Dictatorship and Double Standards Watch for August 6, 2005

Wow. How cynical can you get:

Two former officials of a pro-Israel lobbying group were charged in an indictment today with illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to journalists and a unnamed foreign power that government officials identified as Israel.

The indictment accused Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, formerly senior staff members at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, with improperly disclosing sensitive national security information dating back more than five years. The group dismissed the two men in April.

Beyond the two former AIPAC officials, the indictment included additional charges against the only other person charged in the case, Lawrence Franklin, a former Pentagon analyst and Iran expert. The indictment accused him of using his position as a desk officer to gather information to hand over to a foreign official, believed to be an Israeli embassy officer.

The indictment said that Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman disclosed information on such issues as American policy in Iran, terrorism in central Asia and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers apartment in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 American military airmen.

The charges were expected, but were nevertheless unusual. Neither Mr. Rosen or Mr. Weissman held security clearances. They were not government employees and operated in a world in which private lobbyists and public officials, each eager to shape administration policy, often trade sensitive information.

[snip]

The United States Attorney in Alexandria, Va. Paul J. McNulty, said in a statement: "When it comes to classified information, there is clear line in the law. Today's charges are about crossing that line."

Now, I have no great love for AIPAC. AIPAC is a shandeh far di goyim, as far as I'm concerned. But a government that's prosecuting this, but protecting Karl Rove for doing exactly the same thing, albeit for cheap political payback instead of for a foreign government that's supposedly an ally, well, they can't exactly claim the high ground here, can they?