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2005-09-01 Home Front: WoT
Journalist, congressional press secretary, arrested as Iraqi agent
The references, dates, etc all are from March 11, 2004 when this story was written. As .com notes in the comments, we've covered this story before. I'm leaving it here but doing a big EFL. AoS.
A former journalist and one-time press secretary for four members of Congress was arrested Thursday on charges she served as a paid agent for the Iraqi intelligence service before and after the U.S. invasion. Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md., and appeared before a federal judge Thursday afternoon in Baltimore, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller reported.

She was accused of conspiring to act as an agent for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq under dictator Saddam Hussein. Prosecutors said she accepted $10,000 for the work. "I'm an anti-war activist and I'm innocent," Lindauer told 11 News as she was led to a car outside the Baltimore FBI office. "I did more to stop terrorism in this country than anybody else. I have done good things for this country. I worked to get weapons inspectors back to Iraq when everyone else said it was impossible. I'm very proud and I'll very proudly stand by my achievements."

Undercover agents arrested Lindauer after a sting investigation in Baltimore last summer.

Lindauer worked at Fortune, U.S. News & World Report and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer before beginning her career as a political publicist. She worked for Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. in 1993 and then Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in 1994 before joining the office of former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun as press secretary in 1996. From March to May 2002, she worked for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. "Her position was eliminated in the downsizing following the 1994 elections," said Josh Kardon, chief of staff for now-Sen. Wyden. "She worked for us a short period of time."

According to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Lindauer made multiple visits from October 1999 through March 2002 to the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan. There, she met with several members of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the government of Iraq that allegedly has played a role in terrorist operations, including an attempted assassination of former President George H.W. Bush, the indictment alleged.

The charges against Lindauer were included in an expanded indictment in the case against Raed Rokan Al-Anbuge, 28, and Wisam Noman Al-Anbuke, the sons of Iraq's former liaison with United Nations weapons inspectors. The brothers were charged last year with acting as Iraqi government agents and conspiring to do so, prosecutors said. The indictment said Lindauer conspired with the brothers.

On Jan. 8, 2003, prosecutors said, Lindauer tried to influence U.S. foreign policy by delivering to the home of a U.S. government official a letter in which she conveyed her access to and contacts with members of Saddam's regime. The official was not identified in the indictment.
Posted by Dan Darling 2005-09-01 03:03|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 March 11, 2004. It's still an extremely important thing, though most people have missed it. If you carefully read the New York Times Magazine article that appeared on her last August (2004), you'll notice that she knew about the 9-11 attacks in advance. And her source was probably her contacts at the Iraqi UN consulate.
Posted by Rory B. Bellows 2005-09-01 03:10||   2005-09-01 03:10|| Front Page Top

#2 wow u got a link to that story that she knew, facinating story this of human nature at its worst, a human who is proud she tried to help Sammy and stop the Baathist goverment being removed.Thing is what strikes me she only got paid peanuts , 10000 dollers??? wow the money must have been more of a gift then a wage for this, and how many other little Sammy fans are out there?
Posted by Shep UK 2005-09-01 03:19||   2005-09-01 03:19|| Front Page Top

#3 I printed it at the time... but I'm sure it's beind the NYT subscription wall now. I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

As I remember, the author totally missed his scoop, preferring to retell the tale of this kooky Tacoma Park person. And she is actually pretty nuts. But I beleive the coincidences cannot be ignored.
Posted by Rory B. Bellows 2005-09-01 03:25||   2005-09-01 03:25|| Front Page Top

#4 Yeah, here we go. (link) Two choice excerpts:

One conversation John had with his sister in the summer of 2001 stuck in his mind for a different reason. ''So she goes, 'Listen, the gulf war isn't over,''' he told me over dinner at a sushi place on the Sunset Strip. '''There are plans in effect right now. They will be raining down on us from the skies.''' His sister told him that Lower Manhattan would be destroyed. ''And I was like, Yeah, whatever,'' he continued. When he woke up six weeks later to the news that two planes had crashed into the twin towers, and watched as ash settled on the window ledge of his sublet in Brooklyn, he had a dislocating sense of having his reality replaced by Susan's strange world -- an experience he would have again when he learned that his sister had been arrested by the F.B.I.

Parke Godfrey, a close friend of Lindauer's for the last 15 years, is a professor of computer science at York University in Ontario. He says that Lindauer warned him not to take a job at N.Y.U. the summer before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Whether she's delusional or not, and I think she is, we can't write this off. She predicted the place, the approximate time, the method, and, I beleive the motive beind the 9/11 attacks, as well as the 1st WTC attack (though I differ from Mylroie on the Yousef-Basit "stolen identity" thing). I take the admittedly minority view that Iraq was the prime mover behind the attacks -- A-Q was mostly in it for cheap muscle. Also this:

''I am deeply proud of my expertise on international conflict resolution, and my regrettably extraordinary gift for counterterrorism,'' Lindauer wrote in a letter addressed to President-elect Bush on Dec. 22, 2000. ''I have identified a dozen bombings before they happened with a high degree of accuracy and a number of assassination attempts on world leaders.''

I think her friend at the Iraqi consulate was giving her tips on Iraq-backed terrorist incidents all through this time. So that's her "predictions." This (link) is interesting, too.

"Iraq claimed to have information about the OK City bombing," said Lindauer.

"In a letter to you?" asked ABC7's Chuck Goudie.

"In a formal letter that they sent by diplomatic pouch which I then communicated to the White House," said Lindauer.

Lindauer says shortly after a mammoth fertilizer bomb tore through the Murrah Federal Building here in Oklahoma City, Iraqi intelligence agents uncovered a fundamentalist Muslim link to the bombing.

"I know they have identified specific individuals who were tied to it and the financing mechanism for Oklahoma City," said Lindauer.

In meetings at the United Nations and in Baghdad following September 11th, Lindauer says Iraqi officials told her that Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was carrying out the orders of violent Arab radicals. Lindauer says the Iraqis actually learned of the Islamic terrorist plot against Oklahoma City years ago.

My take on this is that OKC was, ultimately, Iraqi-sponsored as well. But Saddam used a couple layers of cut-outs - 1. the white guys, McViegh, Nichols, the Elohim City crew, and 2. the Islamists.

After 9-11, Iraq offered (link) to help get rid of al Qaeda, which Iraq had sponsored all along. Bush would then tout Saddams new spirit of cooperation, and drop the sanctions, no-fly zones, and coup attempts, which is what Saddam wanted all along. Saddam has his victory and Bush has his. Remember Linduaer's warning to her brother about 9/11: 'Listen, the gulf war isn't over,' Gulf war. As in 1991.

Bush declined the offer, and went straight to the source of the problem instead. Unfortunately, Saddam still retains a couple of aces, apparently. But agreements can be made among gentlemen. After all, he's "willing to negotiate."
Posted by Rory B. Bellows 2005-09-01 04:11||   2005-09-01 04:11|| Front Page Top

#5 Very interesting! Just becuase most conspiracy theorists are nuts doesn't mean there aren't conspiracies. If she was saying these kinds of things AFTER 9/11, I'd dismiss her as a nut, but the fact she was saying them BEFORE is compelling. I'd speculate that a possible reason she went loopy was precisely because she did know about 9/11 beforehand.
Posted by phil_b 2005-09-01 04:59||   2005-09-01 04:59|| Front Page Top

#6 





She does have that "loopy" look about her! Hey, anybody seen Ted Danson, I miss him!

Whoopster
Posted by Whoopi G. 2005-09-01 06:36||   2005-09-01 06:36|| Front Page Top

#7 She is a traitor and should be treated as such!
Why isn't she being tried for treason?
Posted by raptor 2005-09-01 07:55||   2005-09-01 07:55|| Front Page Top

#8 Why isn't she being tried for treason?

Because federal prosecutors are scared to death of what will happen if they charge someone with treason. We have a major political party in this country that's damned near defined by its treason. Anyone trying to put an end to treason will become the #1 target for that party and its allies -- what they's suffer would make the attacks on Starr look like a love fest.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-09-01 08:03|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-09-01 08:03|| Front Page Top

#9 phil_b: Well, she was pretty nuts before... I think she knew what she was doing, sort of, i.e. acting as an agent for the Iraqis. Sometimes some very strange people gather at the fringes of the intelligence world -- the Soviet-trained intel agencies in particular seem to be skilled at exploiting people with personality disorders. (link)

"Someone put acid on the steering wheel of my car on a day I was supposed to drive to NYC for a meeting at the Libya House," she wrote. "I scrubbed my hands with a toilet brush, but my face was burned so badly that 3 weeks later friends worried I might be badly scarred. Also, my house was bugged with listening devices and cameras -- little red laser lights in the shower vent. And I survived several assassination attempts. Oh, could I write a book.

Raptor and RC: it's really hard to get a treason conviction, regardless of political motive. But yeah, I think it is treasonous conduct, not just seditious.

But prosecuting her for all of this, instead of simply being an "unregistered agent" would dredge up all of this Iraq/al-Qaeda/9-11 stuff. And the Bush administration has been remarkably reluctant to connect the dots. I don't think the US was mistaken about Iraqi WMDs, not in the least.

Saddam got pulled out of his hole, and said he wanted to negotiate. With what? I think he had more to defend himself than a pistol, a suitcase full of Benjamins, and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment.
Posted by Rory B. Bellows 2005-09-01 08:27||   2005-09-01 08:27|| Front Page Top

#10 The government said she accepted payments from the Iraqis for her services and expenses amounting to a total of $10,000, including $5,000 she received during a trip to Baghdad in February and March 2002.

That's cheap.
Posted by gromgoru 2005-09-01 08:32||   2005-09-01 08:32|| Front Page Top

#11 gromgorru, once I got over my initial shock post-9/11 of how some people seem so willing to sell out their country (took a while), I was then hit by the fact of how cheaply they are willing to do it.
Posted by Carl in N.H.">Carl in N.H.  2005-09-01 08:41||   2005-09-01 08:41|| Front Page Top

#12 This was covered here on RB 3/11/04 - 3/12/04:

U.S. Woman Charged with Giving Secrets to Iraq
Oh, That Liberal Media...
Activist Charged
Mark Styne
Posted by .com 2005-09-01 08:44||   2005-09-01 08:44|| Front Page Top

#13 Raptor and RC: it's really hard to get a treason conviction, regardless of political motive. But yeah, I think it is treasonous conduct, not just seditious.

It's "hard" because no one tries. Lindh should have been up for treason, as should a hell of a lot of other people. The Blind Sheik's lawyer, for example.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-09-01 09:11|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-09-01 09:11|| Front Page Top

#14 The judge released Lindauer (pictured, right) to a halfway house and ordered her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Posted by Chailet Chaith6094 2005-09-01 09:28||   2005-09-01 09:28|| Front Page Top

#15 The judge released Lindauer (pictured, right) to a halfway house and ordered her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Why wasn't she sent to the clink to await her trial? What kind of pussyfooting "judge" is this?

I am sick to death of treasonous slime walking free while citizens like Martha Stewart are demonized for far lesser infractions.

(The last post was me, I posted that by mistake.)
Posted by Chris W. 2005-09-01 09:31||   2005-09-01 09:31|| Front Page Top

#16 She could probably be convicted of espionage, but treason (in the US) requires at least one "overt act of war"...
Posted by mojo">mojo  2005-09-01 10:23||   2005-09-01 10:23|| Front Page Top

#17 She could probably be convicted of espionage, but treason (in the US) requires at least one "overt act of war"...

Not according to the Constitution. Aid and comfort and two witnesses. Sounds to me like we have that in her case.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-09-01 10:31|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-09-01 10:31|| Front Page Top

#18 The official was not identified in the indictment..
wonder who
Posted by Jan 2005-09-01 10:41||   2005-09-01 10:41|| Front Page Top

#19 That official was White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who is Susan Lindauer's distant cousin. Card is the one who turned in Lindauer.
Posted by ed 2005-09-01 10:50||   2005-09-01 10:50|| Front Page Top

#20 Great archive hunting .com - thanks
Posted by Yosemite Sam 2005-09-01 11:17||   2005-09-01 11:17|| Front Page Top

#21 I'd agree that she is indeed a nutter. One look at the photos would nearly confirm that with certainty. Taken in conjunction with her words there is no question she's a nutter. The "progressive" tag always suggests a nasty nutter bent also. It's like a neon sign saying "I'm probably capable of any kind of moonbattery or, yes, if I really go rotten, violence to further my "bee-leafs." Funny thing is how many representatives saw fit to employ her from among all the talented people seeking work in the government. Speaks volumes as to them and their ability to exercise sound judgment and discretion. Did she want to act as an agent for Saddam and the Iraqis? Surely she did. Was she actually used by the Iraqis as an agent? Surely in at least a limited sense. I for one would prefer she, and all the other scum in DC who engage in work for foreign governments regardless of motivation and whether those governments be today a friend or foe, be tried for their crimes against the country and if convicted, executed promptly (in no more than a year) by enacting and strictly enforcing an expedited appeals disposition system.
Posted by MunkarKat 2005-09-01 11:34||   2005-09-01 11:34|| Front Page Top

#22 Funny thing is how many representatives saw fit to employ her from among all the talented people seeking work in the government. Speaks volumes as to them and their ability to exercise sound judgment and discretion.

I think they knew exactly what they were getting when they hired her.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-09-01 11:46|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-09-01 11:46|| Front Page Top

#23 Two witneses? I doubt it. Incriminating documents, perhaps but not witnesses. Treason was used by the English kings as a means to bump off the politically out of favor. Often by blackmailing/bribing/torturing witneses to testify against the unfavored. That is why the FF built a high wall around treason in the constitution. And that's OK with me. Thyey should have her on enough other counts to make sure she's out of circulation for a long time.
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-09-01 11:51||   2005-09-01 11:51|| Front Page Top

#24 Does anybody have information about her final disposition? I gather she was charged with being an unregistered agent of a foreign government and violating some US trade law with Iraq, but that is all.

I would guess that she got a small fine and time served.
Posted by Anonymoose 2005-09-01 14:23||   2005-09-01 14:23|| Front Page Top

#25 She was charged, but trial hasn't happened yet.
Magistrate Judge Susan K. Gauvey noted that Lindauer was employed but "not on a regular basis" and that she had "no cash on hand to hire an attorney." Although the government argued that Lindauer poses a flight risk, she was released to a halfway house and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Will be arraigned in US Southern District of New York.

No word on when this will happen.
Posted by Steve">Steve  2005-09-01 15:21||   2005-09-01 15:21|| Front Page Top

#26 Quick, someone call Lynne Stewart. D'oh!!!
Posted by danking_70 2005-09-01 15:42||   2005-09-01 15:42|| Front Page Top

#27 The two witnesses required are to the same "overt act", Bob.
Posted by mojo">mojo  2005-09-01 15:55||   2005-09-01 15:55|| Front Page Top

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