What else would they say?

Quote of note:

But Israeli officials also acknowledged that Iran is a vital security issue for them as well as for the United States, and that the views of Washington policy makers and analysts are of great interest to Israel.

There's a story circulating on the net about McGreevey's stupidity that is cast in a somewhat different light by all this.

Israel Denies Spying Against U.S.
By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 - News that the F.B.I. has been investigating a Pentagon official on suspicion of passing secrets to Israel has caused a diplomatic scramble here, with officials rushing to deny spying on Washington and to assure the United States of its friendship.

Administration officials say the Pentagon official, who has been identified in some news reports but who could not be reached for comment early Saturday, works in the office of Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy.

Officials who have been briefed about the inquiry say the official is suspected of passing a classified policy draft on Iran to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby group, which in turn is thought to have provided the information to Israeli intelligence.

Publicly, the Israeli government, through its spokesmen here and in Washington, have called the allegations wrong and outrageous, as has Aipac, the lobbying group.

"The United States is Israel's most cherished friend and ally," said David Siegel, the Israeli Embassy spokesman. "We have a strong ongoing relationship at all levels, and in no way would Israel do anything to impair this relationship."

Aipac called the allegations "baseless and false."

After the hugely embarrassing spying scandal of 1985, when Jonathan Pollard, an American intelligence analyst, was arrested and convicted of spying for Israel, the Israeli government made a firm decision to stop all clandestine spying in the United States, Yuval Steinitz, the chairman of the foreign and defense committee in Parliament, said Saturday.

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One of the things I found interesting about this item as it appeared in Saturday's New York Times was that the expected denials from AIPAC officials and the Israeli government was not balanced by any on or off the record statements from any FBI or Administration officials. The article as written seemed to put forth in the strongest possible terms AIPAC's and the Israeli government's spin on the investigation of this Pentagon official. I think all governemts partake in the secret rituals of statecraft, i.e., they lie when it suits their purposes and they spy on their friends and enemies. I think the emphatic manner in which AIPAC and the Israelis deny their involvement in this spying episode only serves to bolster my belief that they were involved. I don't, however, feel any moral outrage about their behavior.

Posted by  PTCruiser on August 30, 2004 - 2:34pm.

This whole affair raises more questions than it answers. I'll be interested to see how it all turns out.

Posted by  Al-Muhajabah on August 30, 2004 - 3:01pm.

I feel no outrage either because that's the way it's played.

Now they're saying the guy who passed the info on haw been working with the FBI for weeks. This means he was busted.

The next question is, was the story leaked by the Feds or by an individual? That's what I'm curious about; that and the motivation for the leak.

Posted by  Prometheus 6 on August 30, 2004 - 3:18pm.

I think the story was leaked by a party that was seeking to undermine or destroy the credibility of the alleged spy or, at the very least, any story that was being put out by his interrogators. The question is who benefits from having Franklin's story or credibility undermined? Certainly not the FBI or the Pentagon.

Posted by  PTCruiser on August 30, 2004 - 4:34pm.

There's also the theory that this was a "controlled burn" and Franklin takes the fall to cover up something else. Like I said, the story raises more questions than it answers. What's really going on?

Posted by  Al-Muhajabah on August 30, 2004 - 9:40pm.

I don't really know what is going on and those who do (or who pretend that they do) would never share the real deal with me. I like to think about events like these as if each revelation was an unfolding plot line in a novel. Franklin may be taking a fall but if he is actually accused of and indicted for espionage then that is a very hard fall to take. Bill Clinton didn't even dare to pardon Jonathan Pollard or send him to Israel to serve out the remainder of his sentance. Our national security agencies take a hard line against what they perceive as traitors. After the Aldrich Ames debacle, any American convicted of engaging in espionage against the homefront will be severely punished.

Posted by  PTCruiser on August 31, 2004 - 12:15am.

So did you guys read the story in Washington Monthly that Josh Marshall co-wrote? Things have been too hectic for me to get to it yet, but from the surface it, this story and McGreevey's grief and the stories circulating about it, all at once…

Still hectic tonight, but I think I'll print out the Washington Monthly thing so I can sandwich it in at odd moments tomorrow.

Posted by  Prometheus 6 on September 1, 2004 - 1:25am.

Yeah, I read the Washington Monthly story and I highly recommend it. I'm really seeing two lines of commentary on this. One focuses on the Iran angle, which is what the Washington Monthly article is about, and the other has to do with Israel.

A lot of this stuff isn't even news, there've been hints about it for awhile. What's interesting is that they're moving on it now, and the big question is why.

It's starting to look like the Franklin story was leaked to the media, forcing the FBI to act before they were ready. That seems to support the "controlled burn" idea, I think.

Keep your tinfoil hat nearby, it'll probably come in handy.

Posted by  Al-Muhajabah on September 1, 2004 - 2:12am.