David Frum puts his finger on the reasons for the “leak” to CBS News of the “Israeli spy” story—which has now, as I predicted, slipped off the media radar as suddenly as it appeared.

What seems to be going on here is this: People in the Pentagon broadly discussed proposed American policy toward one of America’s severest Middle Eastern problems — Iran, its terrorism and its nuclear ambitions. In the course of those discussions, they talked to knowledgeable people in many places. Possibly they talked as well to knowledgeable people in the governments of US allies, including Israel.

But there are figures inside the US government who want to see Israel treated, not as the ally it is by law and treaty (Israel like Japan, Australia, and New Zealand is designated a “major non-NATO ally” for intelligence- and technology-sharing purposes) but as the source of all the trouble in the Middle East and the world. They have injected their own hysterical agenda into the reporting of what would otherwise be a story of an FBI investigation that found nothing much.

UPDATE at 8/30/04 9:43:47 am:

The American Thinker has more thoughts on this story: Did CBS smear Israel and AIPAC?

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