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-Caveat Lector-
Rice, Hadley to be subpoenaed in Israel lobby spy case
_http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfqsMUGt_xLUPtGJWuJBhG2dOpCA_
(http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfqsMUGt_xLUPtGJWuJBhG2dOpCA)
WASHINGTON (AFP) — A judge ruled Friday that Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley can be subpoenaed
to testify in a sensitive spying case that has focused attention on Israel's
powerful US lobbying.
Federal court judge T.S. Ellis ruled to allow the request by lawyers for
Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees of the influential pro-Israel
lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to subpoena Rice,
Hadley
and 13 other current and former top government officials to testify in the
case, according to court documents.
Rosen and Weissman, accused of passing secret US defense information to
unauthorized people while they worked for AIPAC, hope the testimony of the
government officials will support their defense that they were not engaged in
spying.
"The defendants claim that testimony from these current and former officials
will tend to show that the overt acts reflect nothing more than the
well-established official Washington practice of engaging in 'back-channel'
communication," according to Friday's ruling issued in Alexandria, Virginia.
The White House and the State Department declined to comment on the ruling,
which rejected government arguments that the officials' testimony in the case,
which involves key issues of national security, would be immaterial and even
harmful to the defendants.
"We are aware of the order authorizing the potential issuance of subpoenas in
the Rosen and Weissman case should the case go to trial," said National
Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
"It is our understanding that no subpoenas have been issued at this time. We
cannot comment further because this is an ongoing criminal prosecution."
"We are not going to comment on an ongoing legal matter," said State
Department spokesman Tom Casey.
Rosen and Weissman and Department of Defense official Lawrence Franklin were
charged in 2005 under the Espionage Act with conspiracy to communicate
national defense information after they were documented in a lengthy FBI
investigation sharing sensitive US intelligence with each other and with
Israel.
US officials alleged that between 1999 and 2004 Franklin passed secrets to
Israel using AIPAC as the conduit; at the time Rosen was the lobby's policy
director and Weissman an analyst on Iran.
The sealed indictments, according to court documents, record 57 overt acts in
the mishandling of the secrets, including meetings and telephone calls
involving communicating the information with both US and foreign nationals.
The intelligence involved terrorist activities in Central Asia, US
intelligence and policy regarding Middle Eastern countries, and Al Qaeda,
according to
the court documents.
Rosen and Weissman maintain that the secrets were not closely held by the US
government and their disclosure did no damage to the country, the court
documents said.
Franklin, a former assistant to former undersecretary of defense Douglas
Feith, pleaded guilty after a series of closed hearings and was sentenced in
January 2006 to 12 years and seven months in prison and a 10,000 dollar fine.
The pre-trial ruling will allow Rosen and Weissman's lawyers to proceed with
subpoenas for Rice, Hadley, former senior State Department officials Richard
Armitage, Marc Grossman, Matthew Bryza and William Burns, former top defense
department officials Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, and others from US defense,
diplomatic and national security circles.
For 15 of 20 requested subpoenas, Ellis rejected government arguments that
the testimonies would be immaterial to the case and unfavorable to the defense.
Specific explanations on each of the cases were to be placed in classified,
sealed files, Ellis said.
Protected from testifying for reasons that were not revealed: retired Marine
Corps General Anthony Zinni, former US diplomats Dennis Ross, Mark Parris and
Edward Walker, and former national security advisor Bruce Reidel.
The case is expected to go to trial next January.
************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
www.ctrl.org
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/
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