Posted on 03/11/2004 8:30:06 PM PST by Stultis
Published: March 12, 2004
TAKOMA PARK, Md., March 11 — Susan P. Lindauer wore her liberal politics on her sleeve, as well as on her aging Mazda, where bumper stickers proclaimed her unabashed opposition to the Iraq conflict.
"Peace in Iraq through change at home," one said. "War is not the answer," another said.
To her neighbors — who described her as gentle if somewhat lonely — Ms. Lindauer was typical of this left-leaning enclave on the northern doorstep of Washington, a place fondly known by its residents as the People's Republic of Takoma Park.
"Like a lot of us, she questioned whether we had to go to war in Iraq," Thomas Kaufman, 48, a cinematographer who lived across the street, said.
On Thursday morning, F.B.I. agents shattered the suburban calm of Ms. Lindauer's block, arresting her on charges that she tried to spy for Iraq and carting away boxes of her belongings.
Ms. Lindauer, 40, proclaimed her innocence as she was hustled out of an office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation outside Baltimore, telling reporters, "I'm an antiwar activist."
She said she had helped prevent terrorist attacks against the United States and worked to return weapons inspectors to Iraq.
"I stand by my achievements," she said.
What those achievements were remain a mystery in a life filled with complex twists and sudden swerves. The daughter of a former newspaper publisher in Alaska, she graduated from Smith College in 1985, but rarely held a job for longer than a year.
Joe Copeland, who supervised Ms. Lindauer in 1989 when she wrote editorials for The Everett Herald in Everett, Wash., said she was "the most liberal member of the editorial board at the time." Although he found Ms. Lindauer bright and pleasant, Mr. Copeland said, she also could be erratic, disappearing for long unexplained periods of the day.
"I certainly saw some signs of flakiness," he said.
Ms. Lindauer also worked as a reporter, freelance writer or researcher at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Fortune Magazine and U.S. News & World Report. Spokesmen for those publications said her employment was so short few people remembered much about her.
Ms. Lindauer took jobs as a press secretary or speechwriter with Democratic members of Congress, including Representatives Peter A. DeFazio and Ron Wyden of Oregon in 1993 and 1994, Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois in 1996 and Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, for eight weeks in 2002.
In 1994, when Ms. Lindauer worked on Capitol Hill, she became embroiled in a controversy that may have presaged the activity that led to her arrest. At that time, Ms. Lindauer told an online newsletter in 2000, she met a businessman who told her that Syrian-based agents were responsible for the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Libya has since acknowledged responsibility for the bombing.
Ms. Lindauer told the newsletter, the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, that she met Libyan officials in 1995 to discuss what she had learned. As a result, she said, she was placed under surveillance, threatened and even attacked.
In 1998, Ms. Lindauer's father, John, won the Republican primary for governor in Alaska. But he was accused of improperly using his wife's money to finance his campaign, the party withdrew its support, and he finished third in the general election.
In 2001, Ms. Lindauer bought her house here, sharing it with two dogs and a couple who rented a downstairs apartment, neighbors said. She seemed to work in temporary secretarial jobs, neighbors said. But she nurtured ambitions of becoming a writer, showing Mr. Kaufman manuscripts for a children's book and a satirical novel.
One neighbor, Kathleen Moore, called Ms. Lindauer amiably awkward and unassuming. "She seemed too timid to do something like this," Ms. Moore said.
Jo Napolitano contributed reporting from Chicago for this article.
Bu-but I thought if no one remembers you worked somewhere, then that's proof that you weren't there. At least that's what the media told me about GWB's National Guard service.
"I certainly saw some signs of flakiness," he said.
Our party doesn't put up with illegal behavior. The other party absolutely encourages it, then they deny they did it.
That's how they'll defend her. See, her actions couldn't be described as treason because she's liberal and anti-war and therefore meant well.
It's starting to look like she did a whole hell of a lot more than that, Tommy.
I can do signs. They are entirely TX flakey signs.
Actually, they're flint flakes from ancient arrowhead fabrication techniques.
Sorry to interrupt.
Caveat: I am neither a psychiatrist, nor do I play one on television. But, to paraphrase a Supreme Court Justice, "I know a nutcase when I see one."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.