[Wall Street Journal] Gabriel Schoenfeld - The Justice Department has irresponsibly confused the distinction between spying and lobbying in its case against Keith Weissman and Steven J. Rosen, two former employees of AIPAC. A Pentagon official, Lawrence Franklin, who illicitly furnished the two men with secrets, and then participated in an FBI sting operation against them, has pleaded guilty for his part in the affair. The defense in the Weissman-Rosen case contends that their clients had every reason to believe that what Franklin told them in conversation - no classified documents ever changed hands - was part and parcel of the normal back-channel method by which the U.S. government sometimes conveys information to the media and/or to allied countries, in this case, to Israel. Given how routinely classified information is dispensed for legitimate purposes, how were Weissman and Rosen to know that Franklin was telling them things he was not allowed to tell them and involving them in his crime? Under the circumstances, this is a case that should never have been brought.
2007-11-06 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive