EX-EMPLOYEES OF JEWISH LOBBY
CLAIM OFFICIAL BLESSING

Condoleezza Rice summoned
in AIPAC-Israel spy case

Bush aides face spy case summons
Combined News Services Saturday, 3 November 2007

WASHINGTON — Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state,
and some of President George Bush's top foreign policy advisers
must testify in a case of alleged spying involving a pro-Israeli
lobby group, a US judge has ruled.

Stephen Hadley, the White House national security adviser,
and 13 other officials can also be summoned, according to court
documents.

Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), face charges
of conspiracy to pass secret US defense information to Israel
while they worked for the powerful lobby group.

Rosen, Weissman and Lawrence Franklin, a department of defense
official, were charged in 2005 with conspiracy to communicate
national defense information following a lengthy FBI investigation.

US officials alleged that between 1999 and 2004, Franklin passed
secrets to Israel using AIPAC as a conduit.

At the time, Rosen was the lobby's policy director and Weissman
an analyst on Iran.

57 treasonous acts alleged

The court documents are also said to contain the alleged
recording of 57 acts, involving a mishandling of secrets, including
meetings and telephone calls, passing the information with both
US and foreign nationals.

The intelligence involved terrorist activities in Central Asia, US
intelligence and policy regarding Middle Eastern countries and
information on al-Qaeda.

Rosen and Weissman hope the officials' testimony will support
their defense that they were not engaged in spying.

The defendants claim that evidence from the officials will show
nothing more than "a well-established official Washington
practice of engaging in 'back-channel' communication," said
a statement from Friday's ruling in Alexandria, Virginia.

Franklin, a former assistant to [neo-conservative] Douglas Feith,
who was once the US undersecretary of defense, previously
pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January 2006 to 12 years
and seven months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Rosen and Weissman maintain that the secrets were not closely
held by the US government and their disclosure did no damage
to the country.

The case is expected to go to trial next January.

President as star at AIPAC convention in Washington