Posted on 03/15/2004 2:39:39 PM PST by Indy Pendance
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former congressional aide pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges she gave secrets to Iraq and described herself as an antiwar activist who always worked for the good of homeland security.
Susan Lindauer, 41, arrested on Thursday at her home in Takoma Park, Maryland, outside Washington, was arraigned in federal court on the charges that Iraqi intelligence agents paid her $10,000 for information and travel expenses. She was released on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond.
Lindauer told reporters afterward she was very proud of her antiwar efforts and had contributed to peace-building efforts in the Middle East for many years.
"I want to say to Americans that what I did was always, always for the good of homeland security and Middle East security."
About Iraq, she said, "I worked intensively, intensively to get the weapon inspectors back into Iraq and always I urged Iraq to cooperate in the international war on terrorism."
Several years before the activities outlined in the indictments, Lindauer worked in 1996 as a press secretary to former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, an unsuccessful candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. She also worked briefly for two Democratic congressmen.
The indictment says Lindauer delivered a letter last year to the home of a U.S. government official in which she said she had access to members of Saddam Hussein's government. It did not identify the official. Prosecutors said the letter was an unsuccessful attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy.
Lindauer is a "distant relative" of President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, the White House said.
Lindauer's father, John Lindauer, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor of Alaska in 1998, told reporters the case was politically motivated and described it as an "attempt to silence dissent for election purposes.
"I think it is disgraceful," he said adding that if his daughter had been critical of Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, "I doubt seriously these charges would have occurred."
The charges against Lindauer are included in a case against two sons of a former Iraqi diplomat. The indictment against them, originally filed last year, charges Wisam Noman al-Anbuke and his brother, Raed Roman al-Anbuke, with passing information to Iraqi intelligence agents about Iraqi dissidents living in the United States.
Defense attorneys said the two men did not know Lindauer.
The case against Lindauer focuses on information she is accused of giving to Iraqi intelligence agents between October 1999 and March 2002, a year before Saddam was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion.
Lindauer is charged with conspiracy, acting as an unregistered foreign government agent and taking money from a government that supports terrorism. If convicted of all counts, she could face 25 years in prison.
If the bad guys are keeping receipts for travel and other expenses, we should send in the IRS. They can find things Han Blix could only dream about!!!
Should we blame the moral relativists of the Left, OR the psychiatric "experts" who have convinced most everyone that criminals are merely "victims" themselves?
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