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08/31/2007: "American government dependent on Israeli lobbyists"

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior intelligence officials should not be forced to testify about whether they discussed classified information with pro-Israel lobbyists, federal prosecutors argued in a closed-door court hearing Friday.

But defense attorneys suggested that top U.S. officials regularly used the lobbyists as a go-between as they crafted Middle East policy. If so, attorneys say, how are Rosen and Weissman supposed to know the same behavior that's expected of them on one day is criminal the next?

The list of Bush administration figures subpoenaed in the case include: Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; Iraq adviser David Satterfield; William Burns, U.S. ambassador to Russia; and retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni. The list also includes Kenneth Pollack, who served on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.

[ Study question: Plato says Democracy becomes oligarchy, invisibly. What's happening here? ]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070830/D8RBID2G0.html