-----Original Message-----
From: CAIR [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 5:16 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: CAIR-NET: Challenges of Secret Court/Ramadan Refutes Pipes
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 8/31/04
* HADITH OF THE DAY: PASS ON WITH DIGNITY
* SIGN CAIR'S 'NOT IN THE NAME OF ISLAM' PETITION
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT: 7721 SPONSORSHIPS
- Register for CAIR's Oct. Banquet & Convention
- CAIR Job Opening: Civil Rights Coordinator
* CAIR-HOUSTON MEETS WITH MAYOR, POLICE CHIEF
* TARIQ RAMADAN REFUTES DANIEL PIPES (Chicago Trib)
- A Muslim Scholar's Exclusion (Chicago Trib)
* SECRET COURT POSES CHALLENGES (Wash Post)
- Bush Forms Civil Liberties Board (Wired News)
* NJ: OFFICIALS TO PROBE MUSLIM BIAS CLAIM (SL)
- NC: Couple Alleges Religious Slurs (Daily News)
* NEW SPY SCANDAL COMES AS BLOW TO AIPAC (Daily Star)
- FBI Questions Lobbyists in Spy Probe (LA Times)
- FBI Looking at Contacts with Israelis (Wash Post)
- FBI Briefs Pentagon Bosses on Spy Case (NY Times)
- Israeli Espionage against the US (Counterpunch)
- Israel's Albatross: U.S. Neocons (LA Times)
* NO CHANGE FOR CHECHNYA (Wash Post)
* IRAQ: A NO-WIN SITUATION (NY Times)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: PASS ON WITH DIGNITY
"And [know that the true servants of God are only] those who never bear
witness to what is false, and [who], whenever they pass by [people engaged
in] frivolity, pass on with dignity."
The Holy Quran, 25:72
-----
SIGN CAIR'S 'NOT IN THE NAME OF ISLAM' PETITION
CAIR has launched an online petition drive designed to disassociate the
faith of Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims. The petition on
CAIR's web site, called "Not in the Name of Islam," allows Muslims around
the world to help correct misperceptions of Islam and the Islamic stance on
religiously-motivated terror.
CAIR's "Not in the Name of Islam" petition states: "We, the undersigned
Muslims, wish to state clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder
and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives,
but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No
injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people,
and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and
dissociate ourselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits such
brutal and un-Islamic acts. We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage
by the criminal actions of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of
both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."
TO SIGN THE PETITION, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=169&page=AA
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT: 7721 SPONSORSHIPS
The goal of CAIR's library project is to send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
For only $150, you may sponsor an 18-item package about Islam and Muslims,
which are then distributed to the library of their choice.
To sponsor a library call, visit:
http://www.cair-net.org/libraryproject/
ALSO SEE:
REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S OCT. 2-5 BANQUET & CONVENTION
Join us in our nation's capital for 4 days of exciting activities!
TO REGISTER, GO TO: http://www.cair-net.org/convention2004/
-----
CAIR JOB OPENING: CIVIL RIGHTS COORDINATOR
CAIR has an immediate opening for an experienced dynamic person to fill the
position of Civil Rights Coordinator. The position involves handling of
civil rights cases, doing research on issues pertaining to civil and
religious rights in America, maintaining a civil rights data base system,
and generating reports, charts and graphs. Candidates should have a
Bachelor degree in a related field with general knowledge of the US
Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
All those interested and eligible to work in US (Citizens or proper work
visa holders) are encouraged to apply in confidence via email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED], or by fax 202-488-0833. When applying via email please
ensure to write the position title "Civil Rights Coordinator" in the
subject of the email. Please send your application with cover letter and
complete resume and references. Absolutely no phone calls please.
-----
CAIR-HOUSTON MEETS WITH SUGAR LAND MAYOR, POLICE CHIEF
Houston-area Muslims seek strengthened relationship with officials
(HOUSTON, TX, 8/31/04) - The Houston office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) hosted a dinner Monday night for
the Honorable David Wallace, mayor of the City of Sugar Land, and Sugar
Land Police Department Chief Lisa Womack. The event focused on
strengthening the relationship between local law enforcement authorities
and elected officials and the Houston-area Muslim community.
"I believe that diversity is a source of strength, and I see that strength
in the various communities' activism and respect for one another," said
Wallace, whose Houston suburb has a population that is 29 percent Asian.
Chief Womack said she encourages diversity, not only in training but also
in the Sugar Land Police force. "We are actively recruiting potential
officers, and we hope to have a police force that reflects the richness and
diversity of the City of Sugar Land."
Monday's dinner was the latest in a series of meetings with law enforcement
agencies and city officials to discuss the launch of CAIR-Houston's Quick
Response Network (QRN) initiative. That initiative, developed in
cooperation with the Community Relations Service of the Department of
Justice in Houston, is designed to facilitate a rapid response to threats,
hate crimes and discrimination.
"We thank Mayor Wallace and Chief Womack for reaching out to the Muslim
community and hope that such efforts lead to a productive partnership with
elected officials and local law enforcement agencies," said of CAIR-Houston
President Tarek Hussein.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, is headquartered in
Washington, D.C., and has 28 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.
CONTACT: Iesa Galloway, CAIR-Houston, 713-838-2247, 832-656-0449, E-Mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----
TARIQ RAMADAN REFUTES PIPES
SCHOLAR UNDER SIEGE DEFENDS HIS RECORD
Tariq Ramadan, Chicago Tribune, 8/31/04
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/oped/chi-0408310097aug31,1,224130
.story
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, without offering an explanation,
has revoked a visa that was granted to me to teach at the University of
Notre Dame. In Sunday's Chicago Tribune on the Commentary page, Daniel
Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, provided his "explanation" for
this action. In what follows I respond to his unfounded allegations.
- Pipes claims that I have praised the brutal Islamist policies of the
Sudanese politician Hassan al-Turabi.
Nothing of what I said about al-Turabi's policies is remotely favorable.
After visiting Sudan in 1994, I wrote: "Nonetheless, one must clearly say
that the present regime does not offer minimal guarantees for political
pluralism, that opposition parties are muzzled and that cronyism is the
rule. Muslims are called to remain vigilant, for the opposition of the
United States and Israel is not enough to support the `Islamic' character
of a project."
- Pipes notes that I was banned from entering France in 1996 on suspicion
of having links with an Algerian Islamist who had recently initiated a
terrorist campaign in Paris.
Yes, I was indeed banned from entering France between November 1995 and
April 1996, but a reason was never given for this ban, and it was later
revealed to be a case of mistaken identity. I challenged the ban and won
the case in 1996. Any assertion that this ban was for having "links with an
Algerian Islamist" is baseless.
- Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian indicted for Al Qaeda activities, had "routine
contacts" with me, according to a Spanish judge in 1999.
I was asked about contacts with this individual last year and I
unequivocally denied ever meeting or speaking to him. This was investigated
by Frederic Chambon, a reporter for the French daily newspaper Le Monde,
who on Dec. 23, 2003, issued reports that Brahim's daughter was able to
confirm from her jailed father that he did not have contacts with me.
- Djamel Beghal, leader of a group accused of planning to attack the
American Embassy in Paris, stated in his 2001 trial that he had studied
with me.
When Djamel Beghal was first arrested in Dubai, he claimed that in 1994 he
was attending my course and wrote my speeches. He changed his story when he
was extradited to Paris and only claimed to have attended the course in
1994. That, too, was inaccurate since my courses did not start until 1997.
- Along with many Islamists, says Pipes, I have denied that there is "any
certain proof" that Osama bin Laden was behind Sept. 11, 2001.
Pipes distorts the facts by selective references. My post-Sept. 11 stance
is clear. On Sept. 13, 2001, I put out an open letter to Muslims calling
for them to unequivocally condemn these acts and wrote: "Do not hide
yourself behind conspiracy theories: Even if we don't know who did it, you
know as I know that some Muslims can use Islam to justify killing an
American, a Jew or a Christian only because he/she is an American, a Jew or
a Christian; you have to condemn them and to condemn these attacks." On
Sept. 20, when investigations were still ongoing, I said: "The probability
[of bin Laden's guilt] is large, but some questions remain unanswered. ...
But whoever they are, bin Laden or others, it is necessary to find them and
that they be judged..."
ALSO SEE:
A MUSLIM SCHOLAR'S EXCLUSION
Chicago Tribune, 8/31/04
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0408310093aug31,1,5639355.sto
ry
Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss scholar known for his work on Islamic theology and
the place of Muslims in the modern world, was supposed to start teaching
last week at the University of Notre Dame. But after he got a visa from the
State Department, it was revoked at the behest of the Department of
Homeland Security, which apparently sees him as a danger. Why is anyone's
guess, since the department declines to spell out the reasons he's been
barred.
Some critics regard him as an anti-Semitic apologist for extremism. Among
them is Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, who wrote in
Sunday's Tribune to accuse Ramadan of connections with Al Qaeda, denying
Osama bin Laden's role in the Sept. 11 attacks and defending the March
terrorist bombing in Madrid.
On today's Commentary page, Ramadan rebuts the charges. He says Swiss and
French authorities cleared him of alleged Al Qaeda contacts. After the
Sept. 11 attacks, he insisted that whoever was to blame, "Bin Laden or
others, it is necessary to find them and that they be judged." And, he
declares, "I have always condemned the terrorist attacks in New York, Bali,
Madrid and elsewhere."
The exchange makes an interesting debate, but unfortunately DHS, the key
player, is not taking part. When contacted by the Tribune, a spokeswoman
declined to specify what grounds it had for demanding that the visa be
canceled. Apparently he was barred under a section of the USA Patriot Act,
which bars entry to foreigners who have used a "position of prominence . .
. to endorse or espouse terrorist activity."
If the U.S. government has grounds to think Ramadan has worked with Al
Qaeda to further its bloody ambitions, he should certainly be denied entry.
But no one has produced tangible evidence that he is personally involved in
such activities, and the law doesn't require such involvement. If he is
being refused permission to teach in this country purely because of his
views, the government has an obligation to Notre Dame and the American
people to acknowledge that--and to specify which of his opinions endangers
public safety.
Nothing that has come to light so far suggests that Ramadan endorses
terrorism. His defenders say that on the contrary, he is known for urging a
more modern understanding of Islam and for firmly denouncing anti-Semitism.
It's not likely that Notre Dame's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International
Peace Studies would knowingly grant its imprimatur to an apostle of
violence.
Even if he did endorse terrorism, expressing such an opinion doesn't pose
the sort of danger that the Department of Homeland Security should worry
about. It's not illegal, after all, for Americans to express sympathy for
Al Qaeda--or the Irish Republican Army or any other violent extremists.
Only when such opinions veer into outright incitement to violence does law
enforcement intervene...
-----
SECRET COURT POSES CHALLENGES
Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 8/30/04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45166-2004Aug29.html
The Justice Department has argued in a recent court case that librarians,
booksellers and other businesses can easily challenge a controversial
provision of the USA Patriot Act by appealing to a super-secret court that
approves surveillance of terrorists and foreign intelligence agents.
The only problem, according to a document released last week, is that the
same court does not allow anyone but government attorneys and agents inside
its doors.
The rules governing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court also do not
include procedures for outside litigants to file memorandums or otherwise
influence a case, according to a copy of the rules obtained by the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU staff lawyer, said the court rules "do not seem to
contemplate the possibility that anyone other than a government attorney
may appear before the court," nor do they allow for outside attorneys to
file motions to quash the subpoenas the court issues.
The surveillance court was established as part of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 and has operated in almost total secrecy
since then. Justice Department statistics provided to Congress indicate the
court approved more than 1,700 searches and seizures last year, eclipsing
the number of traditional criminal wiretaps authorized by local and federal
courts.
The five-page list of rules gives a rare glimpse into the inner workings of
the FISA court, outlining the powers available to each judge and the
procedures for applying for warrants and other operational details. The
rules were provided to the ACLU by the FBI, which indicated they were the
most recent FISA court rules in the agency's possession, Jaffer said...
ALSO SEE:
BUSH FORMS CIVIL LIBERTIES BOARD
Ryan Singel, Wired News, 8/31/04
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64784,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2
In an executive order issued on Friday night, President Bush responded to a
key 9/11 commission recommendation by creating a civil liberties board
composed of high-level government officials tasked with making sure their
agencies' programs do not violate privacy and civil rights laws.
Civil liberties advocates blasted the board, comparing it to the proverbial
"fox guarding the hen house," and questioned how it could be effective
without outside appointees and independent investigative powers.
The President's Board on Safeguarding Americans' Civil Liberties will be
housed in the Justice Department and led by the Deputy Attorney General
James Comey and the Department of Homeland Security's Under Secretary for
Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson.
Other members include officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, the
National Security Agency, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center and the
Pentagon, along with privacy officials such as Homeland Security's chief
privacy officer, Nuala O'Connor Kelly.
The board's official duties include advising the president on civil
liberties, helping craft policy, requesting reports from federal agencies
and reviewing a specific agency program when invited to do so by the agency
in charge of that policy. The board could not initiate investigations on
its own, however, and the order makes no mention of reports to the public.
Lara Flint, a lawyer for the Center for Democracy and Technology -- a
centrist civil liberties group known for working closely with Congress --
found little of value in the proposal.
"This is not what a civil liberties board should look like if it is
intended to be robust, effective and independent," Flint said. "It is made
up of people who need civil liberties oversight."
The CDT and others have been working with senators turning the 9/11
commission recommendations into legislative language in order to create a
civil liberties board with investigative powers and the ability to have
"input in the areas where it really needs it, which is where the law is
ambiguous or there is no law," Flint said...
-----
EDISON TWP. TO PROBE BIAS CLAIM AGAINST COP
Star-Ledger, 8/31/04
http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Edison Mayor George Spadoro said yesterday the township will investigate
allegations that a township officer tried to discourage a Muslim man from
filing a complaint that he was the target of racial slurs in a road-rage
incident.
"I take all allegations of bias very seriously," Spadoro said. "This matter
is being reviewed internally by the police department, in cooperation with
the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, and I look forward to a thorough
investigation of this incident."
But officer Michael Schwarz, president of Police Benevolent Association
Local 75 which represents township patrol officers, said patrolman Daniel
Boslet acted properly.
"It was a textbook handling of a road-rage incident," Schwarz said.
Mohammed Farooq, 33, of Locust Valley, N.Y., said that at 8 p.m. Wednesday
he was in his car on Amboy Avenue when another man, township resident
Jeffrey Shourt, 35, stopped his vehicle behind him and rushed up to
Farooq's car. Shourt called Farooq a terrorist and slapped him, the New
York man claims�
Boslet responded to Farooq's 911 call for help, but Farooq claims the
officer spent 45 minutes trying to discourage him from filing a complaint.
The next day, Farooq reported the incident to the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, which called for an investigation. Farooq is to
meet today with officials from the township and county prosecutor's
office...
ALSO SEE:
COUPLE ALLEGES RELIGIOUS SLURS
Jonathan Clayborne, Daily News, 8/31/04
http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2004/08/31/news/news03.txt
A former Beaufort County commissioner candidate and her husband said
alleged religious slurs could have hurt them and their family during the
campaign.
Republican Sonya Shamseldin and her husband, Mo Shamseldin, who noted he is
an unaffiliated voter, said certain Republicans spread rumors about the
couple's religious affiliations during the campaign preceding the July 20
primary election.
The Shamseldins, both from Pinetown, said party activists opposing Sonya
Shamseldin's candidacy told people she is a Muslim because they wanted to
discredit her.
Sonya Shamseldin said she is a Christian and a member of the Baptist
denomination. Her husband, who is originally from Egypt and is an American
citizen, is a Muslim. A local businessman, Mo Shamseldin has lived in the
United States for more than 20 years.
"They're attacking my family," Sonya Shamseldin said.
Noting that he condemned the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers after the terrorist
attacks of that year, calling the attackers "murderers," Mo Shamseldin said
he feared the alleged slurs could be hurtful to his children, family and
business.
"You cannot be successful by destroying other successful people," he said.
He asserted that he is proud of his name, Mohammed, and his religion.
Sonya Shamseldin claimed GOP Commissioner Hood Richardson, the top
vote-getter in the Republican primary, helped disseminate the rumors, "to
spread the fear of the unknown to somebody else."
Republican Del Stutzman of Washington said Richardson called her twice
during the campaign.
Stutzman said Richardson told her Mo Shamseldin was taking people to vote
"in an Egyptian-looking car" with "some Egyptian-looking people."
The Shamseldins said they helped register about 100 voters and took some to
the polls.
Stutzman said that Richardson told her, "We needed to stop this because we
didn't want any Muslims on the county commissioners."
Added Stutzman, "I just think that he's very bigoted to make a statement
like that. I mean, this is 1965 all over again..."
-----
NEW SPY SCANDAL COMES AS MAJOR BLOW TO ISRAEL, AIPAC
Hussein Ibish, Daily Star, 8/31/04
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=
7909
WASHINGTON: Washington was rocked late last week by allegations that a
Pentagon policy analyst on Iran, Laurence A. Franklin, had passed
classified information to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby group in the US. He is also said to
have had extensive meetings with Naor Gilon, head of the political
department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and a specialist on Iran's
nuclear weapons program.
While both AIPAC and the Israeli government have issued categorical denials
of any espionage activities, most observers say that law enforcement
officials would not leak the accusations if they did not have the evidence
to prove their charges. Franklin is said to have provided the Israelis with
a secret presidential directive on Iran related to its ongoing nuclear
program.
The New York Times reported on Aug. 30 that, "news reports about the
inquiry compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to
follow the trail back to the Israelis."
The leak seems less designed to pressure Franklin, who is said to have been
cooperating with federal agents for several weeks, than to stymie the
investigation, which is said to be far broader than the allegations made
public at this stage. If the allegations are true, they could have serious
implications for both US-Israel relations and for the reputation of AIPAC,
which is regarded as one of the most powerful and effective lobby groups in
the US.
Journalist Steven Green, a long-time observer of Israeli espionage efforts
in the United States, told the Daily Star that he had spoken extensively
with individuals involved in the investigation, and that "I know from
personal experience that its scope is much wider in terms of the targets
than we have been told so far."
He said that more senior officials than Franklin "should be extremely
nervous about this."
Green speculated that the scandal might involve exchanges of information
between "sophisticates in the intelligence communities of Israel and Iran
at the expense of the United States. ... There is a possible quid-pro-quo
involved in Iran receiving US intelligence codes through the neocon
favorite Ahmed Chalabi and the Israelis getting our latest thinking on
Iran's nuclear program. ...You can see how that would benefit both parties,
but not the US."
USA Today reported Monday that law enforcement officials said "there may be
some crossover" between the Franklin and Chalabi investigations.
The scandal has already drawn comparisons to the Jonathan Pollard affair,
in which a Jewish American was caught spying for Israel in 1985. Israeli
officials have said that after the Pollard incident, the country made a
firm decision not to spy on the United States in order to preserve its
relationship with Washington. Several newspapers have quoted unnamed Jewish
American leaders as expressing grave concern about the impact this brewing
scandal could have on the reputation of AIPAC and Israel, but the Israeli
daily Haaretz described one as being "positively relieved" that Franklin
is not Jewish.
"The insinuation that AIPAC, an American Jewish lobby, is engaged in
espionage is in some ways worse than Pollard, who as a single individual
could be described as off-balance," Yossi Alpher, a former Mossad official
told the Washington Post.
These are not the first allegations of Israeli spying in the United States
involving AIPAC, but none have led to indictments, which are expected in
this case...
ALSO SEE:
FBI QUESTIONS ISRAELI LOBBYISTS IN SPYING PROBE
Richard B. Schmitt and Tyler Marshall, Los Angeles Times, 8/31/04
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-spy31aug31,1,1812337.st
ory
WASHINGTON - The FBI has interviewed an influential foreign affairs
specialist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as part of its
investigation into whether a Pentagon analyst improperly leaked classified
information to Israel, sources said Monday.
In addition, officials in Jerusalem identified a senior Israeli diplomat in
Washington who had met with the Pentagon aide at the center of the probe
but who denied any wrongdoing.
The disclosures came during an unfolding espionage investigation as federal
agents try to determine whether Larry Franklin, a veteran Iran analyst at
the Pentagon, disclosed classified material on that country to AIPAC
executives, who then passed it along to the Israeli government.
The lobbying group and Israeli officials - who have expressed a steadily
mounting concern about Iran's expanding nuclear capability - have
strenuously denied wrongdoing. Franklin has not responded to requests for
comment. The Pentagon's third-ranking official, who oversees the office
where Franklin works, was briefed by FBI agents during the weekend.
The case has focused attention on AIPAC, one of Washington's most potent
political forces, and has raised questions about how the U.S. shares
information with allies.
Sources said that within the last week, the FBI has interviewed two AIPAC
employees who are said to have met with Franklin and received the
information that agents think may have been compromised.
One of those interviewed, Steve Rosen, is the group's director of foreign
policy issues; the FBI also interviewed a senior Middle East analyst for
AIPAC, Keith Weissman. Neither could be reached Monday. An AIPAC spokesman
declined to comment...
---
INVESTIGATORS LOOKING AT CONTACTS WITH ISRAELIS
Bradley Graham and Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 8/31/04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47521-2004Aug30.html
The FBI has interviewed several senior Pentagon officials in recent days in
connection with an investigation of a Defense Department analyst who is
suspected of providing classified documents to Israel but has been
cooperating with investigators for several weeks, government officials said
yesterday.
Douglas J. Feith, undersecretary for policy, and Peter Rodman, assistant
secretary for international security affairs, are among those who met with
FBI agents on Sunday and Monday about the case, which has focused on
contacts between a lower-level Pentagon analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, and
the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), officials said.
Defense Undersecretary Douglas J. Feith was among officials the FBI spoke
to.
Higher-ranking government officials have also been briefed about the FBI
investigation in recent days, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell was briefed over the
weekend during a telephone call by James B. Comey, the deputy attorney
general, and told his senior aides at a meeting yesterday to "cooperate in
any way with any requests that might come from the investigators."
U.S. government officials familiar with the Pentagon interviews, who
declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the case,
characterized them as an attempt by FBI investigators to determine whether
Franklin received authorization from any superior to engage in the actions
that investigators are probing. The FBI has been forced to accelerate its
investigation since the case broke into public view through media reports
Friday...
---
F.B.I. IS SAID TO BRIEF PENTAGON BOSSES ON SPY CASE
David Johnston and Eric Schmitt, New York Times, 8/31/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/politics/campaign/31inquire.html
WASHINGTON- F.B.I. agents met in recent days with two high-level Pentagon
officials to discuss the case of a Defense Department analyst who is
suspected of turning over a classified policy document to Israel, a senior
official in the department said on Monday.
The two officials, Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, and
Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary for policy, were briefed on the case
of the analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, who was a lower-level employee in Mr.
Feith's office who specialized in Iranian issues.
The official said that meetings with Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. Feith were
briefings rather than interviews. It remained somewhat unclear whether
either man was asked any questions during the meetings about his knowledge
of Mr. Franklin's activities.
Mr. Feith met with agents at his home on Sunday, the official said. It was
not clear exactly when and where the agents met with Mr. Wolfowitz. The
meetings were first reported on Monday by the Associated Press.
Pentagon officials said in a statement on Friday that no one at the Defense
Department beyond Mr. Franklin was suspected of any wrongdoing. Neither Mr.
Wolfowitz nor Mr. Feith is regarded as having any involvement in the matter
other than as potential witnesses because of their familiarity with Mr.
Franklin's work.
So far, no charges in the case have been brought, but behind the scenes
government lawyers prepared to make the first arrests by issuing a criminal
complaint against one or more figures in the case, government officials
said on Monday�
---
ISRAELI ESPIONAGE AGAINST THE US
Sam Husseini, Counterpunch, 8/30/04
http://www.counterpunch.org/husseini08302004.html
[This survey of Israeli spying on the US was compiled in 1997.]
The Washington Post reported in a front-page story on May 7th, 1997 that US
intelligence had intercepted a conversation in which two Israeli officials
had discussed the possibility of getting a confidential letter that
then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher had written to Palestinian
leader Yasir Arafat. One of the Israelis had commented that they may get
the letter from "Mega"-- apparently a codename for an Israeli agent within
the US government.
This revelation has been treated by much of the press as something of an
aberration, as Israeli officials have claimed that they do not spy on the
US. Israel Foreign Minister David Levy told the Washington Post (5/8/97)
that "Our diplomats all over the world, and of course specifically in the
US, don't deal with such a thing." Prime Minister Netanyahu's office
declared: "Israel does not use intelligence agents in the United States.
Period."
Here is a sampling of the public record of Israeli espionage and covert
actions against the US:
According to Time magazine (5/19/97), the US ambassador to Israel, Martin
Indyk, last year "complained privately to the Israeli government about
heavy-handed surveillance by Israeli intelligence agents, who had been
following American-embassy employees in Tel Aviv and searching the hotel
rooms of visiting US officials..."
---
ISRAEL'S ALBATROSS: U.S. NEOCONS
Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, 8/31/04
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer31aug31,1,1624892
.column
With friends like these, Israel doesn't need enemies. The purported Israeli
"spy caper" is another sign that the neoconservatives in the Bush
administration, who claim to be big supporters of Israel, on the contrary,
have increased the risks for the Mideast's only functioning democracy.
As the developing story goes, a neocon Pentagon official allegedly gave
classified documents to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the
pro-Israel lobby, which then passed them on to the Israeli Embassy.
So far, these are only unproved accusations. It is disturbing that some
well-placed officials in the Bush administration have leaked to the media
allegations of spying against the Pentagon official and a respected ally.
As demonstrated in the phony, Clinton-era China spy case, in which Los
Alamos nuclear weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee was smeared, such lurid charges
may not stick. But the charges now circulating do call attention to the
regime-change ideologues in the Pentagon, whose antics have left Israel
more vulnerable than at any time in recent memory.
First, the Bush administration abandoned the Israel-Palestinian peace
process and the United States' historical role as a good-faith broker
between the two sides. Then, after 9/11, the tight band of so-called
neoconservatives who had championed the invasion of Iraq for years, both in
Israel and in the U.S., successfully completed their hijacking of U.S.
foreign policy by landing us in the Iraq quagmire.
This has only served to inflame passions across the region, increasing the
threat to Israel. Many Israelis concerned for their country are alarmed by
President Bush's substitution of militarism for diplomacy, which they
believe only benefits those who profit from fear and hate -- such as arms
brokers and political and religious extremists.
In addition, moderates across the Muslim world have seen their position
eroded by popular anger over the U.S. occupation and Washington's
uncritical support for Ariel Sharon. Al Qaeda and allied terror groups have
seized on the chaos and fury to recruit a new generation of fighters.
Extremists are now in control of crucial parts of Iraq and disrupting the
rest, while rogue Iran is more politically influential among their
co-religionists in the Shiite majority in Iraq than is the U.S. with its
120,000 troops on the ground...
-----
NO CHANGE FOR CHECHNYA
Washington Post, 8/31/04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47919-2004Aug30.html
THE RUSSIAN REPUBLIC of Chechnya got a new president Sunday -- but
congratulations to Alu Alkhanov, the career police officer taking over the
job, don't really seem to be in order. After all, three of Chechnya's four
previous presidents have died violently, including the last one, who
perished in a bombing in May. And Mr. Alkhanov's own selection, like that
of Akhmad Kadyrov before him, came through an election blatantly rigged by
the Russian government. Mr. Alkhanov is promising Chechnya's long-suffering
population an economic revival, but the more likely prospect is the
grinding continuation of a war that has destroyed the republic, bled and
corrupted the occupying Russian army, and contributed to the crumbling of
democracy and free speech in Russia itself.
Responsibility for this debacle lies squarely with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who ordered the army to invade Chechnya and crush its
quasi-independent, democratically elected government five years ago. Mr.
Putin used the military campaign to fuel his own ascent from prime minister
to president in 2000, but everything else about his war has gone wrong.
Despite repeated declarations of victory, Russian troops and their local
allies have not been able to eliminate Chechen resistance, which
increasingly has become linked to Islamic extremism. Tens of thousands of
Chechens still languish in refugee camps; the capital, Grozny, remains in
ruins. Russian forces, which have subjected Chechen civilians to systematic
abduction, torture and summary execution, suffer their own steady stream of
casualties, though news of them is now mostly suppressed. Harder to hide
are the large-scale -- and repugnant -- terrorist attacks against Russian
civilians. After two days of prevarication, authorities finally
acknowledged that two civilian airliners that crashed after takeoff from
Moscow last week, killing at least 89, were brought down by explosions
probably caused by Chechen suicide bombers.
For years liberal Russians and Western governments have been trying to tell
Mr. Putin that even if he is justified in fighting terrorism, his strategy
of subduing Chechnya by force will never succeed. He refuses to listen, or
learn. Instead he has silenced the Russian media that sought to report
honestly on the situation, exiled foreign observers and aid groups, and
tried to force refugees to return home. When the president he installed
through a rigged election was killed, he simply nominated another puppet
and organized another rigged election. His rejection of the alternative --
a broad dialogue with Chechens, including those of the government he
overthrew -- dooms Chechnya to unchanging misery, and his government to an
endless quagmire.
-----
A NO-WIN SITUATION
Paul Krugman, New York Times, 8/31/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/opinion/31krugman.html
Everyone wants to go to Baghdad; real men want to go to Tehran." That was
the attitude in Washington two years ago, when Ahmad Chalabi was assuring
everyone that Iraqis would greet us with flowers. More recently, some of us
had a different slogan: "Everyone worries about Najaf; people who are
really paying attention worry about Ramadi."
Ever since the uprising in April, the Iraqi town of Falluja has in effect
been a small, nasty Islamic republic. But what about the rest of the Sunni
triangle?
Last month a Knight-Ridder report suggested that U.S. forces were
effectively ceding many urban areas to insurgents. Last Sunday The Times
confirmed that while the world's attention was focused on Najaf, western
Iraq fell firmly under rebel control. Representatives of the U.S.-installed
government have been intimidated, assassinated or executed.
Other towns, like Samarra, have also fallen to insurgents. Attacks on oil
pipelines are proliferating. And we're still playing whack-a-mole with
Moktada al-Sadr: his Mahdi Army has left Najaf, but remains in control of
Sadr City, with its two million people. The Christian Science Monitor
reports that "interviews in Baghdad suggest that Sadr is walking away from
the standoff with a widening base and supporters who are more militant than
before."
For a long time, anyone suggesting analogies with Vietnam was ridiculed.
But Iraq optimists have, by my count, already declared victory three times.
First there was "Mission Accomplished" - followed by an escalating
insurgency. Then there was the capture of Saddam - followed by April's
bloody uprising. Finally there was the furtive transfer of formal
sovereignty to Ayad Allawi, with implausible claims that this showed
progress - a fantasy exploded by the guns of August.
Now, serious security analysts have begun to admit that the goal of a
democratic, pro-American Iraq has receded out of reach. Anthony Cordesman
of the Center for Strategic and International Studies - no peacenik -
writes that "there is little prospect for peace and stability in Iraq
before late 2005, if then..."
-----
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