Runaway scandals

Those readers who haven't had their memories wiped clean by too much Michael Jackson and runaway bride may recall that the FBI was investigating the likelihood that Israel has been spying on the US, using insiders at the Pentagon to feed them classified information, and most likely feeding these same insiders bogus "intelligence" about Iraq, Iran, and Syria. So far the only fish they've caught is a guy named Larry Franklin. It's hard to keep track of this story, because the media pays approximately as much attention to it as they do to that torrid investigation into the White House leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame almost TWO YEARS AGO--that is, practically none.

But, if you're interested, a blog called Xymphora regularly discusses the ins and outs of the Israel-spying-on-the-US case. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether Xymphora is onto something or not. Here's a sample:

Why would supposed American ally Israel want to help the insurgency, or at least part of it? Based on the ideas of Oded Yinon, the plan is to break Iraq up into small, unthreatening mini-states. The Israelis are trying to start an Iraqi civil war. To this end, the Israelis are hoping to pin the Americans in Iraq for as long as possible in a vain attempt to prevent this war. The Americans will only pull out when civil war is inevitable, which will be another huge embarrassment for the Pentagon. On top of that, the slow American defeat in Iraq, based on the perfidity of the Israelis in supporting the insurgency and undermining American counterintelligence in Iraq, is gradually destroying the American military (although no one in the Bush Administration will admit it). This effort means the Israelis are effectively currently engaged in war operations against the United States. This undeclared war by the greatest ingrate in the world, Israel - hundreds of billions of dollars in aid from American taxpayers to Israel, and this is the thanks they get! - has made the paleocons furious, and explains why the neocons have been unable to stop the AIPAC investigation.