American Cassandra – SUSAN LINDAUER'S Story EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW (w/Card letter) "Scoop"

[autorank]

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00266.htm

American Cassandra –
Susan Lindauer’s Story

"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products
in August” said' Andrew Card, center, former Bush Chief of Staff, referring
to the public relaitons campaign to attack Iraq. 9/2002

Part 1 of a 2 part series

By Michael Collins
“Scoop” Independent News
Washington, D.C.

Above all, you must realize that if you go ahead with this invasion, Osama bin Laden will triumph, rising from his grave or seclusion. His network will be swollen with fresh recruits, and other charismatic individuals will seek to build upon his model, multiplying those networks. And the United States will have delivered the death blow to itself. Using your own act of war, Osama and his cohort will irrevocably divide the hearts and minds of the Arab Street from moderate governments in Islamic countries that have been holding back the tide. Power to the people, what we call “democracy,” will secure the rise of fundamentalists. Susan Lindauer’s last letter to Andrew Card, January 6, 2003*

Susan Lindauer sent her eleventh and last letter on the Iraqi political situation to then Bush chief of staff Andrew Card on January 6, 2003, just two months before General Franks gave the command to invade on March 20, 2003. She’d sent ten other letters on Iraq to Card, her second cousin, over a two year period.

SNIP

Lindauer was arrested on March 17, 2004, fifteen months after the last letter to Andy Card and two years after the trip to Baghdad referenced in the indictment. She was charged with “conspiring to act and acting as an unregistered agent of the government of Iraq” and “forbidden financial transactions” with Iraq totaling $10,000 relating to those acts. The charges cover the period of October, 1999 through February 2004.

SNIP

Lindauer has consistently maintained her innocence throughout this entire affair. After seven months at FMC Carswell, she had a hearing with Judge Mukasey in early May 2006. The psychiatrists at the federal prison facility wanted to force her to take psychotropic medication, a position strongly supported by the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case. She vigorously objected to this, which was the basis for the May hearing. The government’s rationale for forced medication and the treatment at Carswell FMC will be discussed in more depth in the second part of this series.

SNIP

The Judge ordered that Lindauer be released from jail. She remains free to this day. Through former U.S. Attorney Brian Schaunnessy of Washington, D.C., she is seeking a trial on the charges levied and sees that as a public forum to verify her story and clear her name.

Susan Lindauer’s Story

SNIP

Susan Lindauer and I met on two occasions for a total of about six hours. In addition, there was an additional two hours of phone contact to assure that I accurately represented her story. She says this is the first time anyone contacted her for an in depth interview on her story and experience.

She was engaging, articulate, and energetic during the interviews and follow up calls. In this article, I present her story as she told it to me. In part two of the series, I cover her confinement at FMC Carswell, examine how the initial round of her case was handled, including Judge Mukasey’s dismissive remarks about the merits of the case against her. I will also present information from individuals who support her character and knowledge of Lockerbie and Iraq and offer some speculation on motives and handling of her arrest.

What follows is neither a brief in favor of her case, nor is it a fishing expedition to generate cheap shots regarding her claims. It’s simply her story.

SNIP


Image

Lockerbie, Scotland and the Bombing of Pan Am 103

SNIP

During the lead up to the trial, Lindauer had serious questions about the guilt of the Libyans that she helped secure for trial. She says, “Other Arab contacts told me that Mohammed Abu Talb, Abu Nidal, in addition to Ahmed Jibril were the key to this awful crime.”

In 1998, she provided U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan with a deposition containing information that she obtained from Dr. Richard Fuisz. This was prior to Annan’s visit to Libya which Lindauer says was for a meeting to discuss the Lockerbie trial with Gadaffi. In the deposition, she offered this: “(Fuisz) says freely that he knows first hand that Libya was not involved in any capacity whatsoever. It's my understanding that he can provide further details regarding his part in the investigation, or details identifying the true criminals in this case.”

However, Fuisz was the subject of a 1990’s gag order and required specific permission from the U.S. in order to give a sealed deposition for the Lockerbie trial.

Lindauer’s statement on Lockerbie caught the attention of the Scotland’s Sunday Herald:

(In 1994) One month before a court order was served on him (Fuisz) by the US government gagging him from speaking on the grounds of national security, he spoke to US congressional aide Susan Lindauer, telling her he knew the identities of the Lockerbie bombers and claiming they were not Libyan. Sunday Herald May 28, 2000

Her position was not that different than an analysis offered in Time Magazine in 2002. Both she and Time speculate that Ahmed Jibril, a Palestinian resistance leader allied with Syria, was responsible for the bombing. Time magazine even suggested that the terrorist act was a “hit” on a special U.S. military group seeking to free American hostages held in Lebanon.

SNIP

An Opening to Iraq

After Lockerbie, Lindauer says her work focused exclusively on Iraq, although she’d started contact with Iraqi diplomats at the U.N. in August, 1996. She followed her previous approach and sought out diplomats at the Iraq mission to the U.N. Her assignment was to help gain a resumption of weapons inspections based on the rigorous standards outlined by the U.S. She also made a trip to Iraq one year before the U.S. invasion.

During 2000, Lindauer began her efforts to cultivate Iraqi contacts for better relations with the U.S. She described an extraordinary opportunity that might have changed the entire direction of U.S. - Iraq relations. As the secular dictator of an Arab state, Hussein was not fond of Islamic terrorists. Lindauer reported to her U.S. contacts that the Iraq government would welcome an F.B.I. taskforce into Baghdad. She reported further, that “The F.B.I. would be able to interview witnesses and make arrests.” Further, she says that:

Iraq also offered banking records and proof of financial transfers that would prove Middle Eastern involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing and the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.

SNIP

Cassandra

A year before the invasion, in March 2002, Lindauer took a trip to Iraq to meet with government officials. She smiled broadly as she affirmed the value of that mission: “It would be regrettable if the US government lied about its knowledge of this trip.” She paused and smiled again, “We can prove their total awareness.”

Lindauer sent 11 letters to Card staring in 2001 leading her to pose this question: “If he wanted to discourage me to stop talking to the Iraqis, all he had to do was say so.”

In the final letter sent to Card, Lindauer delivered her accurate prediction of the results of the invasion she worked to avoid – a disaster in Iraq fueling resistance groups hostile to the U.S. along with a revival of al Qaeda.

She accurately estimated the true value of the exile groups cultivated by the Bush administration and, in the case of Ahmed Chalabi, used almost exclusively by New York Times writer Judith Miller as the basis for her discredited claims in New York Times that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Once U.S. bombing starts, the Iraqi exiles will have no credibility as leaders. None whatsoever. They will be hated as pawns of the United States, and my God, let me tell you Arabs can hate. A U.S. victory will never be sweet for long. Lindauer letter to Card, January 6, 2003*

She argued passionately, with dramatic emphasis, that there was a deep well of hostility towards the U.S. as a result of deaths caused by U.S. supported U.N. sanctions from 1990 through March 22, 2003. This is a story not well covered in the U.S. press but one with palpable results for the people of Iraq.

That hatred has kindled deeply because of the sanctions, Andy. Sanctions have killed 1.7 million human beings, including almost one million little children. Stop and think. What would an American father do to the man who killed three of his children, once that father could finally lay hands on the aggressor? Would he throw candy in the streets? No, he’d beat him to death and stab him 100 times until his arms were sore. And then he’d look for the next man, stalking until the right moment. In Baghdad, I met a man who lost 8 members of his immediate family in one year. That’s right, eight dead in ONE year. Multiply that by 20 million people.” Lindauer letter to Card, January 6, 2003*

While the Department of Justice questions Lindauer’s role as a cooperator with U.S. Intelligence and a question was raised about her ability to “influence anybody,” there can be little doubt about her analysis and predictions concerning post-war Iraq. Just in this final letter, she nailed down the myth of the exiles and their role in building a new Iraq, the extreme hostility of Iraqis toward the U.S. presence and personnel, and the resurrection of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Whatever her sources and inspiration, Susan Lindauer is truly an American Cassandra.

*Susan Lindauer’s last letter to Andrew Card, January 6, 2003

END

Permission to reproduce in whole or part with a link this article in Scoop Independent News and attribution of authorship to Michael Collins.


Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0710/S00266.htm

[PDJane]

1. So many honourable and upright people

Worked to prevent the war with Iraq that there should not have been a war. Susan Lindauer, Scott Ritter, Mary Anne Wright...it's long past time to get Bush and Cheney and their enablers out of the white house.

[autorank]

3. It's a littany of destruction ... a sad story all around.

Part 2 covers the the forced hospitalization, entirely over the top.

[notadmblnd]

2. Judge Mukasey... isn't he the nominee for the AG position?

Must be his payoff for shutting her up?

[autorank]

4. He actually let her go and stopped the government from forcibly medicating her.

He bought the shrink testimony at the initial hearing and then, after seven months, issued an
"Order & Opinion" that devastated the government psychiatrists and prosecution. He basically said
that they distorted her charges by charging her in the same document as two Iraqi intel agents that
she'd never met and that the government never claimed she met. He also ripped a new one in the
shrink testimony. Set her free.

She seeks a trial to prove her story true.

The initial hospitalization was a clear mistake and was corrected. The government won't leave her alone though. They're trying to stop her form changing her attorney...WTF?

[tom_paine]

9. That's how I read it, too. Mukasey acted honorably.

It happens. And while the Royal and Loyal Bushies are closer to cartoon charcter villainy that I ever thought I would see in America in my lifetime, I imaginethat the farther you get away from the Imperial Family and their Inner Circle, occasionally semi-honorable people orpeople who's cosnciences will only let them go so far (Asst. AG Comey, for example).

One can't judge a man based on one incident read about in a newspaper but it is a good sign that maybe Mukasey isn't as much of a wretched criminal as the rest of them.

[annabanana]

16. It's information like this that make me hope that

Mukasey will blow into the Justice Department like a clean breeze. I will probably disagree with his Conservative political views, but I am hoping I can trust him as an Ameican with special regard for the Constitution.

[truedelphi]

31. Perhaps he'll prove himself helpful if he follows the

REAL and PURE form of conservatism - remember it was the more conservative Supreme Court Judges
who looked favorably at medical marijuana issues and holding off eminent domain, while the supposed Democrats on the SCOTUS caved on those issues.

And we all know he certainly could not be worse than Gonzo (though that is, of course, faint praise.)

[cali]

27. Jeez. Try reading the article. n/t

[notadmblnd]

29. Why so catty?

The OP managed to correct me with out being a snot. Why did you feel compelled to respond too? I don't have the luxury of sitting on the internets all day reading lengthy articles, hence I made a faulty assumption in the form of a question (my way of asking if it was correct), which the OP managed to politely correct without offending. Why is it that some people feel the need to put down people who make mistakes? Is it because they only feel good about themselves when they're making others feel bad? So you're superior to me because you read the entire article... good on you. Thanks for your response, it was about as valuable as mine was.

[Me.]

5. Your Best Ever

I commend you

[autorank]

6. Thanks!

We'll be hearing from Ms. Lindauer in the future. She's demanding a new trial. The government must
be afraid since they're denying her right to change from her court appointed lawyer to a DC heavy weight. Now why would they do that?

Love to see a real public hearing on all the facets of her story.

:hi:

[Me.]

8. Why Does She Have To Change Lawyers?

Why can't she just add to her team.

[autorank]

11. Her first lawyer won't seek a trial. The DC guy will, is ready to go.

This is simply fascinating. The court appointed shrinks and the prosecutor were adamant on the
mental illness diversion. That stopped the examination of facts and left the field open to criticize
the Democrats and everyone else who opposed the war.

Why did they wait so long to arrest her? Why do they oppose her change in representation? I've never heard of that except when a change is deliberate delay or obviously harmful to the client. Neither reason or anything else negative applies here. Curious.

:hi:

[Me.]

12. Legal Proceedings Against 1st Lawyer?

Ethics charges?

[Hissyspit]

7. K&R

Off to the Greatest Page.

[autorank]

25. Thank you Hissyspit for that critical vote!!!

:hi:

[bleever]

10. Outstanding.

Simply outstanding work. I'm speechless (but just for the moment).

Recommended. With pride and admiration.

[autorank]

18. Thank you!!!!!

This is quite a story....the government comes to you and says, "You're life doesn't exist and, btw,
you're guilty of terrible crime which you can't understand." Susan Lindauer understood quite a bit
based on my meetings with her. She wants a trial (not "The Trial") and she deserves it. At a
recent hearing on the case in NY (new judge, Mukasey is not on the case any more), her court
appointed attorney moved to stop her form getting a new lawyer, a highly competent former U.S.
Attorney from D.C. Now what the heck is that about? I've heard of not letting people change
from their attorney to self representation but never a court appointed attorney opposing a change
to a well regarded private attorney. Something very fish there.

We'll hear more from Lindauer. But how about that opening paragraph - how dead on does it get?

[bleever]

19. She was amazingly prophetic

of the exact consequences we have come to witness.

Many of us were expecting such things, but to read her words to her cousin, the guy who set up the White House Iraq Group, is to see an astounding moment in history.

Tremendous work, my friend. I didn't think her story would see the light of day again.

[autorank]

20. She's ready to tell it. And it will be ongoing...

This was her first full recounting. There were certain points related to litigation where she set
a clear boundary with me but not that many. This is her story. Let's see what the government can
do when they stop hiding behind court appointed psychiatrists who have not actually investigated the
events that they say didn't take place. I just told her story as she told it. It's fairly complicated
and I made sure that I got it right. She was more than helpful in that regard. Now it's the turn
of the accusers.

The "tell" here, imho, is the inclusion of the two other defendants in her indictment, Iraqis that she
never met and doesn't know. Joseph Cannon picked up on that early on and then Mukasey pointed it out
in the Sept 6, 2007 Order and Opinion. He was a bit dry describing it, As a non lawyer, I find it
outrageous - you include some real bad guys in the indictment and know that commentators will associate
her with them resulting in the discrediting of her story. That was intentional on the part of the
government and gives away some ill intent. Wondner why?

[Blue_In_AK]

13. I wish Susan Lindauer the best.

She is from here and received quite a bit of negative local press at the time of her arrest. I hope she will be fully vindicated.

[autorank]

21. Thanks for your comment.

A lot of the press who wrote about her did so without ever speaking to her. She was confined for an extended period but she got out and she's been available. I'm glad she saw my article on Mukasey and made contact. She was a pleasure to interview and she was most helpful in making sure the story, her story, was correctly narrated.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. I think her reputation may have suffered here

because of issues regarding her father's clouded run for Governor in 1998. I think a lot of people figured that since John was somewhat flaky, the apple may not have fallen far from the tree. She, however, doesn't seem much like him from what I've read -- at least not politically.

[autorank]

23. In my dealings with LIndauer, she was very professional and intelligent.

She's got a passion for her work and getting her day in court to vindicate all that she's said.

I didn't talk with her much about the family but read a bit about her father so I understand the assumptions.

As she points out, she wrote 11 letters to Andy Card but for 1 through 10, nobody asked her to stop. Why not?

And how about this. Lindauer wants a new trial and seeks to dismiss her court appointed attorney for a well respected DC lawyer. Why on earth would the court appointed attorney challenge that. It's virtually unheard of. The Card letter dog didn't bark, but the court appointed attorney puppy is roaring. Very interesting.

Lindauer is checking the verious publication sites and I'm sure she'll be most appreciative of your good wishes above.

[Uncle Joe]

14. Well that's the first I've heard

of Middle Eastern involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Thanks for the thread, autorank

[autorank]

24. Thanks Uncle Joe

Question for you and all: Why would the court appointed attorney resist replacement by a well
respected DC attorney? To me it makes no sense. If Susan Lindauer had said that she wanted to
represent herself instead, there might be an argument (might but these are often granted). But
she's got a former U.S. attorney who she's hired. Strange.

This happened when DC Madam, Palfrey wanted to fire her court appointed attorney for Blair Sibley.

But my understanding is that the choice of counsel is that of the defendant.

[msedano]

15. homer, cassandra, the awful truth

so where is our Hector? Cassandra and her entire city were defeated despite her truths about the war surrounding her home. If the US is lucky, there's no Odysseus on the other side planning to deposit a big horse's ass outside our gates.

thanks for the article.

recommended

mvs


http://readraza.com
http://labloga.blogspot.com

[autorank]

17. I've been waiting for you to show up and clear this up.

Maybe Gore is our Hector, improved. He'll fight for the people rather than the power structure by ending the fight. What a concept. End the war, bring the troops home, get it together here.

If he did that, expelled the nihilists and erected a wall to keep them out he'd be...
Thucydides?

Although Gore is from Carthage...I'l stop now...

[msedano]

30. parallel after parallel

like andromache, aka "man grinder", i can see tipper hassling al to get out there and win something! so poor al, goes out and wins the nobel prize. and tipper says, " how can i censor record lyrics if all you've won is some swedish medal?"

al is running hard to avoid what happened to carthage when aeneas dumped his north african girlfriend, dido, "carthago delendo est" and so the invaders burned dido's city to the ground. kinda like the war of 1812 when the canadian army invaded and burned the white house, only different.

glad that clears up stuff. or that clears stuff up?

mvs

[Joe Chi Minh]

26. Great work, Michael. It seems a shame that the the judge couldn't arraign

at least the psychiatrists for their wickedness. What a wonderful woman that Susuan Lindauer is.

Of course, it's easy now, simply on the basis of first principles, to conclude that the more rational her analysis, the more unwelcome it would have been, ipso facto, but if The Onion could barely scratch the surface of their surreal dreamscapes, how could anyone else?

A doctor in general practice, here in the UK, by the name of Jim Swire, lost his daughter in the Lockerbie disaster, but has long been convinced of the total innocence of the Libyan national currently imprisoned here, and is doing whatever he can to help him.

I believe the findings of the trial in the Netherlands are being reviewed because testimony concerning the trigger mechanism, which would have completely exonerated the man, was purposely withheld.

Ironical that this massive threat to the US economy, reported today, is another of the dire consequences of the schemers delusions. Even more ironical, everything's gone to plan - with the exception, imo, of these consequences. Although some people, I believe, more savvy than me in these matters, even believe that indeed such catastrophes were part of their desired goals. That's difficult to credit, but is anything inconceivable now?

[autorank]

28. "Surreal dreamscapes"

You've hit on it...sanctions for psychiatrists when they make a mistake like that. It's quite
something isn't it? No threat to self or others, yet locked away for "evaluation." That would be
political evaluation, political correctness in the form of not causing problems until they want
the problems patched into the larger scheme.

You're right about the withheld evidence. Part of it was that the witness who identified the Libyan
found guilty could not have seen him at the time he claimed. If you click on that Scottish criminal
review link (the one with the initials), it lists what went wrong. That's a pretty heavy sanction
for a high profile trial.

Thanks for your insights!

PS. I like the Scotsman web site. Please tell me they're not Blairites. Also, I commented to you
some time ago that Brown seemed a bit of an improvement since he'd renounced the unilateral ability
to make war. Apparently that was meaningless as I hear he's neck deep in some provocation activity
vis a vis Iran. What a guy. Blair with a brain. We're in trouble, still;)

[truedelphi]

32. Yes some individuals do believe that

"that indeed such catastrophes were part of their desired goals."

It is about the only theory that makes sense.

There may be chaos in Iraq, but the chaos has benefitted so many, from Bremer to
Halliburton. Nine billion reasons I can think of for that chaos, each one of them with
Washington's picture on it.

[truedelphi]

33. Most excellent work, Auto.

I've been off the system for 48 hrs and the error message says "you cannot recommend topics"
that are active after the first 24 hours.

This work deserves a hundred accolades.

[notadmblnd]

34. Do you still think he might be one of the good guys?

Source: Congressional Quarterly

Democrats Dismayed by Mukasey�s Views on Executive Power

By CQ Staff Thu Oct 18, 3:41 PM ET

Attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey signaled Thursday he shares the administration�s expansive view of President Bush�s authority to withhold information from Congress, skirt federal statutes and authorize harsh interrogation techniques.


The retired federal judge�s statements, during the second day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, put him at odds with the Democrats who will decide whether Mukasey succeeds Alberto R. Gonzales as the head of the Justice Department.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20071018/pl_cq_politics/demo... ;_ylt=AuBkmLAP7qfO_mWLCqxj_zms0NUE


thanks to fellow Du'er rodeodance

on edit: correct link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20071018/pl_cq_politics/democratsdismayedbymukaseysviewsonexecutivepower

snip: Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told Mukasey that �it sounds like, overnight, you�ve gone from being agnostic, as you and I have gone back and forth since our first meeting on this question, to holding what is a rather disturbing view.�

Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., asked Mukasey whether some interrogation techniques the administration has reportedly used on terrorism suspects � which critics say amount to torture � violate the Geneva Conventions. Mukasey hedged, saying he did not know the Geneva articles or the techniques well enough.

That prompted Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse to describe the technique of simulated drowning known as waterboarding and then ask Mukasey whether it is unconstitutional.

�If it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional,� Mukasey said.

�I�m very disappointed in that answer,� Whitehouse shot back. �I think it is purely semantic.�
Source: CQ Today Midday Update

[shance]

35. Something's strange about this article. Why no quotes by Susan?

If this is her first interview, why not a quote?

An interview should provide quotes by the interviewee.

Other things claimed in this article about the Oklahoma bombing don't add up and coincide with Susan's activism and her Lockerbie stance as well.