@@ Headquarter of Azari-Zionists target of spy probe @@
Arash
September 2, 2004
Secretive Pentagon office target of FBI probe, sources say
BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - An unorthodox Pentagon outfit responsible for much of
the Bush administration's discredited intelligence on Iraq is the target of
a broad FBI national security probe, sources told the New York Daily News
Wednesday.
The secretive Office of Special Plans (OSP) and a related project are being
investigated over how they obtained top-secret intelligence and whom they
shared it with, according to four federal sources.
"It involves the improper transfer of information," said one source briefed
on the case. "A lot more is going to come out."
The Office of Special Plans (OSP) was overseen by Undersecretary of Defense
for Policy 'Douglas Feith', the Pentagon's No. 3 and a close aide to Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Feith's team has been blamed by Democratic lawmakers and others for sexing
up uncorroborated intelligence on Iraq's arsenal from Iraqi dissident Ahmed
Chalabi and other sources, including a bogus informant code-named
"Curveball."
The Senate Intelligence Committee is examining those charges.
The office also sought to establish links between Iraqi deposed dictator
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida after Sept. 11.
Many details of the FBI case are still fuzzy. It came to light after the
disclosure last week that agents stumbled on a possible spy case involving a
Feith aide.
'Larry Franklin', a Pentagon Iran analyst, allegedly was caught on tape by
the FBI offering classified information to officials of a pro-Israeli
lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But he is not
considered to be an Israeli-planted mole, sources said.
"It's damaging, but he's not a (Jonathan) Pollard," said an intelligence
source, referring to the Navy analyst convicted in 1987 of spying for
Israel.
AIPAC officials allegedly offered the material - about Bush administration
policy toward Iran - to Israel, sources said.
Israeli and AIPAC officials repeatedly have denied that either spied inside
the United States.
Franklin is expected to testify about his activities next week before a
federal grand jury, said a fifth federal source.
The intelligence source said it's not clear what, if anything, Franklin will
be charged with, "but I doubt it will be full-blown espionage."
U.S. officials were incensed by the Franklin leak. "It forced our hand much
earlier than we had planned," said the source.
Congressional officials in Washington and New York were briefed on the
Franklin case the day before it broke publicly, said two sources.
Two AIPAC staffers, foreign policy chief Steve Rosen and Iran analyst Keith
Weissman, were quizzed by FBI agents last week and have hired a lawyer,
sources said.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/9560493.htm