The Real AIPAC Spy Ring Story - It Was All About Iran

Here's what the stories in today's Washington Post and New York Times
on the new indictments of the two AIPAC spies aren't telling you: their
espionage was principally about helping to prepare an attack by Israel
on Iran. And one of the Israeli embassy officials who knows all about
AIPAC's role in helping plan the attack on Iran has been whisked out of
the country and out of the reach of U.S. prosecutors, the Israeli daily
Ha'aretz reports this morning.

... The principal classified documents leaked to Israel through AIPAC --
the leaks that that began the investigation of the AIPAC spy ring,
which has been going on now for over a year -- concerned Iran.
They were leaked by Larry Franklin, deputy to former Undersecretary of Defense
for Policy, Douglas Feith. Franklin is now under a five-count indictment
for spying.

The plan for an Israeli attack on Iran has been long envisioned --
both in Washington and by Sharon's government -- but
this attack is now in a highy advanced state of planning...

The London Times has described, from sources, how "Israeli forces have
used a mock-up of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in
the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by
Israel's elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by
F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate
underground facilities. The plans have been discussed with American
officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would
not stand in Israel's way if all international efforts to halt Iranian
nuclear projects failed...." And, the Times added, "US officials
warned last week that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities by
Israeli or American forces had not been ruled out should the issue
become deadlocked at the United Nations."

Just a few weeks before that revelation of the concretization of
Israeli plans for the Iran attack, Bush let the cat out of the bag in an
off-the-cuff remark captured by London's Daily Telegraph, in a
February 18 article headlined, "AMERICA WOULD
BACK ISRAEL ATTACK ON IRAN." The Telegraph reported that Bush said:
"Clearly, if I was the leader of Israel and I'd listened to
some of the statements by the Iranian ayatollahs that regarded the
security of my country, I'd be concerned about Iran having
a nuclear weapon as well. And in that Israel is our ally, and in that
we've made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support
Israel if her security is threatened."

Noting that Bush had gone off the reservations and failed to follow
his handlers' brefing to stick to the agreed-on script, the Telegraph
dryly noted: "His comments appeared to be a departure from the
administration's line that there are no plans to
attack at present and that Washington backs European diplomatic efforts.
The remarks may have reflected Mr Bush's personal thinking on an issue
causing deep concern in Washington... Bush's slip-of-the-tongue that
revealed his real intentions was front-page news in Le Monde and other
European dailies -- but got no attention in the Stateside major media.

At the time Feith's deputy Franklin (and, today's indictments say,
two other as yet unidentified Pentagon officials) were passing the
classified documents on Iran to AIPAC for transmission to Israel,
the White House had not yet given the green light to Sharon --
indeed, the Iran attack was in a holding pattern pending the outcome of
negotiations over Teheran's nuke capacity being led by the European
powers which, unlike the U.S., have diplomatic relations with the
Islamic Republic of Iran.

Even so, U.S. fingerprints were all over the Israelis' Iran attack,
which had long been envisioned by U.S. policy-makers. The respected
Israeli daily Ha'aretz spelled it out last September 13, reporting:
"The Clinton administration laid the foundation for that option
[of attacking Iran] by giving the Rabin government the okay to purchase,
with coupons, the F-15I (dubbed "Thunder" in Israel). The Bush
administration will complete the task by agreeing to give Israel
air-to-surface munitions that will breach the mysteries of the nuclear
network in the depths of Isfahan and other sites, far more concealed
than the reactor that is on worldwide display at Bushehr. What the
Americans are unable to do, because of European, United Nations and
Congressional pressure, Israel will do."

The indictment of the two senior AIPAC staffers follows the indictment
in May of Feith's footpad Larry Franklin. Franklin worked in the Office
of Special Plans, run by then-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas
Feith, who reported to then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
The OSP functioned as a "shadow" intelligence service on Iraq,
and provided much of the information to the White House that was used to
justify the American invasion of Iraq. Some wags have called it "
Feith-based intelligence", since much of that intelligence and information has
now been proven [infamously] to be utterly false.
At the beginning of May, Franklin was arrested by the FBI for the passing
of classified documents to two AIPAC staffers, who were then to pass
them to Israel. The documents in question concerned Iran.
One of the two newly-indicted AIPACers isn't just anybody. Steve Rosen, 63,
is the man who built AIPAC into the $40 million dollar Capitol Hill
powerhouse it is today.

Buried in a Washington Post profile of AIPAC from May 19 is the
skinny on Rosen as the power behind the scenes at AIPAC. Said the Post:

"For more than two decades, Rosen has been a mainstay of AIPAC
and the architect of the group's ever-increasing clout. Though Rosen
was listed below Executive Director Howard Kohr on AIPAC's organizational
chart, people familiar with AIPAC's history say that Kohr is a protege
of Rosen's and got that job with his help. Kohr declined to be interviewed
about Rosen. 'He [Rosen] is a quiet guy,' said M.J. Rosenberg, director of
policy analysis for the Israel Policy Forum, another pro-Israel group,
and a former AIPAC employee. 'But everyone knows he's the brains behind
the outfit.'"

Now, just what is AIPAC, you may well ask? AIPAC is the enforcer of the
knee-jerk support for the Israeli government which characterizes the
political and governing classes in this country, -- Israel is the real
third rail of American politics: touch it with criticism, {ed: this is
not criticism, but open democratic discussion) no matter how carefully
couched, and you die. Both the Democratic and Republican parties fall
all over themselves to kiss AIPAC's boots -- because AIPAC and its
well-filled war-chest helps make sure they toe the line on Israel,
and has been responsible for the defeat of a significant number of
politicians over the years who dared to criticize Israeli policies.
Earlier this year, AIPAC played a major role in destroying the candidacy
of Tim Roemer for chairman of the DNC.

There's an in-depth, critical profile of AIPAC by RightWeb's Michael Flynn
that gives an in-depth look at AIPAC's arm-and-leg-breaking political
style. And the newly indicted Rosen is The Man Behind the Curtain.
Even though he formally resigned from AIPAC, the organization is paying his
legal bills, and Rosen is still pulling the strings.

The reason for putting some daylight between Rosen and AIPAC is that
the puissant political arm-twister is deathly afraid it will be forced
to register as a foreign lobby, as the Jewish weekly The Forward reported
earlier this year. Americans don't like the sight of their elected officials \
pocketing campaign cash from foreign governments, and AIPAC fears \
being forced to register formally as a lobbyist for Israel would thus
diminish their clout on Capitol Hill. Bush won't make AIPAC register,
and the spinless Democratic Congressional leadership won't lead the charge
to make them do so either. But today's indictments of string-puller Rosen
and his AIPAC colleague for spying on the U.S. gives progressives who want
to see a peaceful, two-state, land-for-peace solution between Israel and
Palestine a strategic opening to press loudly for AIPAC's formal shil
registration as a shil for the government that built the Israeli Wall
of Shame. It's a measure long past due.

One of the Israeli diplomats the feds want to question about the activities
of the AIPAC spy ring has been quietly spirited out of the country,
Ha'aretz reports this morning. The Israeli diplomat in Washington
who met several times with Franklin has been identified as Naor Gilon
head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington
and a specialist on proliferation issues. Gilon returned to Israel
a few days ago as part of a long-scheduled rotation according
to an Israeli official in Washington. U.S. investigators want to question
Gilon and other Israeli diplomats about their contacts with Franklin
officials said.," according to the Israeli daily.