Thomas, RE: "Yes, the Israeli spy story was dutifully suppressed by the media."
Maybe it's still under investigation or something. Or, too politically sensitive to discuss, given the current situation. Or, maybe our govt endorses the spying as a way to get around our legislation. Or, maybe our govt let's their govt conduct espionage on US hightech and military firms in exchange for their govt's free assistance on other matters. Don't know which.
RE: "One theory is that they were tracking Al Qaeda for their own safety, or even for our safety (why didn't they warn us???)"
They probably did warn us. But we probably ignored them. In fact, even the CIA was ignored. Remember, our culture is to respond to only tangible emergencies, as a culture we ignore warnings as they are a softer science. The CIA was able to correctly identify and alert the FBI about the identity of the terrorists beforehand, but the system apparently wasn't set up to act upon an alert, at that time.
RE: "Did they allow the plot to go through, knowing it would help turn the American public against Muslims generally"
bin Laden admitted on videotape he orchestrated 9/11. So Israel's govt is absolutely in no way responsible for 9/11. Plus, that's an act of war a parterning country simply wouldn't do because it would be too easily found out and it also wouldn't make sense in the bigger picture of things.
If Israeli's government warned our gov't, but our govt ignored the warning, that's our government's fault, not theirs. (It would actually be Clinton's fault, because the spy ring was first in the USA on his watch.)
My only concern about the spying incident is if our govt is a bit blind to the possibility that Israel's govt may possibly have been attempting to obtain communications technology from the USA, when they were helping the USA conduct espionage on 9/11 terrorist. Were they double dipping without letting the USA govt know? Most understandably, Israel's govt can be a bit overly paranoid about their security sometimes, having been persecuted for so many centuries. But I wouldn't want a situation where hightech intellectual property is handed over to a foreign government without our government fully aware of it, and conversely, I wouldn't want a situation where our govt is allowing Israel's govt to take hightech communication and security intellectual property without expressively asking permission to do so from owners or shareholders. That's my bottom-line concern.
So, when our govt allows an Israeli spy ring to waltz right into Silicon Valley's technology companies, then turn around and simply deport them by INS, without prosecuting them for espionage, I have deep concerns about the integrity of our government's desire to protect America's hightech intellectual property from being stolen by partnering countries' govt. If our govt doesn't prosecute for espionage, it gives the appearances of America's technology being considered free shareware our govt hands out to partnering foreign country govt's in exchange for something our govt wants from them. Sorry, but they can pay shareholders.
It's one thing to help the USA out, but it's another thing to be so overly paranoid of their own security to the point of possibly conducting espionage to secure advanced communications technology from the USA. Frankly, why not just float a bond on WS and just pay for it? Sometimes I wonder if our govt let's them take technology in exchange for their free assistance to our govt in other matters - it would explain the hushed, hushed.
Regards,
Amy J |
