29-04-2009, 07:58 PM
Harman-AIPAC Scandal -
A Lot More To It
By Joel Skousen
World Affairs Brief
4-27-9
THE HARMAN-AIPAC SCANDAL
There is a lot more to the ongoing story about the NSA wiretapping the phones of Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harmon that I don't have time to cover--It is spooky stuff and we may never know all the secret motives involved. At it's core is the charge that Harmon was caught on tape speaking to a thus far unidentified Israeli agent dubbed "Bob," agreeing to try and influence then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others to quash the FBI probe into the espionage between a US intel official and the controversial Israeli lobby AIPAC. Gonzales himself agreed to quash any probe of Harmon for attempts to obstruct justice on behalf of AIPAC. Harmon was a key Democrat who supported President Bush's illegal surveillance of all communications. According to Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein, who first broke the Harman-AIPAC story, "intelligence officials, angry about Gonzo's move, told Nancy Pelosi about the wiretap that had picked up Harman talking to a suspected Israeli agent -- defying the AG's order that Pelosi not be informed. That was how Pelosi learned about the wiretap -- not through an official briefing, as she implied yesterday in comments to reporters.
Zachary Roth of Talking Points Memo continues the narrative: "It's unclear how informing Pelosi -- then the House minority leader -- would have served the interests of the intel officials who wanted to investigate Harman. Perhaps they felt that, if they couldn't continue the probe, they could at least make sure Harman paid a political price. They may have been successful in that regard. Pelosi didn't appoint Harman to the job she was seeking -- House Intelligence chair -- and there have been suggestions that this was in part because Pelosi knew about the wiretap issue."
As for Gonzales' role in protecting Harman, there may have been a little quid pro quo according to Scott Horton: "Gonzales appears to have personally intervened to shut down an FBI probe into Harman's potential wrongdoing--which was reportedly recorded on several wiretapped phone calls--because he viewed her as a key Democratic ally in Congress who could help him fend off accusations about warrantless domestic wiretapping."
However, as Glen Greenwald put it, "Harman is getting a taste of her own medicine. When the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was 'both legal and necessary' as well as 'essential to U.S. national security,' (according to Harmon)... But when the U.S. Government legally and with warrants eavesdrops on Jane Harman, that is an outrageous invasion of privacy and a violent assault on her rights as an American citizen, and full-scale investigations must be commenced immediately to get to the bottom of this abuse of power. Behold Jane Harman's overnight transformation from Very Serious Champion of the Lawless Surveillance State to shrill civil liberties extremist."
On an even deeper level, virtually every Congressman of any import is surveiled by the dark side of government. They use the dirt they find on politicians to control them. When a tap like this becomes visible, there is either someone in power out to get Harman, or she did something wrong, or failed to do something demanded of her, and is getting a little warning from the PTB. It gets more murky when you consider that it was Porter Goss, the establishment fixer sent in with his minions to root out the remaining whistleblowers at the CIA, who initiated this attack on Harmon.
As John Kampeas wrote, "Goss had reason to resent Harman: As ranking member on the committee, she aggressively pursued her own investigation of the case that felled U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.) in a cash for contracts scandal - one that also brought down Goss buddy ("Gossling") Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Goss' number 3 at the CIA. And they weren't exactly best buds before that; Goss and Harman had clashed, for instance, on waterboarding; she went over his head and formally registered her opposition to the torture practice with the CIA." --Lots of motives are possible. This gives you some idea of how convoluted and hidden things are in Washington. There is a dark side of government out there that the public has no idea about--and it's been around for decades.
World Affairs Brief Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief
http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com
A Lot More To It
By Joel Skousen
World Affairs Brief
4-27-9
THE HARMAN-AIPAC SCANDAL
There is a lot more to the ongoing story about the NSA wiretapping the phones of Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harmon that I don't have time to cover--It is spooky stuff and we may never know all the secret motives involved. At it's core is the charge that Harmon was caught on tape speaking to a thus far unidentified Israeli agent dubbed "Bob," agreeing to try and influence then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others to quash the FBI probe into the espionage between a US intel official and the controversial Israeli lobby AIPAC. Gonzales himself agreed to quash any probe of Harmon for attempts to obstruct justice on behalf of AIPAC. Harmon was a key Democrat who supported President Bush's illegal surveillance of all communications. According to Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein, who first broke the Harman-AIPAC story, "intelligence officials, angry about Gonzo's move, told Nancy Pelosi about the wiretap that had picked up Harman talking to a suspected Israeli agent -- defying the AG's order that Pelosi not be informed. That was how Pelosi learned about the wiretap -- not through an official briefing, as she implied yesterday in comments to reporters.
Zachary Roth of Talking Points Memo continues the narrative: "It's unclear how informing Pelosi -- then the House minority leader -- would have served the interests of the intel officials who wanted to investigate Harman. Perhaps they felt that, if they couldn't continue the probe, they could at least make sure Harman paid a political price. They may have been successful in that regard. Pelosi didn't appoint Harman to the job she was seeking -- House Intelligence chair -- and there have been suggestions that this was in part because Pelosi knew about the wiretap issue."
As for Gonzales' role in protecting Harman, there may have been a little quid pro quo according to Scott Horton: "Gonzales appears to have personally intervened to shut down an FBI probe into Harman's potential wrongdoing--which was reportedly recorded on several wiretapped phone calls--because he viewed her as a key Democratic ally in Congress who could help him fend off accusations about warrantless domestic wiretapping."
However, as Glen Greenwald put it, "Harman is getting a taste of her own medicine. When the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was 'both legal and necessary' as well as 'essential to U.S. national security,' (according to Harmon)... But when the U.S. Government legally and with warrants eavesdrops on Jane Harman, that is an outrageous invasion of privacy and a violent assault on her rights as an American citizen, and full-scale investigations must be commenced immediately to get to the bottom of this abuse of power. Behold Jane Harman's overnight transformation from Very Serious Champion of the Lawless Surveillance State to shrill civil liberties extremist."
On an even deeper level, virtually every Congressman of any import is surveiled by the dark side of government. They use the dirt they find on politicians to control them. When a tap like this becomes visible, there is either someone in power out to get Harman, or she did something wrong, or failed to do something demanded of her, and is getting a little warning from the PTB. It gets more murky when you consider that it was Porter Goss, the establishment fixer sent in with his minions to root out the remaining whistleblowers at the CIA, who initiated this attack on Harmon.
As John Kampeas wrote, "Goss had reason to resent Harman: As ranking member on the committee, she aggressively pursued her own investigation of the case that felled U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.) in a cash for contracts scandal - one that also brought down Goss buddy ("Gossling") Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Goss' number 3 at the CIA. And they weren't exactly best buds before that; Goss and Harman had clashed, for instance, on waterboarding; she went over his head and formally registered her opposition to the torture practice with the CIA." --Lots of motives are possible. This gives you some idea of how convoluted and hidden things are in Washington. There is a dark side of government out there that the public has no idea about--and it's been around for decades.
World Affairs Brief Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief
http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass