According to Tom Hayden, Harman "...was one of a handful of Congressmembers invited into the secret White House briefings on what has mushroomed into a major scandal: the launch of domestic spying by intelligence agencies without warrants. The ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Harman promised the White House to keep secret what she heard at the meetings.

She could have been a whistleblower, but chose not to be...
Left to Harman, the spy scandal would still be a secret today. It was the New York Times, not Democratic leaders, who first broke the silence and secrecy. Fortunately, Tom read the New York Times on May 18th, and it precipitated this brilliant outpouring in his blog at the Huffington post, which began: "It must have been embarrassing for Rep. Jane Harman to read the front page of the Times this week that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi 'intends to force Harman to step down' from her slot on the House Intelligence Committee, partly because of 'concern among Democrats that Harman is too moderate and inclined to accomodate the Republican agenda."

So it should not have been a surprise to the media 6 months later when Harman was passed over in the search for a new chairman, although NPR and others acted as though it was.

Harman was Treated Favorably by the Democrats

The reason why it should not be a surprise is that Nancy Pelosi never intended to "force Harman off the committee." As a matter of procedure established within the Democratic party, Harman was scheduled to resign. This was correctly reported by the LA Weekly on May 24, 2006. By the term limit rules that Democratic caucas has established, Harman's term as ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee ends this year. Her removal is not an act of malice by Pelosi. On the contrary, Harman has been treated favorably by the Democratic leadership as explained by the LA Weekly:

"She was already seen as a member who got special treatment. She was out of the House for two years, from 1998 to 2000, when she gave up her seat for a gubernatorial bid in the 1998 Democratic primary. When she won the seat back in 2000, then House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt restored her seniority although this was not a common practice. When Nancy Pelosi succeeded Gephardt as leader, she jumped Harman over a more senior Democrat, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, to make her the ranking Democrat on Intelligence."

Harman was at Odds with the Democrats In spite of her favorable treatment by the Democratic party, Harman made an appearance on Meet the Press where she expressed more concern about the New York Times' revelations of illegal domestic spying than about the violation of due process by the NSA. This inspired progessive Democrat Marcy Winograd to mount a significant challenge in the Democratic primary, but she was seriously outspent by the always well-funded Harman campaign.

Harman's blase' endorsement of illegal domestic spying was not the only issue that set her at odds with fellow Democrats. According to retired NSA analyst Wayne Madsen

"Harman reportedly agreed to work with Republican chairman Peter Hoekstra to avoid an investigation of the cooked up pre-war intelligence on Iraq in return for the Bush administration going easy on the investigation of AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee) officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, both later indicted for receiving highly classified documents from Israeli Pentagon spy Larry Franklin."

The Neocon Connection and AIPAC

Every nationality has its fascist element : the French had Vichey, and the Israelis have AIPAC. AIPAC has something that is well understood in Washington: suitcases full of cash. And that is why the dynamic duo of Larry Franklin and Douglas Fieth are walking the streets again, thanks to the former US prosecutor for the district of Eastern Virginia, Paul J. McNulty. McNulty was appointed when the nomination of Timothy Flanigan floundered due to the visible taint of Jack Abramoff.

A year later, McNulty was elevated to the right hand of neo-con crime chief of Alberto Gonzales (US Attorney General) as a direct quid pro quo for securing the release of Franklin and Feith from prison. While on the government payroll, Douglas Feith continued to draw a retainer of $60,000/year from the law firm of Fieth and Zell while his partner, Zell, worked actively to undermine the Camp David accord. Perhaps this answers the question that Arianna Huffington asked several months ago: "Where Have All the Architects of War Gone?"

Douglas Fieth and other neocons performed a vanishing act when investigations of middle-east deceit became a danger to the Bush administration.
Intrigues involving neocon insider Fieth have been elucidated previously in DOGSPOT, and James Bamford eventually released a comprehensive report in The Rolling Stone.

Harman Betrayed the Party of the People

In contrast the the party of AIPAC and it's militant Israeli sponsers, The Democratic party - the party of the people - is the party that can balance the budget while taking care of the poor the, sick and the elderly, starting here at home, where we can show the world an example of functioning democracy before we try to foist it upon unwilling foreigners, like the Iraqis, who are called insurgents when they fail to cooperate with our blueprint of Empire.

The current operational blueprint was coded, in part, by Larry Franklin in secret meetings prior to 9/11 which were attended by representatives of AIPAC and luminaries such as Ahmad Chalabi and Michael Ledeen while Franklin was being followed by the FBI. The FBI was acting on a tip that Franklin was in possesion of sensitive documents that were not to leave the US. Details can be found in his indictment. It is important to note that Michael Ledeen has for a long time been the right hand man of none other than Karl Rove, and held meeting in Paris with renegade elements of the Italian intelligence agency SISMI that are related to the cooking of false intelligence to start a war with Iraq. SISMI is currently under investigation by the newly elected government in Italy.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee was repeatedly welcomed to sit in on meetings where democracy was compromised both at home and abroad.

Perhaps it is time for Ms Harman to direct her gaze away from those brave intelligence people who would aid a foriegn power in the bulldozing of entire neighborhoods and turn torward those who are truly in need. When she retires, I'm certain that she will not welcome the surprise of finding that social security has been looted to fund unending warfare. She looks like she's been tortured far too long, and her political career has driven her to take too much money from the wrong people (AIPAC). She should spare herself and the rest of us from further suffering and retire to make room for a "progressive" Democrat like Marcy Winograd.

This was written online for DOGSPOT, and sources mentioned above have been mirrored elswhere on the site.

-giraudoux

DOGSPOT