[JTA] Abbe D. Lowell, Baruch Weiss and John Nassikas - Six weeks ago the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal court to dismiss the Espionage Act charges that had been pending against former AIPAC officials Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman for four years. Then, with 30 days to go before trial, the government abruptly moved to dismiss the charges without a trial. The court agreed. The case should never have been filed in the first place. There are a legal pad full of questions the case raises for the government to answer. Why was the government's counter-intelligence apparatus selectively aimed at the pro-Israel foreign policy lobby in general and AIPAC in particular, when the same case could have been made against literally hundreds of other lobbyists and journalists for discussing foreign policy issues that might implicate classified information? How could the government create a trap for Rosen and Weissman by dangling the warning that "lives were in danger" without expecting these moral men to act? There were no classified documents ever involved, the work by Rosen and Weissman was part of their jobs and not something outside the norm, and there was no spying, bribery, theft or secret meetings. A few weeks ago some 125 rabbis from across the country wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder raising these and other questions. Abbe D. Lowell represented Steve Rosen. Baruch Weiss and John Nassikas served as defense attorneys for Keith Weissman.
2009-06-26 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive