"All that is old and already formed can continue to live only if it allows within itself the conditions of a new beginning."
CBS: FBI Hunts for Spy in Pentagon
Posted 5:52 p.m., Aug. 27, 2004
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This is stunning: CBS News reports tonight that the FBI is investigating what it believes is a spy working for the Israeli government at the very highest levels of the Pentagon--an analyst working in the office of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.According to a report delivered by "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl, the FBI "believes it has 'solid' evidence that the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials that include secret White House policy deliberations on Iran."
The report indicates that the FBI relied on wiretaps, undercover surveillance and photographs documenting the passing of classified information from the Pentagon spy, to a powerful pro-Israeli lobby groups (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or "AIPAC."
The network also reports that the mole, described as a trusted Pentagon analyst, turned over an early draft of a presidential directive toward Iran at a time when Iran policy was still being debated. If true, it raises the specter of the Israeli government having an inside source capable of influencing U.S. policy toward Iran, a country listed on President Bush's "axis of evil" list, which lately has been aggressively agitating for the procurement of nuclear weapons.
CBS also reports: "The case raises another concern among investigators: Did Israel also use the analyst to try to influence U.S. policy on the war in Iraq?"
AIPAC maintains it has been involved in no wrongdoing, and the Israelis deny the charges.
A story to watch with extreme closeness. If this is true, and likely even if it isn't, it is quite likely to stir up intense animosity in the Arab world, which already believes that the U.S. is in bed with Israel in its Arab-world policy.
Anyone want to take bets who might be involved? I have my ideas, but I'm saying nothing until someone is charged.
-- Kevin Featherly