Right, I remember that!
Assange was the hero of the left while the leaks were about W as well.
Echelon was misuse of government spy abilities to listen to Newt and who knows what others.
Who knew?
IIRC it was a couple . They just happened to have a scanner that picked up the cell phone frequencies, and happened to have a recorder .
Laws broken.
Scanning cell phone frequencies (this was back when cell phone were analog)
Recording a phone conversation w/o the parties being notified
Disclosing that conversation to another party.
IIRC they gave the recording to Senator Leaky Leahy who promptly leaked it.
The couple were ultimately ‘punished’. Don’t recall but it was a slap on the wrist. Leaky? He walked.
Don’t forget that McDermott was involved with the Sami al Arian cell in Tampa
Baghdad Trio bump
If I remember right, funding from Saddam went to a guy who used it to contribute to McDermott’s defense fund
According to the indictment, Al-Hanooti drafted a plan to undermine the sanctions for the Iraqis, listing members of Congress who would support the move. He then led tours to Iraq, indirectly funded by the Iraqi government, with congressional leaders including Democrats David Bonior of Michigan, Jim McDermott of Washington and Mike Thompson of California. ...Photos of the junket in question were included in a 2003 newsletter published by an organization called Focus on American & Arab Interests & Relations (FAAIR), of which Al-Hanooti was President.
According to the indictment, an intermediary for the Iraqis gave Al-Hanooti $24,000 in September 2002 to cover trip expenses, the indictment alleges. The next month, Al-Hanooti received $10,000 more. The indictment also claims he also was given the right to buy 2 million barrels of oil under Iraq’s Oil for Food program. ——http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993195/posts
I remember this, too. A couple just happened to be driving around with a scanner connected to a tape recorder, and by pure accident recorded a cell phone conversation then drove all the way from Florida to DC to deliver it by hand to McDermott.