-Caveat Lector-
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Thursday May 17, 2001; 5:12 p.m. EDT
Landmark: Release Secret Info on 'Leaky Leahy'
The Landmark Legal Foundation has requested that the Senate
Intelligence
Committee release the records of its 1987 investigation into
Vermont
Senator Pat Leahy, who has threatened to lead a walkout of Senate
Judiciary Committee Democrats if Republicans force a vote on Bush
Solicitor General nominee Ted Olson.
In a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard
Shelby,
Landmark President Mark Levin wrote Thursday:
"According to numerous published reports, including most recently
in
NewsMax.com, on multiple occasions Sen. Leahy was the purported
source
of, or involved in, several leaks of classified or confidential
intelligence information in 1985 and twice in 1987. (See Exhibit
A.)
The Committee conducted a six month internal investigation, after
which
Sen. Leahy resigned from the Committee."
Landmark notes that the specifics of the investigation that led
to
Leahy's resignation remain under seal and argues that anything
not still
classified should now be released. "The public has a right to
know when
a prominent member of Congress violates its trust," Levin told
Shelby.
In the report referenced by Landmark that NewsMax.com headlined
"Leaky
Leahy," we chronicled what is publicly known about the Vermont
Democrat's sorry record with the Senate Intelligence Committee:
"Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., (then-)vice chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, inadvertantly disclosed a top secret
communications intercept during a [1985] television interview,"
reported
the San Diego Union-Tribune in a 1987 editorial criticizing
Congress'
penchant for partisan leaks.
"The intercept, apparently of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's
telephone conversations, made possible the capture of the Arab
terrorists who had hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro and
murdered
American citizens," the paper said, adding, "The reports cost the
life
of at least one Egyptian operative involved in the operation."
In July 1987, the Washington Times reported that Leahy leaked
secret
information about a 1986 covert operation planned by the Reagan
administration to topple Lybian strongman Moammar Gaddhafi.
"I thought [the operation] was probably the most ridiculous thing
I had
seen, and also the most irresponsible," the leading Intelligence
Committee Democrat allegedly said of the secret plan.
Unidentified U.S. intelligence officials told the Times that
Leahy,
along with Republican panel chairman Sen. Dave Durenberger,
communicated a written threat to expose the operation directly to
then-CIA Director William Casey.
Weeks later, news of the secret plan turned up in the Washington
Post,
causing it to be aborted.
Leahy vehemently denied he talked to the press about any of the
administration's covert operations, saying, "I never have, and
I'm not
going to start now."
But just a year later, as the Senate was preparing to hold
hearings on
the Iran-Contra scandal, the Vermont senator had to resign his
Intelligence Committee post after he was caught leaking secret
information to a reporter.
The ranking Intelligence Committee Democrat decided to let an NBC
reporter comb through the committee's confidential draft report
on the
scandal. The network aired a report based on the inside
information on
Jan. 11, 1987.
After a six-month internal investigation, Leahy "voluntarily"
stepped
down from his committee post, releasing a statement calling his
resignation "a suitable way to express ... anger and regret" over
his
lapse.
Leahy's anger, he said, was at himself, "for carelessly allowing
the
press person to examine the unclassified draft and to be alone
with it."
The Vermont Democrat's Iran-Contra leak was considered to be one
of the
most serious breaches of secrecy in the committee's 10-year
history.
After Leahy's resignation, the Senate Intelligence Committee
decided to
restrict access to committee documents to a security-enhanced
meeting
room.
In fact, the final committee report turned out to be considerably
different from Leahy's leaked draft.
NewsMax.com first reported those inconvenient details from
Leahy's
resume in January, when he was leading the charge against Bush
Attorney
General nominee John Ashcroft.
Now that the Vermont Democrat is up to his hold tricks again,
trying to
scuttle Mr. Olson's nomination despite stellar character
references
from Democratic Party legal stars Laurence Tribe and Robert
Bennett,
perhaps Landmark's request will prompt Chairman Shelby to
consider
filling in the blanks in Leahy's record.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH,
TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer*
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them
To Friends
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