Maryland Woman Charged as Iraqi Spy

Break out the old tinfoil hats:

An American citizen was arrested Thursday on charges she
acted as an Iraqi spy, prosecutors said.
Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md. [a
Washington DC suburb], and was to appear in court later in the day in
Baltimore, authorities in New York said.
She was accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi
Intelligence Service and with engaging in prohibited financial
transactions involving the government of Iraq under now-deposed
dictator Saddam Hussein.
According to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan,
Lindauer made multiple visits to the Iraqi Mission to the United
Nations in Manhattan from October 1999 through March 2002.
There, she allegedly met with several members of the Iraqi Intelligence
Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the government of Iraq that
allegedly has played a role in terrorist operations, including an
attempted assassination of former President George H.W. Bush.
Lindauer has not yet been assigned a defense lawyer, prosecutors said.

I wonder if this is the same Susan Lindauer:

Lockerbie: CIA witness gagged by US governmentA
FORMER CIA agent who claims Libya is not responsible for the Lockerbie
bombing is being gagged by the US government under state secrecy laws
and faces 10 years in prison if herevealsanyinformation about the
terrorist attack.
United Nations diplomats are outraged that the US government is
apparently suppressing a potential key trial witness. Diplomats are now
demanding that the CIA agent, Dr Richard Fuisz, be released from the
gagging order. Fuisz, a multi-millionaire businessman and
pharmaceutical researcher, was, according to US intelligence sources,
the CIA's key operative in the Syrian capital Damascus during the 1980s
where he also had business interests.
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.
Lindauer, shocked by Fuisz's claims, immediately compiled notes on the
meeting which formed the basis of a later sworn affidavit detailing
Fuisz's claims. One month after their conversation, in October 1994, a
court in Washington DC issued an order barring him from revealing any
information on the grounds of "military and state secrets privilege".
Congressional aide Lindauer, who was involved in early negotiations
over the Lockerbie trial, claims Fuisz made "unequivocal statements to
me that he has first-hand knowledge about the Lockerbie case". 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 PanAm 103, either in any technical or advisory
capacity whatsoever."
Fuisz's statements to Lindauer support the claims of the two Libyans
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.

I have no idea if Susan Lindauer #1 = Susan Lindauer #2. But the name
isn't THAT common, and they both seem to have ties to the Washington DC
area. It does strike me as somewhat coincidental that this arrest
should come within a month of Libya's sudden transition from rogue
state to Exemplary Middle Eastern Ally. It certainly sounds like
there's a Susan Lindauer out there somewhere who's got some pretty
intense things to say about Libya and the Lockerbie bombing.
UPDATE: More info on the charges against her here.

UPDATE II: Looks like I'm not a ranting crazy guy after all. Lindauer definitely has ties in Washington DC:

A former journalist and ex-congressional press secretary
was arrested Thursday on charges she acted as an Iraqi spy before and
after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, accepting $10,000 for her work,
prosecutors said Thursday.
Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md.,
and was to appear in court later in the day in Baltimore, authorities
in New York said.
She was accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi
Intelligence Service and with engaging in prohibited financial
transactions involving the government of Iraq.
Lindauer worked at Fortune, U.S. News & World Report and the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer before beginning her career as a political
publicist. She worked for then U.S. Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., before
joining the office of former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun as press
secretary in 1996.
Chris Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Wyden, now a senator, said the office
had heard Thursday of Lindauer's arrest and expected to issue a
statement later in the day.
"She worked for us a short period of time," he said.
Moseley-Braun's current spokesperson, Loretta Kane, said the former
senator does not remember Lindauer.

(thanks to BadMatt for the link)

Posted by flow Frazao on March 11, 2004 at 11:16 AM | Permalink