Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Enemy Within

This, of course, needs to be noted. From the AP:
A top Pentagon analyst with expertise in the Middle East pleaded guilty Wednesday to giving classified information to an Israeli embassy official and members of a pro- Israel lobbying group.

Lawrence A. Franklin, 58, said during a plea hearing that he was frustrated with the government and that he had hoped the two members of the lobbying group could use their connections at the National Security Council to influence U.S. policy.

He also admitted giving classified information to a political official at the Israeli embassy, but said the information he received from the official was far more valuable than what he gave.

"I knew in my heart that his government had this information," Franklin said. "He gave me far more information than I gave him."

Franklin, of Kearneysville, W.Va., pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and a charge of unlawful retention of national defense information.
So according to the report, apparently what we have here is an intelligence analyst who was "frustrated" with the government and decided to take matters into his own hands to influence an important part of U.S. policy---and in the process essentially flipping the bird to you, me and the law. Pretty effing incredible, isn't it? And how about the cop-out that Israel already had the information, and it wasn't that important anyway?

What's also amazing is the conspicuous lack of outrage from the Right on this. When Sandy Berger had his ethical Waterloo recently, the Right was outraged and justifiably so. I certainly was. But on Franklin? Nothing that I've seen, with one exception. Here's Michelle Malkin after Franklin's arrest:
So far, the commentariat and blogosphere (both left and right sides) have been curiously quiet about the news that Pentagon official Larry Franklin was arrested for improperly passing classified information to AIPAC. Last summer, you may recall, there was quite a bit of analysis--from colleagues I respect and admire--downplaying the case. Despite the arrest and the gravity of the charges, the NY Sun is continuing to pooh-pooh Franklin's alleged actions. There is, as they say, a war on. Franklin's alleged actions are scandalous. The apologists and apathetic are troubling.
And this:
If these charges hold up, I hope fellow conservatives will be as tough--if not tougher--on Franklin as they were on Sandy Berger. This looks bad. Very bad.
And where's Michael "Do you have your gas mask yet?" Ledeen today? Here's what he wrote when the story about Franklin first surfaced:
Plus, they promised their media agents — I mean the journalists — that there would be arrests, and pronto. Nobody's been arrested, and some of the latest stories even quote the 'sources' as saying that the Pentagon target — my pal Larry Franklin — may well be exonerated.
I haven't checked to see if Michael wrote anything about "his pal" today.

Do I need to?

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sandy Berger didn't pass any classified info to a foreign government, so I don't think the outrage meter is equal here.

Of course, to many of us it often looks like Israel is really the 51st state.

10/05/2005 7:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

so the outrage over this should be even larger and yet....silence

10/06/2005 7:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"said during a plea hearing that he was frustrated with the government"

How does a man get frustrated with the U.S. government over Israel? Our government is more favorable to Israeli needs than some Israelis. This guy sounds like he went around the bend at some point.

10/06/2005 8:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ledeen is currently working on Niger forgeries II, a set of documents which will incontrovertibly prove that Iran is building nuclear weapons.
He has a meeting with SISMI later this week.

10/06/2005 1:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Will Israel Start World War Three?

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2005/021005worldwarthree.htm

10/06/2005 1:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this whole thing is to cover some major high level rear.

but then, the national security is pretty compromised under thisadmin as is.

10/06/2005 7:09 PM  
Blogger RonL said...

I, for one, have not commented on this case because I don't know the facts.

So far, we have a Pentagon employee trying to set up an alternate foreign policy by leaking information to AIPAC officials.
This is reprehensible and he should be punished. Nevertheless, he did not legally commit treason, so I won't call for his hanging.

Moreover, what he did is little worse than the game played by Arabists in the administration who leak items to the press or liberal groups to undermine the Bush agenda and or any fight against Islamism.
Somehow, none of these leakers have yet been prosecuted.

10/07/2005 10:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's see,
Information and predictions leaked by "arabists" in the US govt = true and coming to pass

Information leaked by pro-war, pro-Israelis in the US govt = not true

The whole of GWOT (especially that "central Front" is beginning to look more and more like an Israeli intelligence operation.

10/09/2005 12:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Serious question for conspiracy theorists:
Is Ken Pollack in the pay of the Israeli government?
I know this is an inflammatory question, but his war-mongering has been so shameless, so mendacious and so influential that one wonders if he is being compensated for brazenly lying to the public as he has done for the last 3 years.

10/10/2005 3:58 PM  
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