerns and the country whose president would like to see them "wiped off the map"? (Just make sure you get a retainer.)

[leveymg]

4. This brings us back to our question: is Abramoff the nexus of a bigger

crime?

On this subject, the observations of emptywheel's at Last Hurrah, a wiser soul than I, may shed some light. She writes in her blog, "One Scandal Per Administration? No.": http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2006/02/one_scandal_per.html

Watergate, Iran-Contra, Abramoff (no mention of BCCI and S&L). That's how we remember the scandals of the Nixon, Reagan-Bush, and Bush administrations. When we think of the first two, we think of them as events that reached some kind of resolution which therefore should be regarded as past, closed. And we treat them--even if we know this to be inaccurate--as one coherent scandal, one unified effort.

But we know these aren't coherent scandals. Watergate involved a break-in, then it led to revelations about dirty campaign tactics and illegal domestic spying both related and unrelated to the campaign. And, of course, it led to obstruction of justice. Iran-Contra involved the illegal support of the Contras in violation of the Boland amendment and the illegal arms sales in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. And, of course, the efforts to provide some legal justification after the fact, and the obstruction of justice.

Perhaps the Abramoff and Cunningham and Plame and illegal spying scandals won't be lumped into one event in the future. Perhaps we'll remember that the Republicans set up an extortionist system to cement their control of power, that members of the Bush administration outed a spy rather than admit they lied us into war, that they violated the Fourth Amendment and FISA to spy in this country. But all the scandals are beginning to merge into one. I haven't seen Syriana yet, but I imagine the unified scandal will look something like that movie. And I suspect in the long run, we'll remember one or another of these--probably the Abramoff scandal, because it involves so many people--as the larger Bush II scandal.

[leveymg]

13. The Ney - Winfield Iran lobbying deal part of a wider investigation

that ended up busting Abramoff's operation. The closer one looks, the more this really does seem like a continuation of the Iran-Contra operation, in which a youthful Abramoff earned his chops as a then minor player, running the American arm of a South African affiliate of the world-wide anti-communist network. That group, headed by Generals Singlaub and Secord, was, in turn, attached to Oliver North's Enterprise. At the head of it all was then Vice President George H.W. Bush, who served a very Cheney-like role as the power behind Ronald Reagan. The more things change, as they say.

Matt Taibbi reflected on Jack's long career as an extremist utility man for the international spook Right in his memorable Rolling Stone biography of Abramoff: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9519825/meet_mr_republican_jack_abramoff?rnd=1144952282375&has-player=true

Abramoff was as much of a symbol of his generation's Republican Party as Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater was of his.

He was an amazingly ubiquitous figure, a sort of Zelig of the political right -- you could find him somewhere, in the foreground or the background, in almost every Republican political scandal of the past twenty-five years. He carried water for the racist government of Pretoria during the apartheid days and whispered in the ear of those Republican congressmen who infamously voted against anti-apartheid resolutions. He organized rallies in support of the Grenada invasion, showed up in Ollie North's offices during Iran-Contra, palled around with Mobutu Sese Seko, Jonas Savimbi and the Afghan mujahedin.

All along, Abramoff was buying journalists, creating tax-exempt organizations to fund campaign activities and using charities to fund foreign conflicts. He spent the past twenty years doing business with everyone from James Dobson to the Gambino family, from Ralph Reed to Grover Norquist to Karl Rove to White House procurements chief David Safavian. He is even lurking in the background of the 2004 Ohio voting-irregularities scandal, having worked with the Diebold voting-machine company to defeat requirements for a paper trail in elections.

He is a living museum of corruption, and in a way it is altogether too bad that he is about to disappear from public scrutiny. In a hilariously tardy attempt to attend to his moral self-image, lately he has been repackaging himself as a fallen prophet, a humbled super-Jew who was guilty only of going too far to serve God.

At some point, Jack's mechanizations crossed a line, and attracted the attention of people who can cut through the political fog of Washington insider connections, and have the power to arrange for the assignment of a U.S. Attorney. Abramoff was able to make his international deals so long because he operated within a larger team of highly-placed Right-wing ideologues within the U.S. Government and intelligence agencies. But, at some point, that protective cover failed or else Abramoff stepped out of its bounds. That point may have been in 2002 when Jack started working with Bob Ney, Chairman of of the House operations committee. As has already been alluded to, Ney pushed hard to give the contract to install the controversial House wireless phone system to FoxComm, an Israeli controlled firm. Then, in 2003, came the international deal that doomed Ney and Abramoff. According to Newsweek, 01/23/2006: http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_news&Number=294350891&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=21&part=

The Iranian airline deal shows how the Abramoff case is already expanding into a broader investigation into D.C. lobbying practices. Ney was introduced to Winfield by lobbyists Roy Coffee, a former legislative aide to the then Gov. George W. Bush, and David DiStefano, who had previously been Ney's chief of staff. Coffee and DiStefano (who did not respond to requests for comment) arranged for Ney and a staff member to fly over to London, where Winfield and his Syrian-born business partner, Fouad Al-Zayat, pitched the congressman on their business plan. Back in Washington, Ney talked to Powell, Tuohey said.

[leveymg]

15. Why was Abramoff's operation rolled-up? What else was going on at that

time? One date stands out above all others:

July 30, 2003.

That was the day that the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency formally referred the outing of Valerie Plame two weeks earlier to the Criminal Division of the Justice Department for prosecution. That was four months after the start of the occupation of Iraq, and it had become impossible to ignore one overarching fact, after no significant stocks of WMD were going to be found anywhere in Iraq. The invasion had been conceived under false pretenses by Administration officials led by Vice President Cheney.

In the memorable words of Donald Rumsfeld, reassuring the press corps on March 30th, Saddam's nukes and chemical weapons stores would be found "north, south, east or west" of Baghdad.

For 67 days, John Ashcroft ignored the CIA request that the FBI investigate the leak of Plame's identity as an undercover officer involved in counterproliferation. The House Judiciary Committeee minority counsel's office provides a useful chronology of the Bush Administration's attempts to stonewall and obstruct that investigation: http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/003223.html

"On September 16, in accordance with the Agency's standard practice in these matters, the CIA advised the Department that it had completed its own investigation of the matter, provided a memorandum setting forth the results of the investigation and requested that the FBI undertake a criminal investigation of the matter."

Once parts of the CIA's own internal damage assessment report were circulated, all hell broke lose in Washington. The FBI was finally let off its leash. On September 23, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald was appointed special prosecutor in the Plame case.

However, the Bureau had not been entirely asleep at the wheel. The FBI was also busy tape recording the meetings that it had long observed between Israeli intelligence officers in Washington and their agents, an investigation that had been ongoing for decades. That summer, the FBI monitored Air Force reserve Lt. Col. Lawrence Franklin, a DIA Iran desk officer assigned to Douglas Feith's Pentagon Office of Special Plans (OSP), a special unit created by Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Luti as a intelligence factory to replace regular DIA intelligence sources. These documents were stovepiped to the Office of the Vice President (OVP), and circulated within the White House and Congress and to selected reporters. According to his indictment, Franklin met with Israeli intelligence and at their suggestion generated documents about a Middle-east WMD program that were salted into Pentagon files. The indictment reports that on May 23, 2003, following a meeting with the Mossad chief in Washington ("FO-3"), Franklin generated a memo incorporated his suggestions that was then passed to his superiors. http://www.fas.org/irp/ops/ci/franklin0805.pdf

The FBI also recorded ranking two AIPAC staff members, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, at these meetings. On May 4, 2005, after a report of this investigation was leaked to CBS reporter Leslie Stahl, they were arrested along with Franklin, who has been convinced at some earlier date to wear a wire. The reported Mossad Chief of Station, Naor Gilon, hopped a flight out of the country just ahead of the roll-up. Two other Israeli intelligence officers were quietly expelled.

[MagickMuffin]

5. From page 109 of the Emails Released by the Senate Indian Affairs Hearings

This would be so much easier if the pdf's that the Senate released were not photocopies of the originals. I don't have the time to retype everything. So, if you need the proof you will have to read the emails for yourself because there is no way to cut and paste the text from those pdf's.

Now from the email on page 109, these are emails from Octagon1 to Casino Jack. There is also an email from the Russian NAFTASIB. This is the same company DeLay and Buckingham went to visit.

After the entry from the NAFTASIB, there is a paragraph that mentions Octagon1's ID. From what I could decipher Octagon1 and Shmuel Ben-Zvi are the same person. However, if that is incorrect then I apologize for my misunderstanding. But it does seem to suggest that they are the same man.

[leveymg]

7. Is there a link to that page? I found the Wikipedia discussion, but no

link there, either: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:quGdllZu5MoJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Kwh+Shmuel+Ben-Zvi+Octagon1&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&ie=UTF-8

This is a primary source, direct from Abramoff's emails, made public in the Senate Indian Affairs investigation. I would imagine that the FBI has spoken to this individual, though it's not public record. There are numerous emails from 2001 and 2002. Abramoff made contact with a Russian Oil and Gas company in October 2001, who gave him a quote on a Russian military thermal imager. He forwarded the information to 'octagon1' and asked for an opinion on what sort of 'objective' should be purchased on the imager.
When they found out the Russian company would take 6 months to deliver, 'octagon1' replied:
"I will fax you a letter stating that I am purchasing this equipment for the IDF, and at the same time get a signed letter from the commander of Paratroop brigade 890 to' who this may concern' Mr Shmuel Ben Zvi Is purchasing this thermal device for us.... And we can go both to RAYTHEON and FLIR (near boston) who sells the better MILCAMEXP. Then we just need "end user" clearence from the State Department."
I could tell you where to find the emails, but maybe you should do a little of your own research. KWH 04:18, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

IS A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL HOSTED ANYWHERE?

[leveymg]

8. Found a at WaPo - haven't found that e-mail yet:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062200921.html

[leveymg]

10. Ok - found it at the WP pdf document set.

Abramoff's 0ct 19, 2001 e-mail, begins "Dear Schmuel" and goes on to discuss the purchase of sniper equipment and the need for an end-user document from the IDF.

That's at page 77 of the .pdf doc set posted by the WP here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/exhibitspart1.pdf

Why you couldn't have just given everyone that URL to begin with? Anyway, I'm convinced that Octagon1 is, indeed, Ben-Zvi. Let's see where this takes us.

A couple preliminary conclusions:

Reading the e-mails, it also becomes obvious that this guy isn't a Brig. Gen. or anyone very big, at all. Why would they have to go hunting around for a Col. to sign the papers? Also, the IDF has thousands of these things in its stocks -- obviously, Ben-Zvi's little militia wasn't very well connected if they had to beg Abramoff to hustle up for them.

Including extra lense and accessories, about $40,000. This does seem to have been an expensive hobby for Jack.

- Thanks.

[MagickMuffin]

12. Goolge is your friend

The reason I could not provide a link is because I downloaded this almost a year ago Nov.05!
I was not trying to hold anything back, as I did not have a link or url

I just did a google search and found the docs. Page 109 is the page you are interested in.......


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/exhibitspart1.pdf

Edit to make a correction:

Appartently the pdf's a downloaded in Nov. has a lot more pages (318) than the one from the WaPo (139). So, the info is on page 77.

If I could provide a link or url for the pdf's a downloaded in 05 I would supply you with it....

[leveymg]

14. Thanks for the leads!

I got a bit frustrated there. My apologies.

The Post has broken the Senate Indian hearings pdfs into two batches, but I think everything's there - let us know if it's otherwise.

[BuyingThyme]

6. knil dna kcik

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2278123

[drm604]

9. K&R

:kick:

[seemslikeadream]

11. Just curious

Have you run across Dov Zakheim name in connection with all of this?


Pentagon finance manager resigns
Thursday 11 March 2004

Rabbi Dov Zakheim's refused to tell journalists the exact reason for his departure on Wednesday. A former adjunct economics professor at New York's Yeshiva University, Rabbi Zakheim has spent more than 30 years working in various jobs at the Pentagon.

But he has also worked in private industry, specifically as a consultant to McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.


Rabbi Dov Zakheim,
Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer, a conservative Republican who graduated from Jew's College in London in 1973, Zakheim first joined the Department of Defence in 1981 under former president Ronald Reagan.

He was responsible for such tasks as preparing defence planning guidance for nuclear war.

As Pentagon Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer, Rabbi Zakheim's priority has been financial management.
But that does not include additional spending needed to support US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - a sum expected to range from $30 billion to $50 billion.


A General Accounting Office report found Defence inventory systems so lax that the US army lost track of 56 aeroplanes, 32 tanks and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/635B6007-9DD0-436C-BFF6-E6521520B1C7.htm



Analysis: Defense budget practices probed
Thursday, 02-Oct-2003 10:00AM PDT Story from United Press International
Copyright 2003 by United Press International (via ClariNet)

MIAMI, Oct. 2 (UPI) --

Zakheim said, however, he was limited in his response because of the ongoing audit of the issue, which originally was sparked by a telephone call to the Pentagon's Defense Hotline.


"Our objective will be to review the allegations to the Defense Hotline concerning funds 'parked' at the U.S. Special Operations Command by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)," said a letter from the inspector general's office to Gen. Charles Holland, who has since retired as Special Operations commander.

Among several documents The St. Petersburg Times obtained during its investigation was e-mail sent by Special Operations Command Comptroller Elaine Kingston to colleagues in February 2002.
She said an unidentified official in the Pentagon comptroller's office had asked her if the command could "park" $40 million of research-and-development money in its proposed budget for the 2003 fiscal year.


The programs where the money was placed included missile warning systems on aircraft, infrared equipment on helicopters and radar system. The amounts ranged from $2 million to $5 million.
Kingston said in the e-mail message she coached her colleagues on how to account for the money and avoid attracting congressional attention to it.

"We are doing a favor for the OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense) which we hope will benefit the command if we should need additional (research and development funds)," the message said.
Young said at the hearing on President Bush's request for $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan Tuesday that he wants to know if it is a common practice.

Young is clearly not finished and called it "an obvious attempt to keep from Congress what was happening. I think that would make you suspicious. It makes me a little suspicious."

more

http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/dp/Uus-defense-young-analysis.RUt1_DO2.html



"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

"The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

"They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

So where is that missing $1.1 trillion?
In a report to the DoD comptroller, Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim, acting Assistant Inspector General for Auditing David Steensma wrote: "We reported that DOD processed $1.1 trillion in unsupported accounting entries to DOD Component financial data used to prepare departmental reports and DOD financial statements for FY2000. For FY2001 we did not attempt to quantify amounts of unsupported accounting entries; however, we did confirm that DOD continued to enter material amounts of unsupported accounting entries to the financial data."

What this gibberish means is that the DoD still cannot account for at least $1.1 trillion from fiscal 2000 under former president Bill Clinton, and the assistant inspector general of DOD wouldn't even touch the unsupported money expenditures for fiscal 2001 because "material amounts" still couldn't be accounted for properly in the year George W. Bush came to power. The trillion-dollar question is how much is "material amounts"? Because the auditor would not "quantify" the amount, some fear it's worse than the previous year's unaccounted for $1.1 trillion.

Of course the Department of the Army, headed by former Enron executive Thomas White, had an excuse. In a shocking appeal to sentiment it says it didn't publish a "stand-alone" financial statement for 2001 because of "the loss of financial-management personnel sustained during the Sept. 11 terrorist attack."

So where is that missing $1.1 trillion? Traditionally the top dogs at the Pentagon haven't liked the word "missing." The rationale at DoD has been that just because the money can't be accounted for doesn't mean it is lost, stolen or strayed. According to Susan Hansen, a spokeswoman for DoD: "These are unsupported entries. When the auditors go to audit the books and they look at the balance sheet for the year, someone has entered in an adjustment because they made an error somewhere."
more
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_18_18/ai_86868905



Four years ago, when Zakheim was on presidential candidate George Bush's foreign policy planning team, he told Haaretz the U.S. did not need to play policeman around the globe, and that American military involvement overseas should be reserved for extreme situations, such as the prevention of genocide.

............

From the time when reports about the Bush administration's intention to go to war started to circulate, critics have charged that Jewish neoconservatives in the Pentagon were responsible for dragging the U.S. into war with Iraq, with the intention of protecting Israeli, not American, interests. Proponents of this claim hail from all parts of the political spectrum, starting with arch-conservative Pat Buchanan, and continuing with two Democrats from Capitol Hill, Congressman Jim Moran (Virginia), and Senator Friz Hollings (South Carolina).

"Pat Buchanan, in my view, is an anti-Semite," said Zakheim. "I'm sorry, but you cannot keep saying what he says, and say he's not an anti-Semite. He is an anti-Semite. I know one when I see one."

..........

Alongside such claims about corruption in Saddam Hussein's regime, Zakheim brings up the issue of terror. Given Saddam Hussein's well-known support for Palestinian suicide bombers, "why is it so hard to believe that he had ties with Al-Qaida," Zakheim wonders. "If you make the connection - Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism - then it definitely becomes a world problem," he concludes.

.........


Israelis who worked with Zakheim are full of praise for his professionalism. Though he always upheld American interests, they say, he had a warm place in his heart for Israel and he did as much as he could to help. For instance, after the start of the intifada, when it became clear that Israel's police force lacked equipment to defuse bombs, Zakheim found funds, and arranged a transfer of $28 million for automatic gear used by sappers. Zakheim is proud of his close relations with many Israelis - recently his son was married in Jerusalem, but at the time, a stepson who went on a photo-shoot in Hebron was beaten by settlers.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/441712.html

[DemReadingDU]

16. another kick