Another Delay 3/28/08

The two dual-citizen AIPAC agents have gotten another delay. They have a series of motions to appeal a critical ruling on how classified information will be introduced at trial.
 

Judge Ellis

The ruling issued this week by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III is sealed, but a lawyer for one defendant portrayed prosecutors' decision to appeal as the latest in a series of setbacks to the government's case.

Weissman Claims He Is Only A Lobbyist

Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, were accused in 2005 of illegally disclosing sensitive national defense information. 

Abbe Lowell Is Their Lawyer

"It's now pretty clear that the government does not want to try this case," said Rosen's lawyer, Abbe Lowell. "They filed these charges without thinking them through, and there appears to be no one in government with enough authority or courage to admit they made a mistake."

The Case Is Based On The 1917 Espionage Act

The charges against Rosen and Weissman fall under the 1917 Espionage Act, a rarely used World War I-era law that has never before been applied to lobbyists. They are not charged with espionage.
 

What Was Their Purpose?

The specific files lead one to question just what did Israel want?

• The Iran files would most likely be current military coordinates.
• The Iraq files would most likely be be counter-intelligence reports
• The Khobar Towers, and the Marine barracks, had to be about American investigations into Israel's involvement.

 

 

Cries Of Anti-Semitism

Rosen and Weissman have argued that the information in which they traffic is commonly traded by Washington insiders, and that government officials tacitly support such disclosures.