{"id":3074,"date":"2009-04-20T11:53:47","date_gmt":"2009-04-20T11:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2009-04-20T11:53:47","modified_gmt":"2009-04-20T11:53:47","slug":"2009-4-20-prominent-democrat-rep-sought-influence-for-aipac-in-rosen-a-html","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/?p=3074","title":{"rendered":"Prominent Democrat Rep. sought influence for AIPAC in Rosen affair"},"content":{"rendered":"
Great story from Congressional Quarterly<\/a> on a secret probe into Congresswoman Jane Harman, a Democrat with longstanding interests in intelligence issues, who promised a suspected Israeli agent involved in the Steve Rosen AIPAC scandal that she would try to intervene on AIPAC’s behalf:<\/p>\n

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.<\/p>\n

Harman was recorded saying she would \u201cwaddle into\u201d the AIPAC case \u201cif you think it\u2019ll make a difference,\u201d according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.<\/p>\n

In exchange for Harman\u2019s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.<\/p>\n

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, \u201cThis conversation doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

But according to the former officials familiar with the transcripts, the alleged Israeli agent asked Harman if she could use any influence she had with Gonzales, who became attorney general in 2005, to get the charges against the AIPAC officials reduced to lesser felonies.<\/p>\n

Rosen had been charged with two counts of conspiring to communicate, and commnicating national defense information to people not entitled to receive it. Weissman was charged with conspiracy.<\/p>\n

AIPAC dismissed the two in May 2005, about five months before the events here unfolded.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s when, according to knowledgeable officials, Attorney General Gonzales intervened.<\/p>\n

According to two officials privy to the events, Gonzales said he \u201cneeded Jane\u201d to help support the administration\u2019s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by the New York Times.<\/p>\n

Harman, he told Goss, had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. And although it was too late to stop the Times from publishing now, she could be counted on again to help defend the program<\/p>\n

He was right.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 21, 2005, in the midst of a firestorm of criticism about the wiretaps, Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, \u201cI believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelosi and Hastert never did get the briefing.<\/p>\n

And thanks to grateful Bush administration officials, the investigation of Harman was effectively dead.<\/p>\n

Many people want to keep it that way.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

Harman dodged a bullet, say disgusted former officials who have pursued the AIPAC case for years. She was protected by an administration desperate for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the deepest kind of corruption,\u201d said a recently retired longtime national security official who was closely involved in AIPAC investigation, \u201cwhich was years in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a story about the corruption of government \u2014 not legal corruption necessarily, but ethical corruption.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, deep infiltration of the US political system by Israel and a supine Bush administration who could not take this on because it needed the AIPAC bunch’s support.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great story from Congressional Quarterly<\/a> on a secret probe into Congresswoman Jane Harman, a Democrat with longstanding interests in intelligence issues, who promised a suspected Israeli agent involved in the Steve Rosen AIPAC scandal that she would try to intervene on AIPAC’s behalf:<\/p>\n

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.
\nHarman was recorded saying she would \u201cwaddle into\u201d the AIPAC case \u201cif you think it\u2019ll make a difference,\u201d according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.
\nIn exchange for Harman\u2019s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.
\nSeemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, \u201cThis conversation doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d
\n. . .
\nBut according to the former officials familiar with the transcripts, the alleged Israeli agent asked Harman if she could use any influence she had with Gonzales, who became attorney general in 2005, to get the charges against the AIPAC officials reduced to lesser felonies.
\nRosen had been charged with two counts of conspiring to communicate, and commnicating national defense information to people not entitled to receive it. Weissman was charged with conspiracy.
\nAIPAC dismissed the two in May 2005, about five months before the events here unfolded.
\n. . .
\nBut that\u2019s when, according to knowledgeable officials, Attorney General Gonzales intervened.
\nAccording to two officials privy to the events, Gonzales said he \u201cneeded Jane\u201d to help support the administration\u2019s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by the New York Times.
\nHarman, he told Goss, had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. And although it was too late to stop the Times from publishing now, she could be counted on again to help defend the program
\nHe was right.
\nOn Dec. 21, 2005, in the midst of a firestorm of criticism about the wiretaps, Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, \u201cI believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.\u201d
\nPelosi and Hastert never did get the briefing.
\nAnd thanks to grateful Bush administration officials, the investigation of Harman was effectively dead.
\nMany people want to keep it that way.
\n. . .
\nHarman dodged a bullet, say disgusted former officials who have pursued the AIPAC case for years. She was protected by an administration desperate for help.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the deepest kind of corruption,\u201d said a recently retired longtime national security official who was closely involved in AIPAC investigation, \u201cwhich was years in the making.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a story about the corruption of government \u2014 not legal corruption necessarily, but ethical corruption.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, deep infiltration of the US political system by Israel and a supine Bush administration who could not take this on because it needed the AIPAC bunch’s support.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[497,124,355,159,589,590,92],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}