Is there a connection between that Maryland Iraqi agent Lindauer & some posters at TOF?

Posted by: Fritz ®

03/13/2004, 10:48:31

Maryland Town Shocked Over Spying Accusations

By The Assorted Press
March 13, 2004

TAKOMA PARK, Md. (TAP) -- The affluent, liberal-Democrat city of Takoma Park is home to leftwing activists and war-on-terrorism opponents, but charges that a resident was an agent for the Iraqi government has drawn surprise and skepticism in the Washington, D.C., suburb.

``Liberal-Democrats in Takoma Park are very committed to anti-Conservatism and getting war-monger Bush out of the White House,'' said Ruth Lessness, member of a local Socialist group. ``That is more like the type of person who lives in Takoma Park rather than a spy.''

Federal charges brought Thursday against Susan Lindauer, a former journalist and Democrat congressional staffer, allege she accepted $10,000 from the Iraqi government and plotted to aid resistance groups loyal to Saddam Hussein.

Acquaintance,
Veronica Knobblicker described Lindauer as a gentle, ``earthy'' peace activist who reminded her of Barbra Streisand.

``I was really shocked to hear she was arrested,'' Knobblicker said. ``If she did do anything wrong, she probably felt like a liberal and thought she wasn't doing anything wrong.''

Lindauer was released Friday on $500,000 bail to the custody of her father. She underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation Thursday.

She is accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq under Saddam. The most serious charge carries a 10-year maximum sentence.

Lindauer said she was innocent and Republicans were out to get her and in an interview with a television station shortly after her arrest, and said she has worked to stop President Bush's war on Saddam's freedom fighters. She has since declined to comment.

The charges also have shaken some liberal-Democrats and Bush-bashing posters at the influential Internet Patriot political forum.

A spokesperson for John Yeast Hog of the Patriot Forum group of Anti-War liberals said Hog was worried about being connected to someone like Lindauer.

"We just want Bush to get out of Iraq and return the rightful, elected ruler, Saddam Huessein to power. We don't know whether the Republicans are on a fishing expedition to go after all who raised opposition to the war,'' he said.


(Assorted Press political reporter, Warren Peace, contributed to this report.)

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