George Bush, Where's the Beef?

Bush desperately wants an excuse to attack Iran and remove it as a threat to Israel, as he removed Saddam Hussein. But he needs a pretext, and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" will no longer do. So it's now that Iran is "killing" US soldiers by providing arms to Shi'ite militias in Iraq. Where's the proof?

Iraq says no 'conclusive' evidence on some Iran arms to militias

Published: 05.04.08, 21:09 / Israel News

A top Iraqi official said Sunday there was no ''conclusive'' evidence that Shiite extremists have been directly supplied with some Iranian arms as alleged by the United States.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq does not want trouble with any country, ''especially Iran.'' Al-Dabbagh was commenting on talks this week in Tehran between an Iraqi delegation and Iranian authorities aimed at halting suspected Iranian aid to some Shiite militias. Asked about reports that some rockets made in 2007 or 2008 and seized in raids against militias were directly supplied by Iran, al-Dabbagh replied: ''There is no conclusive evidence.'' (AP)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3539490,00.html

Why Hamas is so Popular

This is why Hamas won the Palestinian elections: it CARES about people. The corrupt government of Abu Quisling Abbas and his Fatah Party only cares about lining their own pockets.

Report: Hamas use police cars to as taxi service in Gaza

The Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas militant group is using its police cars to ferry around Palestinians because of severe fuel shortages in the area. The blue police cars are marked with orange stickers that read "we are ready to drive you for free."

Transportation has been paralyzed throughout Gaza since Israel restricted gasoline and diesel supplies last month. Gazans now walk, ride bicycles or use vegetable oil in their cars to get around. Israel has steadily limited fuel supplies to Gaza to pressure Palestinian militants to halt their rocket barrages on neighboring Israeli communities. (AP)

Published: 05.04.08, 13:11 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3539232,00.html

Israel Arrests Thousands of Palestinians Each Year

Interesting story on mass arrests. Often Israeli papers carry headlines such as "21 Palestinians arrested overnight in West Bank."

QUOTE: In 2007 alone the Shin Bet arrested some 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. In 2007 alone the Shin Bet arrested some 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. In that year 2,526 indictments were handed down (a small number of them against wanted individuals who were arrested the year before). The rate of plea bargains is extraordinarily high. According to data of Yesh Din, 9,123 cases were heard in the military courts in 2006

Not the Guantanamo model

By Amos Harel

Shin Bet security service coordinators who stood above the bodies of the two terrorists who penetrated Makor Hayim Yeshiva in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, south of Bethlehem, on January 24, could barely conceal their surprise. The Shin Bet personnel were well-acquainted with the terrorists, who had intended to perpetrate a hostage-taking attack but were killed at short range by instructors in the yeshiva. The Shin Bet men had helped capture them, following a previous offense a little more than a year earlier, whose modus vivendi recalled the latest attack.

The two assailants, Mohammed and Mahmoud Samarana - cousins - from Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, were arrested in 2006 after infiltrating the settlement of Bat Ayin near Kfar Etzion. The two, together with a third accomplice, broke into a caravan housing two soldiers who were guarding the settlement, threatened the soldiers with a knife and stole a rifle. The incident was classified as criminal (the cousins were not identified with any terrorist group at the time), and the three were sentenced to relatively short prison terms of slightly more than a year in a plea bargain. They were released in the middle of January 2008.

Hardly 10 days passed before the Samarana cousins, who apparently became involved with Hamas while in prison, attacked again. Armed with a knife and a pistol, they broke into the yeshiva, lightly wounded two civilians and took a few students hostage. Only the heroism of the instructors, who charged the two and killed them, prevented a far more serious outcome, along the lines of the attack at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem six weeks later.

For the security officials in charge of the war on terrorism in the territories, this is not an isolated incident. The military courts, which every year deal with more than 10,000 Palestinians, are a long production line whose judicial standards are far from those that are enforced in the civilian judicial system inside the Green Line. The criticism of the military courts usually emanates from one direction: left-wing organizations and human rights groups. Last December, Yesh Din, an organization that works to counter "the continuing violation of Palestinian human rights" in the territories (as its Web site says) published a blistering report entitled "Backyard Proceedings" on the manner in which Palestinian defendants are denied due process.

Now it turns out that criticism is being leveled from the opposite direction as well: from within the defense establishment. The claim is that the court proceedings make it impossible to exhaust the letter of the law, that the vast number of indictments compels the Military Advocate General's Office to choose plea bargains as a default option. The result is that dangerous individuals, who started out only as accomplices or as failed terrorists, are given too brief prison terms and return too quickly to the terror arena.

These critics are motivated by something radically different from the concerns of the human rights organizations. It is not prisoners' rights that bother the security authorities but the rights of the next possible victim of the prisoners after their release. Some believe the level of punishment is too light in terms of the system's constraints, and that apart from the Israel Defense Forces field commanders in the West Bank and the Shin Bet coordinators who work closely with them, no one is unduly concerned about this. The judicial system is only too happy to rid itself of excess baggage in terms of cases, and the public mistakenly believes the danger of terrorism has passed.

The impressive success of the Shin Bet and the IDF in stemming the wave of terror emanating from the West Bank from 2003 to 2007 (a certain erosion apparently occurred at the beginning of this year) creates a somewhat exaggerated image of quiet and insensitivity to breaches in the anti-terror alignment, of which the Military Advocate General's Office is supposed to be a part.

"It is the intolerable lightness of release [from prison]," a senior security source told Haaretz. "The judicial system in the territories has few resources. It wants plea bargains because it is incapable of conducting thousands of trials simultaneously. A train-station atmosphere is created. This is a weak link in the chain of prevention and punishment of terrorism, despite the supreme effort the military prosecution has made in recent months in a bid to stop the erosion. It received somewhat bigger resources, but in practice, in indictments for an offense that is less than murder, there is little room for maneuver. The bottom line is that terrorists are released too quickly. Every year the Shin Bet and the IDF rearrest dozens of former prison inmates who revert to engaging in terrorism."

In 2007 alone the Shin Bet arrested some 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. In that year 2,526 indictments were handed down (a small number of them against wanted individuals who were arrested the year before). The rate of plea bargains is extraordinarily high. According to data of Yesh Din, 9,123 cases were heard in the military courts in 2006 (about a third of them for terrorist activity, the others for disturbing the peace, criminal offenses and being illegally present in Israel). A full-scale trial involving evidence and proof took place in only 130 of these cases (1.42 percent). Relying on data received from the chief military prosecutor, Yesh Din states that fully 95 percent of all court cases in the territories conclude with a plea bargain. By comparison, in the areas covered by the Central District Prosecution and the Tel Aviv District Prosecution, fewer than half the cases ended in plea bargains last year.

The thousands of court cases in the territories are handled by about 40 prosecutors. Their number was recently increased - and it has doubled in comparison to the situation on the eve of the intifada, in September 2000 - but the number of cases meanwhile has multiplied tenfold. The Yesh Din report states that a combination of reasons pushes the parties in the territories to seek plea bargains. Among these are the interrogation methods of the Shin Bet (which include threats and, according to some who have undergone interrogation, also physical means) and the fact that the defendants are denied legal counsel for a relatively long period. These conditions induce many of the accused to confess or incriminate their friends. "The considerable case load in the courts brings all parties involved... to view plea bargains as the fast and efficient way to finish their work on a case," the report notes.

A former military prosecutor who served for many years in the territories says that the first bottleneck is not the courtroom but the Shin Bet's interrogations unit. The reason, surprisingly, is the over-efficiency of the IDF and the Shin Bet in arresting wanted individuals in the West Bank. Compared to the situation five years ago, Israel now has full intelligence and operational control. Very few wanted individuals try to resist arrest. The overwhelming majority, sometimes 15 or 20 in a single night, are rounded up from their homes without any special difficulty. But the Shin Bet detention facilities, though reinforced in terms of detention cells and interrogators in the past seven and a half years, still cannot accommodate them all. The Shin Bet interrogates about half of those who are arrested. It is a hard, exhaustive process that can last a month and produces, in most cases, a detailed confession, often accompanied by the incrimination of other suspects (hence the "rolling" investigation that leads to more arrests).

However, the other half of those taken into custody never encounter a Shin Bet interrogator. They are less interesting from the Shin Bet's point of view, and their interrogation is transferred to the police with a summation of the incriminating evidence against them. These detainees, whose interrogation lasts only a few hours, almost always deny the charges against them. The prosecutors, faced with a case that is not entirely solid (the more so because part of the intelligence information is not revealed in court, for fear of harming sources), and under heavy pressure to conclude the case and move on, prefer plea bargains. "There are quite a few cases in which I settled for a sentence of 10 years, even though in a lengthy trial we could have reached 15 years," a former prosecutor admits. "These are the constraints under which the system operates. I sleep well with that - and you can, too." A senior source in the Military Advocate General's Office says that, "The High Court of Justice rulings today recognize also the positive aspects of plea bargains. There is efficiency, a confession by the accused, who takes responsibility for his actions, and punishment handed down relatively close to the date of the offense. It is no longer something that is done in backrooms, as it once was. Clearly in a plea bargain we have to give something to the other side to reach a compromise. Our role is to ascertain that the price will be reasonable in relation to the case. As in every judicial system, we go to plea bargains in cases where the evidence is weak.

"We, too, are bothered by the fact that dangerous terrorists are liable to get off with a light sentence," the source continues. "That is the nightmare of every prosecutor and judge in the territories: that the thrower of the Molotov cocktail who was not convicted will come back to you in a few years as a murderer of Israelis. But you have to remember that there is also another side to this equation. The Palestinian defense counsel who appear in the courts have gone on strike, because they claim the courts are trying to enforce a level of punishment that is too rigorous. And despite the criticism of the Palestinians, there is a process of 'Israelization' under way in the courts in the territories. The judges are more critical, the procedures are more similar to those in Israeli courts. We do not follow the Guantanamo model [referring to the courts established by the Americans for terrorist suspects, in which the defendants' rights are severely abridged - A.H.], and that is perfectly fine."

Last update - 22:24 04/05/2008

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980275.html

SHIT: Israel's New Terror Weapon Against Palestinians

Israel withholds fuel supplies, so electricity is cut off, and a sewage flood results. This is Israel's terror campaign trying to force Hamas to surrender, but the Palestinian people are the victims. READ THIS, IT'S HORRIBLE.

Following our Gaza Situation Report on the Sewage Crisis in the Gaza Strip:

http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Situation_Report_2008_April.pdf

Hebrew report attached

Please be informed of the following:

Sewage yesterday flooded the Ascoolah area of Zeitoun neighborhood near Gaza city.

From 7 am to noon yesterday (during 6 hours ) there was no power to operate the pumps and sewage first flooded the station and then burst manholes and seeped from the pumping station building into surrounding fields, reaching some houses. The sewage has mostly evaporated leaving sludge and some puddles. The area is full of flies.

According to an engineer, the pumping station can hold sewage for three hours before it floods the surrounding area. The longer the power cut, the more likely the sewage will reach nearby houses which are 20 metres away.

The flooding has damaged the machinery which separates solid waste from liquid waste and it cannot be repaired until spare parts are located. So far there has been no additional flooding today. There are three other pumping stations in Gaza City which have no overflow and no fuel to power generators but so far there has been no flooding.

Sewage is also being directed into two storm water lagoons in open areas in Sheik Redwan in Gaza City and at the centre of Jabalia camp.

According to WHO the main health risk is diarrhoea which is spread by flies which proliferate near sewage. This particularly affects young children and the elderly.

Water situation remains the same with 30 per cent receiving running water once a week, 40 per cent once every four days and 30 per cent once every other day.

Power cuts remain at three-four hours per day.

Fuel update The Gas Station Owner Association has emptied the tanks at Nahal Oz and are storing the fuel at seven locations in Gaza Strip. They say they will continue to take fuel from Nahal Oz but will not sell it to the public until Israel guarantees an adequate supply. A committee of the association will meet over the week end to decide what to do with the fuel they now have.

Cooking Gas, the association says they have received 290 tonnes of cooking gas (daily need 350 tonnes). The bulk has been distributed to bakeries and institutions and the rest is now being distributed to the public who are allowed to buy only 6kg per family. A standard canister is 12 kg.

Industrial Gas: 1,000,000 litres expected to be delivered today.

For more information please contact Judith Harel, OCHA harel@un.org, 054 6600528

Judith Harel

Communication and Media Analyst

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHAoPt

Jerusalem

Tel:02-582-9962 / 5853

Mobile: 0546-600528

Web-site: www.ochaopt.org

Jewish "Settlers" Attack US Envoy in Hebron

This is no surprise: after all, many "settlers" are from New York City.

U.S. envoy cuts short Hebron trip after clash with settlers

By Haaretz Service

The American bodyguards of a Bush administration envoy who was dispatched to the region to monitor the implementation of the road map engaged in a violent confrontation with right-wing Israelis who sought to disturb a visit to Hebron on Friday, Israel Radio reported.

One of the rightists is reported to have driven his jeep into the convoy accompanying General William Fraser. Subsequently, one of the vehicles in the convoy heavily collided with the jeep, according to Israel Radio.

A fracas ensued between the guards and the rightists before the Americans decided to cut the visit short, Israel Radio reported.

Last update - 18:22 02/05/2008

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980193.html

Canadian Union Supports Israel Boycott

Canadian postal workers urge divestment of 'apartheid' Israel

By ABE SELIG

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers passed a resolution at its national convention in April supporting the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, labeling it an "apartheid state" and calling on the Canadian government to increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

"It's time to push for a fair and just settlement so that both Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace," said Denis Lemelin, the CUPW national president. "There can't be a solution while settlements exist on Palestinian land and while a security barrier restricts the movement of Palestinian workers."

The move, praised by anti-Israel groups such as The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, is the first time a national union in North American history has passed such a resolution against Israel.

The resolution by the CUPW, which represents more than 50,000 postal workers in Canada, states that the union will work "with Palestinian solidarity and human rights organizations to develop an educational campaign about the apartheid nature of the Israeli state and the political and economic support of Canada for these practices."

Using UN resolutions as its basis, the resolution also calls on Israel to "immediately withdraw from the occupied territories" and "tear down the Israeli-West Bank barrier."

Expressing support for a condition the Israeli government has repeatedly refused to agree to, the CUPW resolution also calls on Israel to recognize the Palestinian people's "right to return to their homes as stipulated in UN Resolution 194" - a demand by Palestinian negotiators that would virtually erase the Jewish state.

But the resolution was dismissed by Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber. "CUPW has a very well-established, almost iconic reputation as a radical organization on the far extremes of the Canadian labor movement," he said. "[The resolution] was a foregone conclusion almost from the outset."

Farber also said that the fact the resolution was largely ignored by the mainstream media suggested that people did not take the CUPW resolutions seriously.

"The vast majority of men and women working for the postal service have no clue about such resolutions," Farber said. "Very few pay any attention to them."

Still, the call for a global campaign of boycott and divestment from Israel by over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organizations issued in July 2005 has been heeded internationally. And while the CUPW's resolution may be marginal in North America, it remains to be seen whether other labor unions will follow.

Apr 30, 2008 22:28

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870533968&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Bush Faking Syria Nuclear Pictures?

More likely faked by Israel, the most likely source of the pictures. In Bosnia there were pictures of alleged mass graves shown to be fakes, and of course the infamous "mobile biological weapons labs" of Saddam Hussein, which were fakes, so why not fakes in Syria?

Are these Syrian nuclear pictures faked?

The CIA published three aerial photographs last week purporting to show a Syrian nuclear reactor, bombed by Israel last September. But are the pictures all that they seem? Doubts about their authenticity have been raised by Professor William Beeman, head of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, who has had a long involvement with the Middle East.

He posted on a Los Angeles Times website a note received from a "colleague with US security clearance" pointing out "irregularities". The unnamed colleague said a picture taken before the bombing looked as if it had been digitally enhanced, noting that the lower part of the building, the annexe and the windows pointing south appeared much sharper than the rest.

He also questioned why the alleged reactor had no air defences, no military checkpoints and no powerlines. Turning to two shots of the bombed building, he noted that the first showed a rectangular building and the second a square one. Were they the same building?

His note has produced lively and detailed exchanges, involving photo technicians, graphic artists and military analysts past and present, including a specialist in aerial reconnaissance. The basic divide is between those who think it is unpatriotic to question the Bush administration and those suspicious that it is a rerun of 2003, when the administration put out misleading intelligence before the Iraq invasion.

Bloggers supportive of the CIA acknowledge that the first picture was digitally enhanced but say that the CIA never claimed last week that it was untouched. As for the discrepancies between pictures two and three, they suggest that the differences between the rectangular shape and the square can be explained by having been taken at different angles.

Beeman told the Guardian he did not know one way or another whether there had been a nuclear reactor in the desert, but he had been concerned last week when the administration put out the pictures. "It was so sloppy and obviously doctored," he said.

"My friend who watches this material carefully in his capacity as an analyst said, 'This does not add up.'"

This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday May 01 2008 on p3 of the Comment & features section. It was last updated at 00:10 on May 01 2008.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/01/syria.nuclear

Obama's Pastor Endorses Israel

Will this help stop the Zionist smear of Obama that has been going on for months?

QUOTE: "My position on Israel is that Israel has a right to exist; that Israelis have a right to exist, as I said, reconciled one to another," he said during his address. "Palestinians and Israelis need to sit down and talk to each other and work out a solution where their children can grow in a world together and not be talking about killing each other; that is not God's will," he said.

Obama's pastor: Israel has right to exist

Reverend Jeremiah Wright says Israelis, Palestinians need to talk to each other

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON - Controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who has been making headlines due to his ties with presidential candidate Barack Obama, spoke out on Monday as part of an attempt to clear his name, following the criticism roused by some of his statements.

During his talk, Wright denied comparing Israel's policies to apartheid, saying that former US President Jimmy Carter had made the connection, not him

"My position on Israel is that Israel has a right to exist; that Israelis have a right to exist, as I said, reconciled one to another," he said during his address. "Palestinians and Israelis need to sit down and talk to each other and work out a solution where their children can grow in a world together and not be talking about killing each other; that is not God's will," he said.

With his remarks, Wright attempted to minimize the damage he was perceived to be causing to Obama's campaign as the democratic candidate fights his rival, Hilary Clinton, for the vote of the white middle class.

"So my position is that Israel and the people of Israel be the people of God who are worrying about reconciliation and who are trying to do what God wants for God's people, which is reconciliation," the reverend stated.

Obama's campaign has been harmed by Wright's past anti-American statements, which were broadcast throughout the US. His outbursts were seen to alienate the working classes, which are viewed as the life blood of the Democratic Party and without whom the party has a slim chance of leading the White House.

The issue has also been a cause for concern among the 300 Democratic superdelegates who remain undecided on their vote.

Published: 04.29.08, 00:04 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3537156,00.html

Is an Israeli "Mega Mole" Stealing US Secrets?

QUOTE: One probable answer is "Mega" - reportedly the code-name of what some US law enforcement and counterintelligence officials believe is an Israeli mole placed somewhere in the upper reaches of the American government during the time that Pollard was active.

Analyze This: Through the looking glass of the Kadish affair

By CALEV BEN-DAVID

Master spy novelist John Le Carré once said, "We have learned in recent years to translate almost all of political life in terms of conspiracy." In some cases though, the converse may be equally true; we must learn to read conspiracies in terms of politics.

'Kadish is just a regular retiree in the community'

So it is with the arrest of Ben-Ami Kadish, the 84-year-old former US army engineer arrested in New York City on Tuesday on charges of passing classified information to Israel. Even assuming the charges have substance, the circumstances, and especially the timing of his arrest - 23 years after he allegedly last committed an act of espionage on behalf of Israel - raises puzzling and troubling questions.

To make sense of this affair, one must look beyond the details of the case, and speculate as to how they may be connected to broader and longer-standing political issues connected to the Israel-US relationship. The following examines some of these strands and their possible links to the Ben-Ami arrest - and while some of these connections may indeed sound conspiratorial, even something out a Le Carré novel or an Oliver Stone movie, none is without some basis in fact.

The Pollard affair and the search for "Mega" - How did the FBI finally catch on to Ben-Ami's alleged espionage after more than two decades? Accord to a senior US intelligence officer quoted yesterday by Newsweek, Kadish's spying activities on behalf of Israel were only "first discovered within the last few years... The official said the information that identified Kadish came from supersecret intelligence monitoring related to ongoing inquiries about the Pollard case."

Although Kadish's espionage activity was concurrent with that of Pollard, the only known link between the two is that they shared the same "handler" - Yosef Yagur, formerly the consul for scientific affairs at the Israeli consulate in New York in the early 1980s, who returned to Israel following Pollard's arrest in 1985 and the subsequent closure of the Lekem intelligence branch under which he worked.

If the Newsweek source is correct, this likely means that Kadish was detected by the US intelligence monitoring not of him, but of Yagur (believed to be an alias). Other reports have cited a meeting between Yagur and Kadish in Israel four years ago as the possible tip-off for the FBI as to the latter's spying role.

This is hugely significant - for it means that the US, having identified and located Yagur somewhere in Israel, was still monitoring his communications and movements two decades after the Pollard affair.

The US National Security Agency certainly has that capability - but why would they make such a significant investment in an Israeli spy handler who presumably long ago came in from the cold and is no longer active?

One probable answer is "Mega" - reportedly the code-name of what some US law enforcement and counterintelligence officials believe is an Israeli mole placed somewhere in the upper reaches of the American government during the time that Pollard was active.

This notion is based on what US intelligence sources have said was very specific requests for classified information made to Pollard by Yagur and his other Israeli handlers, as well as a reference to such an individual in an intercepted conversation between two Israeli officials. Israel has steadfastly denied it ever ran such an agent, a claim that reportedly has never convinced certain key intelligence officials, in particular David Szady, the former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence.

Thus the search for big fish Mega - focused on Yagur - eventually turned up the relatively small fish Kadish (in terms of the information he delivered). But Kadish's exposure will only serve to justify the views of those in the US intelligence community that Israel has never come clean on Mega's existence or identity - and will also provide them with additional ammunition to argue the case that Pollard should not be released until Israel fully cooperates as to the extent of Yagur's activities in the US.

The AIPAC case and blowback from the intelligence wars over Iraq - If the Mega-Yagur connection explains the delay in Kadish's exposure, what about the timing and manner of his arrest? Such matters can certainly be handled more quietly, and the FBI and Justice Department also seem to have moved extremely quickly with the arrest of Kadish after intercepting a conversation he allegedly had on March 20 in which Yagur told him to lie to investigators. After all, it is not as if the long-retired Kadish posed any form of imminent threat.

One possibility is that the FBI and Justice Department wanted the arrest to hit the headlines before the start of trial in the US government's case against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, scheduled after many delays to get underway in Washington on Tuesday.

The charges in the AIPAC case are similar to that of the Kadish affair - that two senior AIPAC officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, improperly received classified material from Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin and passed it on to Israeli diplomatic officials.

But the government has encountered many pre-trial setbacks in making its case. Unlike Kadish, Rosen and Weissman were not themselves government employees, and violated no loyalty oaths. Indeed, the prosecution of such civilians on this charge is unprecedented, and the trial judge has already agreed to a series of defense motions that are likely to make this case a tough sell, if not an embarrassment, for the FBI and Justice Department.

How convenient, then, to have the Kadish case break big in the media right before the trial begins, helping to create the impression for judge, jury and public that AIPAC's activities took place in a context of past Israeli efforts to spy on US secrets.

There is a correlating factor here, connected to the policy conflict that began in the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war and afterwards, between the "neoconservative" officials who very much wanted intelligence information that would support an invasion - most of them also identified as strong supporters of Israel - and veteran defense and intelligence officials of the "realist" foreign policy school that opposed them. Larry Franklin belonged to the former camp, and members of the latter believed AIPAC and other Israel-backers were too influential in the Bush administration's decision-making. The AIPAC case has been seen in part as blowback from this Washington bureaucracy battle.

Likewise, the timing and manner of Kadish's exposure might be read as another indication that with most of the most prominent neo-cons now gone from the Bush administration, officials less supportive of Israel are in the driver's seat.

'Kadish is just a regular retiree in the community'

Almost all the Israeli and American officials who have thus commented on the Kadish arrest have asserted that it is unlikely to have any influence on US-Israel security cooperation.

That may well be true, but it is equally improbable to claim that an incident like this would have no impact whatsoever.

In this regard, it is perhaps useful to draw a comparison between the context of US-Israel security cooperation at the time that both Pollard and, allegedly, Kadish were passing on American secrets to Israel, and the current situation.

Pollard has admitted that part of his motivation was a growing concern over the fact that Washington was increasing its security cooperation and assistance with parts of the Arab world back in the early 1980s (especially with Saudi Arabia, which received AWACs for the first time), while holding back valuable intelligence information from Israel.

Jerusalem is always looking to upgrade its security cooperation and assistance from the US, but that need has become even more pressing in recent years because of the Iranian threat. There are powerful voices in Washington who believe Israel already gets enough, or too much, or even asks for too much - for example, the F-22 stealth jet fighter that Jerusalem has been pressing to be allowed to purchase. The controversy a few years ago over Israeli arms sales to China in the face of Pentagon objections only exacerbated these differences.

The exposure of Kadish, a former US army engineer who allegedly delivered classified information about the then-fledgling Patriot missile system to Israel (and about advanced weapons systems sold to Arab states) certainly makes it less comfortable, at least in the short term, for Jerusalem and Israel supporters in Washington to press their case, especially in public.

This element of the Kadish affair goes together with the weakening of AIPAC via the Rosen-Weissman prosecution, as part of an overall agenda by certain US governmental elements who believe it necessary to clip the wings of the so-called Israel lobby.

All of the above theories focus on the possible role played in the Kadish arrest by members of Washington's "permanent establishment" in such agencies and departments as the FBI, CIA, NSA, the Pentagon and the Justice Department.

But what about the White House? Surely such officials as President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were informed about the pending Kadish arrest. Though the White House would not have impacted the course of this investigation, it surely could have influenced the timing and circumstances of the arrest, if it had wanted to.

Is it problematic for Bush to have this incident occur only weeks before he is scheduled to return here to help celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary? Or could it actually have been in some ways convenient for him and Rice to have this break now? One thing supporting the latter supposition is that the Bush administration is currently pressing the Olmert government to be more forthcoming in the peace process, especially to move forward on agreement with the Palestinians on a "declaration of principles" for a final-status agreement. This kind of embarrassing incident for Jerusalem could be interpreted as a way to soften up Olmert as Bush and Rice try to turn the screws on him.

Admittedly, it sounds far-fetched that this kind of sensitive intelligence issue would be as a blunt policy instrument. Except that it may have happened before, in a way very connected to this case.

In May 1997, a Clinton administration source leaked to The Washington Post the contents of a conversation between Israeli diplomats, monitored by US intelligence agencies, in which the mysterious Mega mole was supposedly mentioned. As Time magazine subsequently noted: "The leak came at a tindery time for US diplomacy in the Middle East. The Clinton administration has had testy relations with [then-prime minister Binyamin] Netanyahu, whom Washington blames for the gridlock in the Palestinian talks. Israeli officials complained that if their embassy phone calls were tapped, Washington also is guilty of spying." The leak was interpreted by some informed observers at the time as a means of turning the heat up on Netanyahu, to get him to be flexible in advancing the Oslo process.

And now, at this sensitive juncture in the peace process, we get the Kadish affair - and presumably, a desire on Jerusalem's part to make an extra effort in Washington's direction in order to avoid heavier fall-out from it.

Sound a little too... conspiratorial? Perhaps. But to quote the mother of all conspiracy movies, JFK, in the matter of Ben-Ami Kadish it may be wise to "Forget what you know. We are through the looking glass, people; and sometimes black is white, and white is black."

Apr 24, 2008 0:14 | Updated Apr 24, 2008 18:04

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870478406&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Rice Lying About Jimmy Carter?

Few doubt that the Bush Administration lies about almost everything, but Jimmy Carter is gracious enough to give the benefit of the doubt.

QUOTE: However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true," the statement said.

Carter: I wasn't told to shun Hamas

Former president says State Department did not warn him to stay away from Hamas leaders

Reuters

Former US President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East.

The State Department has said earlier that US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top US Diplomat for the Middle East, urged Carter not to meet with Hamas, a position restated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Carter denied this.

"No one in the State Department or any other department of the US government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas," said a statement released by the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which speaks on the former president's behalf.

'Very pleasant conversation'

The Carter Center statement said the former president attempted to call Rice before making the trip and a deputy returned his call since Rice was in Europe.

"They had a very pleasant discussion for about 15 minutes, during which he never made any of the negative or cautionary comments described above. He never talked to anyone else," the Carter Center statement said.

"President Carter has the greatest respect for ... Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true," the statement said.

Published: 04.23.08, 18:08 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3535149,00.html