Susan Lindauer
Susan Lindauer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 July 1963 |
| Occupation(s) | Author, journalist, and activist |
| Parent(s) | John Howard Lindauer Jackie Lindauer (1932-1992) |
| Relatives | Andrew Card, second cousin |
Susan Lindauer (born 17 July 1963) is an American journalist, author, and antiwar activist.
In 2003 she was accused of conspiring to act as an unregistered lobbyist for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions with the government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.[1][2] This resulted in the invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or 'IEEPA'.
In 2005, Lindauer was imprisoned without trial on a military base for one year, during which time the US DOJ altered the issue from guilt to competence. During her arbitrary incarceration, Lindauer found herself defending not her innocence, but her mental competence. Twice-judged incompetent, Ms. Lindauer fought and won the right to refuse forced medication[3][4] and was released in 2006.
Personal life
She is the daughter of John Howard Lindauer II, the newspaper publisher and former Republican nominee for Governor of Alaska.[5][6] Susan's mother was Jackie Lindauer (1932–1992) who died of cancer in 1992. In 1995 her father married Dorothy Oremus, a Chicago attorney who along with other members of her family owned the largest cement company in the Midwest.[6]
Lindauer is also a second cousin of former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.[7]
Education and employment
Lindauer attended East Anchorage High School in Anchorage, Alaska, where she was an honor student and was in school plays.[8] She graduated from Smith College in 1985. She earned a masters degree in public policy from the London School of Economics.[1] She worked as a temporary reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for 13 weeks in 1987, and as an editorial writer at the The Everett Herald in Everett, Washington in 1989. She then was a reporter and researcher at U.S. News & World Report in 1990 and 1991.[6][8][9][10]
She then worked for Representative Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon (1993) and then Representative Ron Wyden, D-Oregon (1994) before joining the office of Senator Carol Moseley Braun, D-Illinois, where she worked as a press secretary and speech writer.[6][9]
Claims of working as a U.S. asset
Susan Lindauer claims that for years, she was working as a U.S. asset for two agencies (CIA, DIA). She claims she was in communications with the Iraqi government serving as a "back channel" in negotiations. Ms. Lindauer claims that this was the basis upon which she started making visits to the Libyan Mission at the United Nations in 1995.[9] She claims these meetings were ongoing for years, until 2001. She claims that some of the meetings included talks with Iraqi Intelligence Service officials at the United Nations.[1] There is no independent verification for her claims.
It is notable that her offer to act as a back channel in letters to her relative, Andrew Card who was then working as Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush in the White House, is what led to her arrest and charges of conspiring to act as an unregistered lobbyist. In his decision which found Lindauer mentally incompetent to stand trial (but which rejected the request made by prosecution to force her to take medication so as to become competent to stand trial), Judge Michael B. Mukasey noted that the severity of Lindauer's mental illness, which he described as a "lengthy delusional history," weakened the prosecution's case. In his decision he wrote, "Lindauer... could not act successfully as an agent of the Iraqi government without in some way influencing normal people.... There is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone, or could have. The indictment charges only what it describes as an unsuccessful attempt to influence an unnamed government official, and the record shows that even lay people recognize that she is seriously disturbed."
Arrest
On January 8, 2003, she delivered a letter to Andrew Card. In her letter, she urged Mr. Card to intercede with President George W. Bush to not invade Iraq, and offered to act as a back channel in negotiations.
It was specifically this action which led to her being charged with acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign government. This action is the U.S. legal code enforced against spies, but applies to anyone who tries to act as an unregistered lobbyist.[11][12] Andrew Card is her Ms. Lindauer's second cousin. Her first politically-related contact with former Chief of Staff was around 2001.[1]
Lindauer was arrested on Thursday, 11 March 2004 in Takoma Park, Maryland and charged with "acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government". The indictment alleged that she accepted US$10,000 from Iraqi intelligence services in 2002. Lindauer denies receiving the money, but admits taking a trip to Baghdad, claiming it was on behalf of her work as a U.S. asset.[1] She was released on bond on March 13, 2004, to attend an arraignment the following week.[2]
In 2005 she was incarcerated in Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas, for psychological evaluation then moved to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.[12] In 2006, she was released from prison after Michael B. Mukasey ruled that Lindauer was unfit to stand trial and could not be forced to take antipsychotic medication to make her competent to stand trial.[5][12]
In 2008, Loretta A. Preska of the Federal District Court in New York City reaffirmed that Lindauer was mentally unfit to stand trial.[6][13]
On January 16, 2009, the government decided to not go ahead with the prosecution saying "prosecuting Lindauer would no longer be in the interests of justice."[5][14]
Book
Lindauer has written and self-published a book "Extreme Prejudice: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover-Ups of 9/11 and Iraq" about her experience.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d e Samuels, David (August 29, 2004). "Susan Lindauer's Mission To Baghdad". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b "Suspect in Iraq Spy Case Released. Lindauer, a Takoma Park Antiwar Activist, to Be Arraigned Monday". Washington Post. March 13, 2004. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Overriding Mental Health Treatment Refusals: How Much Process is Due; Brakel, Samuel Jan; Davis, John M. 52 St. Louis U. L.J. 501 (2007-2008).
- ^ [Unreasonable: Involuntary Medications, Incompetent Criminal Defendants, and the Fourth Amendment]; Klein, Dora W. 46 San Diego L. Rev. 161 (2009)
- ^ a b c "Case Dropped Against Md. Woman". Washington Post. January 17, 2009. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d e "Ex-journalist in spy case unfit for trial". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. September 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Lindauer, Susan (2011-02-17) Tea Party Crashes: The Most Unpatriotic Act, LewRockwell.com
- ^ a b "Suspect is remembered as worldly". Anchorage Daily News. March 13, 2004. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c Dao, James (March 12, 2004). "An Antiwar Activist Known for Being Committed Yet Erratic". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Neighbor Seemed Activist, Not Agent". Washington Post. March 12, 2004. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Stevenson, Richard W.; Lichtblau, Eric (March 12, 2004). "Ex-Congressional Aide Accused of Working With Iraqi Intelligence Before War". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c Hartocollis, Anemona (September 9, 2006). "Ex-Congress Aide Accused in Spy Case Is Free on Bail". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Weiser, Benjamin (September 16, 2008). "Woman Accused of Iraq Ties Is Ruled Unfit for Trial Again". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Neumeister, Larry (January 16, 2009). "Case dropped against aide accused of helping Iraq". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Lindauer, Susan. "Extreme Prejudice". Retrieved 2010-12-01.
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