Rosen: A Modern Purim Story

It seems almost too much of a coincidence that the complaint was filed just prior to Purim. Last week a modern day Purimspiel, not on stage, but in pleadings, was filed in District of Columbia Superior Court. While it by no means is the final chapter, the story appears to be reaching an end, and it is fascinating that Steven Rosen seems to be positioning himself as Mordecai seeking exoneration not through hanging, but through judgment.

Our story begins in August, 2004. when it was first reported that there was a spy in Washington delivering top military secret information to Israel. It turns out that there were three alleged spies, two employees of the lobbying group, AIPAC, an Israeli advocacy group based in Washington and a staffer from the Department of Defense.

Former AIPAC employees Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman were accused under the seldom used Espionage Act. The act's purpose is to prohibit Americans from taking classified information that could be used to harm the United States and giving it over to foreign governments. In Rosen and Weissman's case that were accused of meeting with Lawrence Franklin, a Department of Defense staffer, who gave Rosen and Weissman information about America's military, intelligence and defense strategy in dealing with Iran. Rosen and Weissman are accused of turning the information over to Israel.

At first AIPAC stood by their employees. According to Rosen, he even received a performance bonus in March 2005. However AIPAC was under heavy pressure from the feds. Their offices were raided and their records were subpoenaed. There was talk of an indictment against the organization and possibly they would even be charged as a foreign agent. AIPAC took the path of least resistance, they caved. In April, 2005 AIPAC fired Rosen and Weissman and issued a statement that they were fired because thier activities "did not comport with standards that AIPAC expects of all its employees.”

In the meantime Rosen has been fighting back on his own, and without the help of AIPAC, and winning round after round against the Federal Government. First, he won the right to call high government officials as witnesses at trial. Then it was ordered that the Government must answer information subpoenas regarding foreign policy strategy and directives. If the case ever gets to trial it is quite possible that Condoleeza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz will be required to give testimony under oath.

Most recently Rosen won an appeal requiring the Government to prove that any information passed was a "closely held secret." That creates a catch-22 for the government. How do you prove top-secret information in open court without exposing the secret? On the other hand part of the defense's argument is there was no information turned over that was really closely held. So far the government is reluctant to expose their case.

Like Megillat Esther, our story takes a detour. Charles Freeman, a former Saudi Ambassador was named earlier this year as the nominee designate for chairman of the National Intelligence Counsel. He seemed to be a sure-shot confrimation. Which would make him a chief advisor to President Obama. That was until Steven Rosen, independent of AIPAC and despite criticism from the usual suspects, pointed out that Freeman in his estimation was an Arab apoligist and an Israel basher. There is no doubt that he is a huge fan of Saudi Arabia and said of the Saudi King, "I believe King Abdullah is very rapidly becoming Abdullah the Great," Freeman vehemently critcizes Israel's policy in dealing with its Arab neighbors and the Palestinians. Freeman has even gone so far as to say that America's relationship with Israel was the main cause of the Al Queda Terrorist Acts on September 11, 2001.

Last week Freeman was not designated chairman but rather 'resigned.' But he wasn't content to 'resign' for the typical 'personal reasons.' He chose to elaborate, and as is typical with Israel haters, it was the fault of the Jews: Freeman wrote:

"The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth."

And Freeman son, Charels Freeman chimed in as well,

"His appointment is being challenged these days by a small cabal of folks that believe first and foremost in the importance of allegiance to Israel as a core U.S. priority. Putting aside my natural instinct as a son to want to punch some of these guys in the face for some of the things they are saying about my father, for heaven's sake, I'm more deeply angry about the lack of guile some of these people have."

Yes, a 'cabal' with 'guile' who show an 'allegiance to Israel', but mind you we are not talking about Jews. Just 'the Israel lobby.' The Freemans were apparently talking about those other supporters of Israel. To the Freemans' way of thinking, supporting Israel as a core U.S. priority disqualifies one from being 'objective' on America's role in the middle east. But blaming Israel for terrorist acts exclusively involving Arabs makes one the most appropriate candidate for the head of the National Intelligence. "And the Ten Sons of Haman were hung on the same gallows of their father" (Esther 9:7).

The main theme of Purim is that the Jews were able to turn their fate upside down. On March 2, 2009, less than a week before this year's celebration, Rosen made a stab at completing his personal exoneration. He filed suit against AIPAC to clear his name and accused the organization of doing the government's bidding. Rosen asserts that his actions were directed by AIPAC. He maintains that he provided his superiors with regular briefings about his efforts to gather information from government officials. He goes on to talk about AIPAC's information gathering techniques and its role in international diplomacy. He threatens full disclosure.

Truth be told, don't ever expect to see Rosen v. AIPAC to get to trial. Both sides have too much to lose and without any personal inside knowledge, I have a feeling that both sides would prefer to keep their secrets, well, secret. I expect the case will settle, although for far less than the $11 Million that Rosen is demanding in his complaint.

In the meantime, trial on the Government's case against Rosen and Weissman is scheduled to open on June 2. It's already been delayed for more than a year. My guess is it will eventually be voluntarily discontinued. One more nail in the secrecy policies of George W. Bush. I get the sense an Obama administration would rather that this case goes away. So once again, let it be said: they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat.