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 very
now and then events conspire to produce a perfect match, and never
did a defendant and his defense attorney deserve each other more
than John Walker Lindh and John Brosnahan. Lindh, a.k.a. "Johnny
Jihad," has drawn Brosnahan to defend him against the government's
charges of, well, something just this side of treason, at least
for the moment.
Most people
probably don't remember that Brosnahan has been in Washington before,
when he was a prosecutor for the celebrated Iran-Contra Special
Prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh. I remember it better than most, because
I was once called to testify by Brosnahan, and it was a memorable
morning.
Brosnahan was
a relatively late arrival to the Walsh team, and by the time he
got there I had been told that I was no longer considered a "target"
for criminal investigation. So when I was called, it was on the
basis that they had found some new information about something or
other, and they hoped I might be able to help them.
After discussing
a bit of ancient history, Brosnahan got to the point. "Have
you ever heard of a man named Bruce Rappaport?"
I had. A guy
by that name had been involved in a scheme to build a gas or petroleum
pipeline across Iraq, and that scheme had caused some heartburn
for the former Attorney General Ed Meese. Was that the guy Brosnahan
had in mind?
"Right.
Also the person into whose bank account the famous $10 million dollars
was misdirected by Oliver North's secretary, Fawn Hall."
That was news
to me, and I thanked Brosnahan for the information.
"Do you
know him?" Brosnahan continued.
"No,"
I said.
There was then
an embarrassed silence, as Brosnahan and two associates shifted
around in their chairs.
"Are you
sure you don't know him?"
"Believe
me," I said, "Swiss millionaires are not my social set."
More silence
and shifting.
"Well,
you know, he's supposed to be a big Zionist."
Which was the
whole point. I'm Jewish, he's a big Zionist, so we must get together
for conspiracy meetings from time to time, right?
"So?"
"So we
thought you might know him."
That was pretty
much the end of it. And as we walked back to our offices I asked
my lawyer what she thought of that, and she said that if she hadn't
actually been there she would never have believed it.
Which is why
I think Johnny Jihad has the perfect lawyer. They've got a lot in
common.
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