September 1, 2000

2:52 AM

Wen Ho Lee Singled Out......but not on MTV, oh no no no. Amazing how long it's taken for the case against him to fall apart. It's been like water torture, the steady drip of accusations. The first clue that it wasn't gonna happen was the idea that he might have been padding his résumé. Dig how one of the agents compares the snafu to an earlier spy case where the suspect was white. I think we're looking at one, maybe two mid-level resignations over this -- and zero noise from the presidential candidates.
posted by allaboutgeorge (2 comments total)

I've always wondered why they'd think a Taiwanese-American would want to pass information to the Chinese. It's like if a Jew was spying for Germany in WWII.
posted by gyc at 10:31 AM on September 1, 2000

GYC: Many here will not know the difference that you point out. It is just not experienced first hand.

Anyhow, I think it was just idiotic to block his release on appeal. He is no greater threat to national security than Bill Clinton, who, via an Executive Order allowed Loral Corp. to launch an American sattelite onboard a Chinese rocket. American scienctist went to China to modify the second stages of the boosters in the Chinese rockets (a technology that can be easily transferred to missiles).

It is just too easy to pick out someone "easily identifiable" from the crowd and label him "one of them" and make him a scapegoat.
posted by tamim at 10:15 PM on September 1, 2000