Saddam's Democrat 'Spy' Fit to Stand Trial

A former Democrat Senate and Congressional staffer has been ruled mentally fit to stand trial for spying for Saddam Hussein.

An ex-congressional staffer busted for allegedly acting as a spy for Saddam Hussein might be a bit paranoid, but that doesn't mean she's not fit to stand trial, a shrink testified yesterday.

Psychiatrist Richard Ratner told a Manhattan federal judge that he examined Susan Lindauer several times at her request despite her previously being declared mentally incompetent by other mental-health experts.

"I concluded that she was mentally competent," Ratner said.

Lindauer, 45, is fighting to have her day in court, claiming she wants to prove that everything she did was under the supervision of US authorities.

Shocking, isn't it, that a Democrat would aid and abet the enemy?

In case you're unaware of Lindauer, here's the complaint against her from back in 2004.

A former Democratic congressional aide was arrested today on charges that she worked as an Iraqi spy. Susan Lindauer, 41, has been charged with conspiring to work with the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Saddam Hussein's government, according to the below indictment unsealed today by federal prosecutors in New York. Lindauer, arrested this morning at her Maryland home, allegedly met with Iraqi agents during several visits to the country's U.N. mission, where she "accepted various payments" in return "for services provided to the IIS in the course of her ongoing intelligence relationship with them." Lindauer, who also allegedly traveled to Iraq in early-2002 to meet with IIS agents, has previously worked as a press spokesperson for several elected officials, including former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and congressmen Ron Wyden and Peter DeFazio.

The Wikipedia page for this alleged spy claims she's an anti-war activist and journalist.

Lindauer faces up to 10 years in prison on the most serious charge and five years on the lesser charge if she is convicted. Her case is currently active. At the time of this writing, after a very long period with almost no news coverage, her case may be going to court if it is determined that she is competent to stand trial.

She's also a second cousing to former Bush chief of staff Andy Card.

This NY Times article describes her as "committed yet erratic."

Iranian Interference in Iraq

Developments continue with the news of Iranian meddling in Iraq. In the Washington Times, Bill Gertz has Iran Arms Iraqi Insurgents.

The report stated that the Iranians involved in supporting Iraqi extremists are members of the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Tehran's Islamist paramilitary shock troops. The Qods Force is known to back terrorists throughout the Middle East, according to the 16-page report.

A senior defense official said the Iranian terrorist support is "coming from the highest levels of the Iranian government."

Much of the intelligence in the report was obtained in the past several months, including an identity card of a Qods Force member who was captured along with four other Iranian agents in a raid on the group's office in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil last month. The identity card bore the logo of the Qods Force.

"Over the last 60 days, Iranian and Iraqi detainees have told us that the Qods Force provides support to extremist groups in the form of money and weapons," the report said. "Their information included references to Iranian provision of weapons to Iraqi militants engaged in anti-coalition violence, as well as weapons and training to these same militants."

Naturally, Democrats were skeptical, seemingly siding with the Iranians, who would be happy to obliterate them after giving them a thankful pat on the head.

But congressional Democrats on yesterday's political talk shows were immediately skeptical on many points.

"Explosives seem to be flowing into Iraq from Iran, but does it stem from a deliberate government policy or rogue elements within the Iranian government?" asked Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat and Armed Services Committee member, on Fox News.

Both Democratic Sens. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Ron Wyden of Oregon said they feared the Bush administration had doctored the intelligence to support a belligerent policy against Iran.

"I'm worried about that. That's how we got into the mess in Iraq," Mr. Dodd said on CBS, with Mr. Wyden telling CNN that "the administration is engaged in a drumbeat with Iran that is much like the drumbeat that they did with Iraq. We're going to insist on accountability."

No amount of evidence is going to convince the Democrats. Their Bush hatred clouds any better judgment.

Echoing the Democrats, the Iranians responded by rejecting 'baseless' US charges on Iraq bombs. At the same time, they're looking to roll the feckless Europeans once again.

Also related, Amir Taheri writes in the New York Post that Arabs Ally Vs. Persian Power: Countering Iran's Evil Ambition, noting a number of missteps by the Iranians.

The end game is coming sooner than people want to admit in this battle and the Democrats would be wise to watch their public statements. Should they rely more on the words of our enemies than the facts presented by our own intelligence, they are playing a very risky national security game.

UPDATE: Excellent Iran-Iraq roundup from Michelle Malkin.