The Franklin case and the Five - "Don't forget to tip!”

Deformed before it is born?: "The Franklin case and the Five
"Don't forget to tip!”
By Jean-Guy Allard / 27-02-2006
The most dangerous spy in recent U.S. history, Lawrence "Larry" Franklin, 59, is currently working as a parking attendant at an exclusive Casino and Racetrack in West Virginia while waiting to testify in the trial of his two accomplices.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal publication Franklin, an expert Pentagon analyst who personally advised Donald Rumsfeld, is working as a "valet" in the parking lot at the Charles Town Races & Slots, located in Charles Town, West Virginia between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Charles Town Races & Slots is a private racetrack and casino specializing in video lottery, where 3, 800 slot machines—according to its advertisements— attract a wealthy clientele from the U.S. federal capital area.

While the Cuban Five, who were arrested by the Miami FBI, accused of espionage for infiltrating that city’s terrorist groups and given sentences including life imprisonment, wait in prison for a court decision, Franklin, a real spy, is collecting tips from gambling clients.

This situation is so absurd that a Washington Post reporter used this title in a brief commentary on the subject: "Don't Forget to Tip!”
Franklin has already enjoyed an incredible sentence reduction despite his treason. After negotiations between the spy’s lawyers and the Attorney General, Federal Judge T.S. Ellis III, of the Alexandria district of Virginia, gave him a 12-year sentence… and then freed him on bail pending the trial of two Israeli agents, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, with whom he actively collaborated.

Franklin handed over an enormous volume of information from the Pentagon on Iran, to those two individuals and another Israeli spy, Naor Gilon, then political advisor at the Israeli embassy in Washington, an action evidently behind Israel’s escalating threats of war on Iran.

But the news of Franklin’s well-paying job in the parking lot of Charles Town Races did not appear on its own.

"THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A SUCCESSFUL CASE…"

It is accompanied by the rhetoric of Rosen and Weissman’s astute lawyers, who are claiming that by accusing their client of espionage, the Attorney General violated the First Amendment of the Constitution and that to sentence them would oblige the state to also bring charges against a large number of activists and journalists.

The legislation banning the unauthorized distribution of classified material has never been applied to simple citizens, stated the learned John Nassikas III, spokesman of the defense team, to the New York daily, The Sun.

"There has never been a successful case regarding the unauthorized circulation of material by individuals not under legal or contractual obligation to keep the information classified," said Nassikas.

Rosen and Weissman were lobbyists for the American Israel Political Committee (AIPAC), the most important Israeli lobby group in Washington.

Their espionage activities took place between April 1999 and August 27, 2004, during which time the FBI observed numerous meetings held with the precautions that characterized the group’s activities.

Franklin’s two accomplices are to appear before the Alexandria Federal Court on April 25.

The charges against them are that they received classified information from Franklin and distributed this information to "members of the press and foreign government agents."

The prosecution has not given a public description of the information that they allegedly distributed nor have they named the reporters or foreign agents implicated, according to The Sun.

A document summarizing the defense of the two accused was co-authored by Viet Dinh, a professor at the Georgetown University Faculty of Law, who also used to hold an important position in the Justice Department. Dinh, a constitutional expert, is famous for being one of the “architects” of the Patriot Act.

Dinh’s argument has caused controversy. "Does the First Amendment grant the right to steal and distribute vital U.S. secrets to a foreign power?" writes Justin Raimundo of Antiwar.com. The journalist ends his piece by asking if there is a double standard regarding espionage. "What would happen if Rosen and Weissman were named Abdullah and Mohammed? Or if they worked for the Muslim American Political Action Committee (MAPAC)?"

"ONE HAS TO BE VERY CAUTIOUS"

According to The Sun, the lawyers’ text also cites an eminent federal attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, "regarding the risks in bringing charges related to the diffusion of classified information."

"One must be very cautious about applying this law because numerous interests can be implicated", said the expert during a press conference last year, upon explaining why this charge was not brought against I. Lewis Libby, the White House staffer who revealed the identity of a CIA agent.

The defense document was published by Secrecy News and circulated around the internet by the Federation of American Scientists.

Nassikas announced that Weissman is proposing to launch a defense fund to cover his court costs.

It is worth remembering how, in violation of all prison regulations and international conventions against torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment, Héctor Pesquera, chief of the Miami FBI, and his accomplices in the Federal Attorney’s Office, kept the Cuban Five in solitary confinement for 17 consecutive months after their arrest. Since their rigged trial, René González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González have been held in five separate prisons scattered across the immense U.S. territory, with only extremely limited contact with their families.

Franklin is out on bail until the end of court proceedings that could drag on for years. It is unknown how the outcome of that trial will affect the subsequent review of his sentence.

In the mean time he will continue collecting money in the Charles Town parking lot."