NSA TRANSLATOR COULD BLOW WHISTLE ON DENNIS HASTERT BRIBE
by Brad Blog
Bay Area Indymedia, CA
Oct 30 2007
Attention CBS 60 Minutes: we’ve got a huge scoop for you. If you
want it.
Remember the exclusive story you aired on Sibel Edmonds, originally on
October 27th, 2002, when she was not allowed to tell you everything
that she heard while serving as an FBI translator after 9/11 because
she was gagged by the rarely-invoked "States Secret Privilege"?
Well, she’s still gagged. In fact, as the ACLU first described her,
she’s "the most gagged person in the history of the United States
of America."
But if you’ll sit down and talk with her for an unedited interview,
she has now told The BRAD BLOG during an exclusive interview, she
will now tell you everything she knows.
Everything she hasn’t been allowed to tell since 2002, about
the criminal penetration of the FBI where she worked, and at the
Departments of State and Defense; everything she heard concerning
the corruption and illegal activities of several well-known members
of Congress; everything she’s aware of concerning information omitted
and/or covered up in relation to 9/11. All of the information gleaned
from her time listening to and translating wire-taps made prior to
9/11 at the FBI.
Here’s a handy bullet-point list, as we ran it in March of 2006,
for reference, of what she’s now willing to tell you about.
"People say, ‘why doesn’t she just come forward and spill the beans?’
I have gone all the way to the Supreme Court and was shut down, I
went to Congress and now consider that shut down," she told The BRAD
BLOG last week when we spoke with her for comments in relation to our
story on former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s original attempt to
move a resolution through the U.S. House in 2000 declaring the 1915
massacre of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in Turkey as "genocide."
"Here’s my promise to the American Public: If anyone of the major
networks — ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX — promise to air the
entire segment, without editing, I promise to tell them everything
that I know," about everything mentioned above, she told us.
"I can tell the American public exactly what it is, and what it is that
they are covering up," she continued. "I’m not compromising ongoing
investigations," Edmonds explained, because "they’ve all been shut
down since."
"She’s Very Credible"
She has, in fact, spent years taking every reasonable step to see
that the information she has goes through the proper channels. The
Supreme Court refused to hear her whistleblower lawsuit, even in
light of the Department of Justice forcing the removal of both her and
her own attorneys from the courtroom when they made their arguments
concerning why it was that she still had to remain gagged under the
"States Secrets Privilege."
On the morning that the SCOTUS refused to hear her case, the facade
cracked on the front of the building. In a ridiculously ironic metaphor
which would have been rejected by any credible screen-writer, a chunk
of marble — just above an allegorical statue representing "Order" and
just below the words "Equal Justice" — came crashing to the ground.
She has met with, and told her story to, U.S. senators including
Republican Charles Grassley and Democrat Patrick Leahy, both of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, both who found her extremely credible. 60
Minutes producers may remember when Grassley told them, "Absolutely,
she’s credible…And the reason I feel she’s very credible is because
people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story."
In fact, the FBI itself has done so. Their Inspector General found her
allegations, as described in the unclassified version of his report,
to be "credible," "serious," and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful
review by the FBI."
As far back as 2002, Grassley and Leahy co-wrote letters on Edmonds’
behalf to Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller,
and DoJ Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, calling on all of them to
take action in respect to the allegations she’s made.
"Certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the
United States and its interests and its national security," she said
during an interview an August 2005 interview on Democracy Now. That
comment followed 60 Minutes’ revelation years before alleging that
Edmonds had information revealing that a "Turkish intelligence officer"
she worked with at the FBI "had spies working for him inside the US
State Department and at the Pentagon."
She’s briefed many legislative offices — as well as the 9/11
Commission — in regard to her claims, and now, she says, she’s even
prepared to tell the media "the names of every single Congressional
office who has received the names of the witnesses" to the crimes
she’s detailed.
When we spoke last week, Edmonds seemed to reserve most of her
frustration for Congressman Henry Waxman’s office. Waxman is the
Democratic Chairman of the U.S. House Government Reform and Oversight
Committee.
After briefing members of his security-cleared staff "inside the
SCIF" — a high-security room in the U.S. Capitol, specially
created for discussion of highly sensitive information — Edmonds
says she was told on several occasions, prior to the 2006 Election,
that her case would be one of the first heard in his committee,
once he became Chairman.
"I even gave names of former and current FBI agents who were willing
to go to Waxman’s office and give more information on all of this,"
she said.
"Before the elections, I had a promise from Congressman Waxman’s
office." She claims they told her, before the election, "the only
reason they couldn’t hold hearings, was because the Republicans were
blocking it."
"They said ‘your case will be one of the first ones we will hold
investigations on,’" she told us. Now, however, since the Democrats
have become the majority in the House, Waxman’s office is "going
mum." They won’t even respond to her calls.
The congressman’s office did not respond to several requests for
comment on this story.
Two Other "Well-Known" Congressmen
Aside from the allegations she’s already made concerning Hastert, as
we reported in some detail in early 2006, following up on a Vanity Fair
expose in 2005, Edmonds says there are at least "two other well-known"
members of Congress that she’s prepared to name as well.
"There are other Congressional people, whose names have not come out,"
she explained. "As [Waxman’s office knows] I’ll be able to give them
file numbers and investigations, including investigations by the
IRS. I will be giving details one by one, not just allegations."
"But," she added, "unfortunately nobody wants to have an investigation
like that."
For the record, she told The BRAD BLOG, the other two "well-known
members" are from the House, both Republican, and "one of them is
recently no longer there."
So far, she says, "those names have not been public."
"Kafka-esque"
Since leaving the FBI, and in the wake of her years-long ordeal,
which she frequently describes as "Kafka-esque," Edmonds has founded
the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.
In addition to the support she has received, at various times,
from members of Congress, she’s received a great deal of support
from members of the national security whistleblower community and
government watchdog organizations.
As we reported last Spring, Veteran FBI counterintelligence agent John
Cole has said he’s "talked to people who had read her file, who had
read the investigative report, and they were telling me a totally
different story" than that given publicly by FBI officials. "They
were telling me that Sibel Edmonds was 100 percent accurate," he said,
"management knew that she was correct."
Famed "Pentagon Papers" whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg has described
Edmonds as "extremely credible." In a 2005 interview on KPFA, Ellsberg
said, "FBI agents we’ve talked to have, in every respect that was
raised, have confirmed her story – that she’s a very credible witness."
More than 30 groups, from across the political spectrum — including
the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Citizens for Responsibility
and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), the September 11th Advocates, the Liberty Coalition, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), OMB Watch, Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC) and People for the American Way (PFAW)
— all signed a letter in March of this year calling on the House
Oversight Committee to "hold public hearings into the case of FBI
Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, and the erroneous use of the State
Secrets Privilege to shut down all court proceedings in her case."
That petition was sent almost precisely one year after The BRAD BLOG
originally reported on a public petition to Congress, demanding
they hold public hearings. More than 30,000 people, Edmonds says,
have now signed that petition since it was first announced.
"Exhausted Every Channel"
In a speech given over the Summer in D.C. at the American Library
Association (ALA, video here), Edmonds detailed the "Kafka-esque"
nature of her unprecedented gag-order. Among the information
still-regarded as "classified" under the States Secret Privelege:
the fact that she was a translator for the FBI, where she was born,
what languages she speaks, the date of her birth, the universities
she attended, and the degrees she earned.
In fact, the interview that CBS’s 60 Minutes aired with her in 2004,
was later retroactively classified by the Department of Justice under
the same "privilege"!
But enough is enough. She’s now ready to tell all. To the public. But
not (yet) to us. She will speak, however, to any broadcast network
that would like to have her.
"I have exhausted every channel. If they want to, they can bring
criminal charges against someone who divulges criminal activity,
and see how far they’re going to get."
But will any of the corporate mainstream networks take her up on the
offer? It’d certainly be an explosive exclusive.
"I don’t think any of the mainstream media are going to have the guts
to do it," she dared them.
So whaddaya say 60 Minutes? We’ve given you scoops before that you
ended up turning down — and likely later regretted. Will you be
smart enough to take this one?
"You put me on air live, or unedited. If I’m given the time, I will
give the American people the exact reason of what I’ve been gagged
from saying because of the States Secrets Privilege, and why it is
that I’m the most gagged person in the history of the United States."
"My feeling is that none of them have the guts to do that," she dared
them, before charging, "they are all manipulated."
"I keep using the word Kafkaesque…" she paused, during her speech
at ALA, clearly showing her exasperation, "because…," she continued
slowly, "…I really can’t come up with a better word."
CORRECTION: We had originally described Senators Grassley and Leahy as
members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, when in fact they were,
and are, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee instead. We regret
the error, and have corrected the typo in the above story.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
