Will Obama be Charged Under The Logan Act? - Will He be Impeached?

Yesterday's Washington Times reported the following:

According to GeostrategyDirect.com, a newsletter published by The Washington Times' ace national security reporter Bill Gertz, "Diplomatic sources said Barack Obama has engaged several Arab intermediaries to relay messages to and from al Qaeda in the months before his elections as the 44th U.S. president. The sources said al Qaeda has offered what they termed a truce in exchange for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. 'For the last few months, Obama has been receiving and sending feelers to those close to al Qaeda on whether the group would end its terrorist campaign against the United States,' a diplomatic source said. 'Obama sees this as helpful to his plans to essentially withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq during his first term in office.' "

So Obama, before he was elected, was communicating either directly, or indirectly with Al Qaeda? Interesting.

The Logan Act is a United States federal law that forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. It was passed in 1799 and last amended in 1994. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years.

The text of the Act is broad and is addressed at any attempt of a US citizen to conduct foreign relations without authority. However, there is no record of any convictions or even prosecutions under the Logan Act.

Certainly Obama was not authorized to negotiate with Al Qaeda. Then again, they're not a foreign government. So under the strict language of The Logan Act, it would appear Obama is safe. Unless he communicated with Al Qaeda via members of a foreign government. Which is highly likely. How else would one start such negotiations? I mean it's not like Obama has a little black book with terrorists cell numbers. Then again, it is Obama.

This marks the second time in the last 7 months that prosecution of Obama under The Logan Act has become an issue. Last September:

While campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

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