War and politics from a left-Christian perspective: Should Joe Biden be tried for treason?

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Should Joe Biden be tried for treason?

By Richard Edmondson

At the risk of sounding like some crazed, oxycontin-popping right-wing talk show host, I would like to suggest—very coldly and soberly—that Joe Biden should be charged with treason against the United States. The basis for the charge could start with Biden's statement, on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, that "there is no space between the United States and Israel." In making such a comment, Biden has virtually ensured that if Israel attacks Iran, America will be blamed. How can it be in America's best interest for the second highest ranking official in the land to so publicly express his unswerving devotion and allegiance to a country with such an atrocious human rights record?

Should Israel attack Iran, there is a very real possibility it will commit war crimes such as those carried out in Gaza in January of '09. What repercussions would this have? The Muslim world naturally will view any Israeli attack on Iran as being at least tacitly supported by the U.S.—and even should there be any lingering doubts about that in some quarters, Biden has now dispelled them. Does the vice president care that this could result in "blowback" on innocent Americans? Does it matter to him that an unprovoked attack on Iran, by either Israel or the US, will make us less safe from terrorism, rather than the reverse? If Joe "I'm a Zionist" Biden feels so passionately about the interests of a foreign nation, he should renounce his US citizenship and emigrate to that country.

Another unfortunate aspect of these comments are their timing. The vice president perhaps is oblivious to the fact that his arrival in Israel and the sputtering of his contemptible remarks come on the eve of a civil lawsuit—set to begin today—in the case of Rachel Corrie. Rachel's parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, are presently in Israel in an effort to press forward a case that has taken 7 years to bring to trial. Does Biden give two hoots about a young American girl brutally crushed to death by an Israeli soldier operating a bulldozer? Does he care that the Gaza doctor, Ahmed Abu Nakira, who treated Rachel after her injury and confirmed her death, has been refused entry to give testimony at the trial? These things went unmentioned by the vice president at his press conference, though perhaps they just slipped his mind. "There is no space between the United States and Israel." Quoth Joe Biden.

In a footnote to his book, Foreign Agents, Grant Smith reports that Biden's career campaign donations from pro-Israel PACs total $101,007. (Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal, published 2007 by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, Inc., reference note #217). By Washington standards, that is probably not a lot of money for a career spanning more than 30 years, as Biden's has. But Smith supplies this particular reference note in the context of a larger discussion about the Free Flow of Information Act of 2006, which Biden supported in the Senate. The legislation was introduced ostensibly with the objective of guaranteeing "the free flow of information to the public through a free and active press," but Smith discusses how it could be exploited by attorneys representing Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who had been charged with trafficking in classified information.

The Act seems to be uniquely tailored to AIPAC's claims that it pursues initiatives in the interests of the US and Israel, which it claims are "the same." It is also not surprising that the bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing this legislation collectively received over $1,330,774 in career Israel AstroTurf PAC money. (Smith, Foreign Agents, p. 148)

The charges against Rosen and Weissman ended up being dropped in May of 2009. To what extent the Free Flow of Information Act factored in the court's decision is perhaps subject to debate, however, a report by CBS News, entitled Feds Drop Charges in AIPAC Spy Case, contained the following:

Weissman's lawyer, Baruch Weiss, called the dismissal a "huge victory for the First Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees free speech rights. Had Rosen and Weissman been convicted, he said it would have set a precedent for prosecuting reporters any time they obtained information from government officials that was later deemed too sensitive to be disclosed.

When do members of Congress ever get terribly concerned about protecting the First Amendment? Apparently when Israel's interests are at stake, is when. Now that Rosen and Weissman have gone free, perhaps Joe Biden should stand in the docket in their place.