Greg Szymanski / American Free Press – 2006-04-30 00:18:02
( April 27, 2006) — The story of another American political prisoner needs to be told, a story about journalist Susan Lindauer illegally jailed and placed under psychiatric evaluation for urging the US government not to attack Iraq since it had no weapons of mass destruction.
As bizarre as it sounds, it’s true according to Mark Bilk, J. Buford Fields and Janet Phelan, three concerned citizens and activists trying to get Lindauer released from a federal correctional center.
Lindauer, 42, an ex-Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter, former US Congressional aide and a cousin of White House Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, was charged in March 2004 with espionage for conspiring to act as a spy and being an unregistered Iraqi agent.
Although the espionage charge has since been dropped, US prosecutors originally alleged the antiwar activist accepted $10,000 from Hussein’s intelligence unit over five years and sought to support resistance groups after the US invasion of Iraq.
Lindauer always had categorically denied accepting Iraqi money, saying she was framed for wanting to go public about sensitive information she possessed about the illegal Iraqi invasion, as well as information she was going to publish clearly demonstrating that Pan Am Flight 103 was an inside government job and blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Syrians, not Libyans as the US insists.
Lindauer has recently been charged with posing as an unregistered lobbyist, but jailed six months ago even though she has not been convicted of a crime, technically being held for psychiatric observation.
Although the Arctic Beacon has tried to interview Lindauer this week, federal authorities are not allowing her to talk to the media, as she remains essentially a political prisoner, according to the trio of activists fighting for her release, at MCC NEW YORK METROPOLITAN CORRECTIONAL CENTER, 150 PARK ROW, NEW YORK, NY under the inmate number of 56064-054.
“She’s been imprisoned by the federal government for six months for psychiatric evaluation, despite the fact that she was found to be quite sane by a court-appointed psychiatrist who had many sessions with her before her imprisonment,” said Bilk Wednesday on Greg Szymanski’s popular radio show, The Investigative Journal, making a case for Lindauer’s immediate release.
“We are urgently seeking legal representation for Susan Lindauer, a journalist who met with some Iraqis associated with the UN delegation, and then through her cousin Andrew Card, the White House Chief of Staff, urged the US government not to attack Iraq since it had no weapons of mass destruction.
“She has not been tried, much less convicted of a crime. She’s now being held in a New York City federal prison. She’s scheduled for a hearing as early as May 2, next week, to determine whether she should be forcibly drugged.”
The trio of activists finally decided to take to the airwaves on Szymanski’s radio show after becoming fruistrated with the mainstream media who has ignored the case, downplaying its importance.
Lindauer has been jailed since last October for psychiatric evaluation despite the fact she was found mentally competent by a court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Landauer numerous times before her imprisonment.
She is schedule for a May 4 competency hearing in a New York courtroom and Bilk and the others fear she’ll be “locked away as insane” to avoid a trial or public debate on the charges. Further, the hearing is being held to determine if the state will be allowed to forcibly continue administering drugs without her consent.
“I think our only hope is to find a good lawyer before the hearing,” added Bilk.
Janet Phelan, a journalist who became aware of the Lindauer’s struggles, alerting both Bilk and Fields to her political persecution, said Lindauer was trying to use her intelligence sources to warn government officials the Iraqi War was wrong, but it backfired when forces inside the government turned their attack on her.
“Now they want to label her mentally incompetent in order to discredit her,” said Phelan on the Investigative Journal radio broadcast.
Ex-CIA Agent Corroborates Lindauer’s
Charge on Lockerbie Bombing
Besides the Iraqi connection regarding sensitive WMD information and her family ties to the White House Chief of Staff, Lindauer became embroiled with former CIA agent. Dr. Richard Fuisz, who claimed Libya was not responsible for the Lockerbie bombing.
In 2000, a gag order was placed on Dr. Fuisz by the US government under state secrecy laws, facing 10 years in prison if he revealed any information about the terrorist attack.
According to a Sunday Herald article one month before a court order was served on him 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.
The 2000 article, appearing in London but not here, went on to say:
“In her affidavit, she goes on: “Dr Fuisz has told me that he can identify who orchestrated and executed the bombing. Dr Fuisz has said that he can confirm absolutely that no Libyan national was involved in planning or executing the bombing of Pan Am 103, either in any technical or advisory capacity whatsoever.”
“Fuisz’s statements to Lindauer support the claims of the two Libyan accused who are to incriminate a number of terrorist organisations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which had strong links to Syria and Iran.”
The article went on to say that Lindauer said Fuisz told her he could provide information on Middle Eastern terrorists, and referred to Lockerbie as an “example of an unsolved bombing case that he said he has the immediate capability to resolve”.
Lindauer also said that Fuisz told her CIA staff had destroyed reports he sent them on Lockerbie. Lindauer also refers in her affidavit to speculation that the USA shifted any connection to Lockerbie away from Syria to Libya in return for its support during the Gulf war.
“She added that Fuisz told her: “If the [US] government would let me, I could identify the men behind this attack today. I could do the right thing … I could go into any crowded restaurant and pick out these men … I can tell you their home addresses … You won’t find [them] anywhere in Libya. You will only find [them] in Damascus. I was investigating on the ground and I know.”
Regarding her recent connections leading to espionage charges in conspiring with Iraqi terrorists, a charge since dropped, J. Fields who is helping to get Lindauer set free said her publicly defender has “failed to mount any serious defense.”
Writing on a web site compiling a case on her behalf at www.radio4houston.com/Lindauer, Fields added:
“Susan is not charged with espionage or treason. She is charged with being an unregistered lobbyist, and the Justice Department flowered up the indictment. They alleged that she conspired with the sons of the Iraq diplomat representing Iraq in weapons inspection talks. Those sons were not convicted of anything, but were shipped out of the country on immigration charges. Susan’s attorney, I’m told, has no depositions even from them, and he had plenty of time to get the job done before they were deported.
“Susan has witnesses who know her thoughts during the FBI’s attempted counter intelligence sting operation. She told the FBI agent that she knew he was no intelligence officer from Libya, and said same to Park Godfrey, an IT professor who now lives in Toronto, who boarded with her at the time. This is one of her witnesses that her lawyer has refused to interview.
“Her lawyer wants to claim in court that Susan’s insistence that she was trying to work as an asset (or was doing so) for American intelligence agencies is delusional.
“Unfortunately for him, Susan’s connections were well documented by the Scottish court during the Lockerbie trial, where it seems our government, or at least its political leadership, was so eager to not look impotent that they knowingly prosecuted Libyans instead of the Syrians who Susan claimed Dr. Fuisz, reportedly the former Syria CIA station chief, told Susan he knew had planned and executed it.
“Susan provided a deposition to the court, and it is in the Scottish press and court documents, the PDF of the CIA’s letter, not equivocating about Dr. Fuisz’s employment status one bit, but releasing him from his oath of silence in that matter.
“From my point of view, Susan told anybody she could what she was up to. Given the notorious lack of human intelligence assets in Iraq, it seems to me that the likelihood that the CIA was ignorant of what Andy Card’s cousin was up to, is very unlikely. The fact that she did have access to senior diplomats, and the fact that she was Andy Card’s cousin all fits pretty well to argue against delusion. With such access and connections, any peace activist might feel compelled to engage.
“Susan’s Psychiatric records during pre-trial counseling are posted on the website. You will see that the doctor directly addresses the question of psychosis and finds contrary to what her lawyer and the prosecution are alleging.”
For rest of story and more informative articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com
Greg Szymanski also has his own daily show on the Republic Broadcast Network. Go to www.rbnlive.com Greg Szymanski is an independent investigative journalist and his articles can been seen at www.LewisNews.com. He also writes for American Free Press and has his own site www.arcticbeacon.com
Listen to my Radio Broadcast live Monday night at 8pm Pacific time on LewisNews, returning Jan. 1 2006 Radio http://webs.lewisnews.com/radio/index.htm. Greg is also regular on Rense.com the first Thursday of every month at 9-10 pm pacific time.
