ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Review Case of FBI Whistleblower

[Gavur]

Mondo Washington
What’s the Deal With Sibel Edmonds?
Feds, Supreme Court silence an FBI translator who knew too much

by James Ridgeway
November 29th, 2005 3:37 PM

http://villagevoice.com/news/0548,ridgeway,70491,2.html

Mondo Washington
What’s the Deal With Sibel Edmonds?
Feds, Supreme Court silence an FBI translator who knew too much


Video: Sibel Edmonds takes on Ashcroft.
photo: Oorlagh George
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The latest rebuke to Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI translator who has been trying unsuccessfully to make public what she knows about the FBI’s 9-11-related operations, comes from the Supreme Court.
It has declined to hear her court case, thereby letting stand decisions of the lower courts that enforce a silence imposed upon her by the federal government.

The ACLU represented Edmonds. “Sibel Edmonds is a true patriot who deserved her day in court," said ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson, in an official statement. "We are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not see the ongoing danger of allowing the FBI to hide its blunders behind the 'states secrets' privilege."

Even though its own inspector general has found much of what Edmonds has to say to be correct, the Justice Department--first under Attorney General Ashcroft and now under Attorney General Gonzalez--have invoked the arcane States Secrets law to shut her up. The department simply declared everything in her case secret, in the interest of national security.

Here are some of the revelations the government is trying to cover up, gleaned from earlier interviews:


When she was hired by the FBI as a translator after 9-11, Edmonds, a Turkish American born in Iran and fluent in Farsi and Turkish among other languages, discovered an odd network within the FBI where, among other things, relatives of foreign diplomats were working as interpreters. They were translating FBI wiretaps of foreign diplomats suspected of spying. As it turned out, these suspect family members were relatives of the translators--in other words moles working in the translation section.


Edmonds found her own initials forged on improper translations of documents--translations she had never seen before.

Edmonds was startled when what she considered ill-trained and incompetent interpreters were sent to Guantanamo Bay to translate detainee interviews. For example, one Turkish Kurd was dispatched to interpret Farsi, a language he did not speak.

Edmonds learned that a longtime reliable FBI asset who reported on Afghanistan, told FBI agents in April 2001 of al Qaeda’s plans to attack the U.S.

In the course of her work, Edmonds discovered Islamic terrorists might well have become entangled in ongoing international drug and money laundering. She suspects that this knowledge was one of the reasons the Justice Department classified everything in her case.

When Edmonds sought to protest these and other irregularities to her superiors in the FBI, she was called a “xxxxx” by her supervising agent, who told her he would next see her in jail. She was dismissed and escorted out of the FBI building. Edmonds never got a hearing before the 9-11 Commission, though she did have a chance to tell her story, sort of, on the side. A recent federal appeals court hearing on her case was made secret in the interest of national security. All in all, she was cast out as an enemy of the state. To fight back, she has launched a new organization to protect other government whistleblowers.




Copyright © 2005 Village Voice Media, Inc., 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003 The Village Voice and Voice are registered trademarks. All rights reserved. View our privacy policy.

[Gavur]

French police make record 300kg heroin seizure

LILLE, France, Feb 8, 2006 (AFP) - French police have seized more than 300 kilograms of heroin stashed inside a Turkish truck, in one of the largest hauls of the drug ever made in Europe, customs officials said on Wednesday.

The drugs were found last week, concealed inside several sports bags on board a lorry carrying spare car parts to England, as it waited at a ferry terminal in the northern French port of Dunkirk.

The truck's Turkish driver, who was immediately detained, told police the 305 kilos (670 pounds) of white heroin had been planted inside his truck without his knowledge.

The haul of white heroin, which is almost twice as expensive as the brown kind, has a customs value of 12

million euros (14.3 million dollars).

The heroin seizure is one of the five largest in Europe in a decade, and the biggest in France since 1972, when police discovered 425 kilos of the drug in the southern port of Marseille.

Copyright AFP

[Gavur]

World Customs boss admits Azerbaijan "convenient" country for drug trafficking

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
2 Feb 06

World Customs Organization Secretary-General Michel Danet has said
that Azerbaijan is a convenient country for drug transit, private TV
station ATV has reported.

In an interview with the TV on 2 February, Danet said: "The problem
that Azerbaijan is playing a role of a transit country for drug
trafficking exists even today... Various drugs which are now being
smuggled from Afghanistan might most probably be trafficked to European
countries via Azerbaijan".

The secretary-general added that the main task is to root out drug
business in Afghanistan. Otherwise, many countries will be suffering
from this problem for many years.

Danet said that the Azerbaijani customs system does not comply with
the world standards and it will take years to develop it.

[Gavur]

Federal Judge in Libby Trial Deliberately Hides Financial Background

March 22, 2006

Federal Judge in Libby Trial Deliberately Hides Financial Background
Possible Violation of Federal Law Charged by FBI Whistleblower
by Sibel Edmonds

http://www.opednews.com

Today, Sibel Edmonds, Former FBI Language Specialist and a whistleblower, filed a motion in D.C. Federal Court asking for recusal of Judge Reggie Walton from her pending case filed under the Federal Tort Claim Act. Walton is also currently hearing the perjury case involving I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President xxxx Cheney, who is suspected of leaking the name of former CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame Wilson to the media.

Edmonds motion for recusal is based on Judge Walton’s pursuit of secrecy in his required yearly financial disclosure by redacting his entire disclosure statement, his deference to secrecy in his rulings on Edmonds’ previous claims where he was the presiding judge, and the unusual operations of the case assignment system concerning Edmonds’ cases. For the recusal motion filed by Edmonds Click Here

The redaction of Judge Reggie Walton’s entire Financial Disclosure Statement appears to be in violation of the Ethics in Government Act. The Ethics in Government Act requires that Federal Judges file a yearly financial disclosure statement with the U.S. Judicial Conference as a check on conflicts of interest. A disclosure may be redacted only to the extent necessary to protect the individual who filed the report and for as long as the danger to such individual exists. The Financial Disclosure Statement filed by Judge Reggie Walton in 2003 redacts all information except for the date of the filing and Walton’s name. This is highly unusual. According to a recent GAO Report, less than one percent of judges on average request complete redaction of their financial disclosure each year. For Judge Reggie Walton’s 2003 Financial Disclosure, Click Here. For the request letter sent to the U.S. Judicial Conference on March 6, 2006, asking for the release of Judge Walton’s unredacted financial disclosure statement Click Here.

In July 2004, Judge Reggie Walton disposed of Edmonds’ First Amendment case on the basis of the government’s assertion of State Secrets Privilege. On the same day as the decision, Judge Walton quashed a subpoena for Edmonds’ deposition by attorneys representing over 1,000 family members who lost love ones during the terrorist attacks on 9/11. In limiting the deposition in the case, Burnett et al. v. Al Baraka Investment & Development Corp., Judge Walton prevented the 9/11 attorneys from asking a majority of the proposed questions related to the attacks. These included even the most mundane questions, such as:

• When & where were you born?
• Where did you go to school?
• What languages do you speak?
• What did you focus your studies on in school?
• In what capacity have you been employed by the United States Government?

The convoluted route the Edmonds’ case has taken to Judge Reggie Walton’s courtroom appears suspicious and creates the perception that the system has been manipulated. Edmonds’ First Amendment case, filed in July 2002, was assigned to Judge James Robertson who recently resigned from the FISA Court in protest of warrantless NSA eavesdropping. In February 2003, Edmonds’ case was removed from Judge Robertson and reassigned to Judge Walton with no explanation provided. Edmonds filed a motion to request the case to be transferred from Judge Walton, and be assigned to Judge Ellen Huvelle who had been presiding over Edmonds’ related FOIA case since July 2002. The court granted Edmonds’ request and transferred her case to Judge Huvelle. However, two days later, Edmonds’ case was removed from Judge Huvelle and reassigned to Judge Walton with no further information or reason provided. On July 6, 2004, Judge Walton granted the government’s motion to dismiss based on the assertion of the State Secrets Privilege.

In March 2005, Edmonds filed in D.C. Federal Court a separate claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and the case was randomly assigned to Judge James Robertson. However, five days later, Edmonds’ claim was removed from Judge Robertson and reassigned to Judge Reggie Walton. This set of facts reveals apparent violations of local rules governing the assignment of cases.

Sibel Edmonds worked as a language specialist for the FBI’s Washington Field Office. During her work with the bureau, she discovered and reported serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence that had national security implications. After she reported these acts to FBI management, she was retaliated against by the FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Since that time, court proceedings on her issues have been blocked by the assertion of “State Secret Privilege” and the Congress of the United States has been gagged and prevented from any discussion of her case through retroactive re-classification by the Department of Justice.

In January 2005, the Justice Department's Inspector General vindicated Edmonds’ claims when it declared that many of her charges "were supported by other witnesses and documents, and that her allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's decision to terminate her services."

Judge Reggie Walton was nominated to his position as a United States District Court of Columbia Judge in October 2001 by President George W. Bush. He served as President George H. W. Bush’s Associate Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Executive Office of the President and as President Bush’s Senior White House advisor for Crime.

https://www.nswbc.org

Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI language specialist, was terminated from the bureau after reporting security breaches, cover-up, and blocking of intelligence with national security implications. Since that time, court proceedings in her whistleblower case have been blocked by the imposition of “State Secret Privilege,” and Congress has been prevented from discussion of her case through retroactive reclassification by the Department of Justice. Edmonds, fluent in Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani; holds an MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, and a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University.

[Gavur]

Hastert’s Turkish Allies Tied to Bin Laden

“If they were to allow the whole picture to emerge… certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison.” – Sibel Edmonds

By Lynn Grant

08/15/05 "International Post" -- --- CHICAGO, Illinois, Aug 15 (IP) – During the current flurry of September 11th related news, one item has gone largely unnoticed.

Reports of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds’ allegations concerning improper financial ties between House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Turkish officials and businessman have become a source of discontent for beltway insiders on both sides of the aisle.

However, the recent coverage has not addressed why Sibel Edmonds’ information regarding Speaker Hastert’s dealings with the Turks necessitated an in-depth investigation by the September 11th Commission.

In an August 10, 2005 interview about her reported allegations, Edmonds was asked, “What are you alleging about the Speaker of the House?” Though under a strict gag order, she replied:

“I have been giving all the details to the appropriate channels. And they have been confirmed. And what I have said all along is the fact that as far as the 9/11 is concerned, September 11 is concerned, these departments -- and when I say “these departments,” the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense -- have intentionally blocked the investigations of real -- the real criminals in this country. …



Most of al Qaeda’s funding is… through narcotics. And have you heard anything to this date, anything about these issues which we have had information since 1997? And as I would again emphasize, we are talking about countries. And they are blocking this information, and also the fact that certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the United States and its interests and its national security, be it the Department of State or certain elected officials.

While alluding to treason, Edmonds’ reply indicates that her allegations about Speaker Hastert are linked to al-Qaeda and the September 11th attacks.

To understand this link, it is necessary to examine the substance of Mrs. Edmonds’ allegations, as reported in the recent issue of Vanity Fair:

A large part of her work at the F.B.I. involved listening to the wiretapped conversations of people who were the targets of counter-intelligence investigations.…



Many involved an F.B.I. target at the city’s large Turkish Consulate, as well as members of the American-Turkish Council and the Assembly of Turkish American Associates. Some of the calls reportedly contained what sounded like references to large scale drug shipments and other crimes. …



One name, however, apparently stood out – a man the Turkish callers often referred to by the nickname “Denny boy.” It was the Republican congressman from Illinois and Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert.

According to some of the wiretaps, the F.B.I.’s targets had arranged for tens of thousands of dollars to be paid to Hastert’s campaign funds in small checks. Under Federal Election Commission rules, donations of less than $200 are not required to be itemized in public filings.

The Vanity Fair article adds:

The targets reportedly discussed giving Hastert tens of thousands of dollars in surreptitious payments in exchange for political favors and information. …



“She told us she’d heard mention of exchanges of information, dead drops—that kind of thing,” a congressional source says. “It was mostly money in exchange for secrets.” …



There was talk, she told investigators, of laundering the profits of large-scale drug deals and of selling classified military technologies to the highest bidder. …



“There was pressure within the bureau for a special prosecutor to be appointed and take the case on, “the [FBI] official says. Instead, his colleagues were told to alter the thrust of their investigation – away from elected politicians and toward appointed officials. “This is the reason why Ashcroft reacted to Sibel in such an extreme fashion [invoking the rarely used State Secrets Privilege],” he says “It was to keep this from coming out.”

Though a Hastert spokesperson has dismissed Edmonds’ allegations and no evidence is presented confirming Hastert received illegal payments, the article reports on another wiretap in which “a senior official at the Turkish Consulate is said to have claimed in one recording that the price for Hastert to withdraw the resolution [recognizing the Turkish slaughter of Armenians in the early 1900s as Genocide] would have been at least $500,000.”

The targets of the wiretaps translated by Edmonds were heavily concentrated near Hastert’s Chicago-area congressional district:

Vanity Fair reveals that the FBI’s investigation centered on Speaker Hastert’s Chicago-area district:

One counter-intelligence official familiar with Edmonds’s case has told Vanity Fair that the F.B.I. opened an investigation into covert activities by Turkish nationals in the late 1990’s. That inquiry found evidence, mainly via wiretaps, of attempts to corrupt senior American politicians in at least two major cities - Washington and Chicago. …



In December 2001, Joel Robertz, an F.B.I. special agent in Chicago, contacted Sibel and asked her to review some wiretaps. Some were several years old, others more recent; all had been generated by a counter-intelligence that had its start in 1997. “It began in D.C.,” says an F.B.I. counter-intelligence official who is familiar with the case file. But “it became apparent that Chicago was actually the center of what was going on.”

These disclosures about Edmonds’ targets help to clarify her past statements to the press.

For example, when asked in a January 2005 interview if she had any information that would tie the targets of her FBI wiretaps to the September 11th attacks or Osama bin Laden’s organization, Edmonds replied, “Through certain activities with money laundering, and narcotics and illegal weapons procurement. Yes.” (audio)

More specifically, Edmonds wrote in a July 2004 article that she has “firsthand knowledge of ongoing intelligence received and processed by the FBI since 1997, which contained specific information implicating certain high level government and elected officials in criminal activities directly and indirectly related to terrorist money laundering, narcotics, and illegal arms sales.”

Yet Edmonds may not be the only well-known FBI Whistleblower with connections to this 9/11-related investigation in Chicago.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, FBI Special Agent Robert Wright was given orders to investigate several Chicago-based businessmen with ties to Turkey – and Osama bin Laden.

Special Agent Wright shared details of his investigation with Brian Ross of ABC’s Primetime Live in 2002:

ROSS: Their story begins in the mid-1990s. With growing terrorism in the Middle East, the two agents were assigned to track a connection to Chicago, a suspected terrorist cell that would later lead them to an Osama Bin Laden connection.



WRIGHT: We had a cell in Chicago, right. And that was, that was the premise of how we got the investigation going.



ROSS: But Wright says he soon discovered that all the FBI Intelligence Division wanted him to do was to follow suspected terrorists around town and file reports, but make no arrests.



WRIGHT: The supervisor who was there from headquarters was right straight across from me and started yelling at me, “You will not open criminal investigations. I forbid any of you. You will not open criminal investigations against any of these intelligence subjects.”



ROSS: You’re on the Terrorism Task Force and you were told you will not open criminal cases?



WRIGHT: Yes.



ROSS: In 1998, Al-Qaeda terrorists bombed two American Embassies in Africa, killing more than 200 people. The agents say some of the money for the attack led back to the people they had been tracking in Chicago, and to a powerful Saudi Arabian businessman, this man, Yassin Kadi, who had extensive business and financial ties in Chicago. Yet, even after the bombings, the agents say headquarters ordered no arrests.



WRIGHT: Two months after the embassies are hit in Africa, they want to shut down the criminal investigation. They wanted to kill it.



ROSS: The move outraged the Federal Prosecutor in Chicago, who says Agents Wright and Vincent were helping him build a strong criminal case against Kadi and others.



MARK FLESSNER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: There were powers bigger than I was in the Justice Department and within the FBI that simply were not going to let it happen. And it didn’t happen.

Wright’s investigation appeared to have had little effect on Chicago businessman Yassin Kadi. The Boston Globe reported in 2002, “Qadi was so well respected that he escorted former president Jimmy Carter around a Saudi women’s college in 2000.”

Though a presidential escort, Kadi’s al-Qaeda ties are so widespread, agents working on his investigation once pondered whether he may have been Osama bin Laden. During a June 2003 conference at the National Press Club, Special Agent Wright declared:

On June 9, 1998… I became the only FBI agent before 9/11 to utilize the civil forfeiture laws of the United States to seize $1.4 million in international terrorism assets from a Middle Eastern terrorist group. The original source of these seized funds was Yassin Kadi, a Saudi businessman. During 1998, an assistant United States attorney and I discussed the possibility that Mr. Kadi might actually be Osama bin Laden, or at least a close associate of bin Laden’s. …



However, my repeated attempts requesting FBI’s international terrorism unit to investigate Kadi’s financing of international terrorism was ignored. …



Four years later, only three weeks after the September 11 attacks, Mr. Kadi was designated by the United States government as the financier of Osama bin Laden.

Kadi, now 48, acted as ‘the financier of Osama bin Laden’ not only in the Chicago-area, but in Turkey as well. Two months after 9/11, The Turkish Daily News published an article detailing Kadi’s investments entitled “Osama bin Laden’s ‘Cashier’ in Turkey”. The Turkish Daily added:

Kadi, who was living in Istanbul, fled from Turkey following the Sept.11 attack. Kadi is a partner in two Turkey-based companies, the Karavan DisTicaret, a foreign trade company, and Ella Film-Produksiyon, a movie company. He once owned a 90 percent stake in Karavan and 30 percent in Ella but more recently these stakes have changed due to capital expansion.

In March 2005, Turkish authorities concluded an investigation into Yassin Kadi’s suspected links with al-Qaeda. The Arab News described the probe’s findings:

Turkey’s chief public prosecutor has formally ruled that there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Saudi businessman and philanthropist Yassin Abdullah Al-Qadi has had contact with or has assisted the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. …



The probe concluded that, far from being a member or supporter of Al-Qaeda, Al-Qadi was above board and his actions were at all times wholly legitimate.

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, took no issue with his chief prosecutor’s questionable ruling. Though few familiar with Turkish politics would be surprised at Prime Minister Erdogan’s position.

In November of 2001, The Turkish Daily News published an article with the headline ‘Tayyip – bin Laden Relationship’ referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The article provided translation of a Turkish language report one of the country’s largest newspapers which stated, “A Cumhuriyet headline said, referring to Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “… Al Kadi’s business partner Faruk Sarac is a close friend of the Erdogan family.”

Though the Turkish Prime Minister is a close family friend of a business partner of bin Laden’s financier, this may be nothing more than a coincidence.

However, another report seems to cast doubt on the coincidence theory. The Turkish Daily News reported in October 2001:

Hurriyet said: “Cuneyd Zapsu is the partner in Turkey of Saudi businessman Yasin al-Qadi whose assets in the United States have been frozen because he has links with terrorism. Zapsu, one of the founders of the AKP, is Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s closest friend.”

Some Turks consider Zapsu to be their own version of Karl Rove. Earlier this year Prime Minister Erdogan sued a news contributor because of a political cartoon depicting Zapsu perched on Erdogan’s back. And in late 2004 The Economist reported:

Secular Turks… fear that Mr Erdogan might use his muscle to expand the role of religion in public life. The real worry should be that more power could encourage his authoritarian streak. Even today only a handful of his advisers, among them Cuneyd Zapsu, a wealthy businessman, and Omer Celik, his youthful speech-writer, dare to disagree openly with Mr Erdogan.

The terrorist tendencies are not confined solely to Erdogan’s closest friends and advisors. The Prime Minister himself has been involved in extremist behavior.

According to The Turkish Daily News, “A Cumhuriyet headline said, referring to the Istanbul Municipality during Erdogan’s time as mayor, “The headquarters of religious reactionaryism [sic].”

While Mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s, Erdogan was jailed for four months by Turkey’s secular military after reading an Islamic poem containing the phrase, “Mosques are our bayonets, the domes our helmets and the believers our soldiers.”

Erdogan imprisonment began in 1998, after a military coup forced his political party from power. Less than four years later, Erdogan’s party resumed power and the national hero soon became Turkey’s Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister’s life story reads like a movie script: a man of destiny and vision, who can overcome any obstacle his path. Erdogan is surrounded by leaders who have been by his side from early on in his political career, including his Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Parliamentary Speaker Bulent Arinc. An April 1998 report in The Turkish Daily News stated:

Cumhuriyet reported that the prison sentence Istanbul Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been given has come as a relief to the older generation. … Meanwhile, Abdullah Gul and Bulent Arinc are expected to come to the foreground as the younger generation’s potential candidates.

Another 1998 Turkish news article reported:

Commenting on the prison sentence given to Istanbul Mayor Erdogan, Gul said… “This incident will add strength to our cause -- to Erdogan’s own cause and to our party.” …



Arinc said that they had not expected Erdogan to receive a sentence of this kind… “We have joined our fates with our friend, Tayyip Erdogan.”

Erdogan, Gul and Arinc would soon become the three most powerful men in Turkey. Such power combined with the Erdogan administration’s various ties to Osama bin Laden should cause alarm among American officials engaged in the War on Terror.

Yet even post-September 11, 2001, the result has been the opposite. During a 2002 visit with the Prime Minister in Turkey, Dennis Hastert stated:

It was a very good meeting that we had with the new Prime Minister. … We are committed as our country, the United States, to work with Turkey, to carry on. We see Turkey as a very stable country, as a matter of fact the model for stability and moderation and democracy.

Despite the Turkish government’s refusal to grant coalition forces access to key military bases during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Speaker Hastert never wavered in his support of Turkey. According to Turkish Speaker Arinc, Hastert declared, “We respect your parliament’s decision. Our Congress does the same thing from time to time. It is nothing to be offended by.”

In late 2004 Hastert made another trip to Turkey, as The Washington Post reports:

Folks in Europe are still talking about that splendid, 10-day, pre-Christmas tour of Europe led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to attend the 60th anniversary ceremonies of the Battle of the Bulge. The group stopped to… visit more troops at Incirlik air base in Turkey…



Support personnel... [were] amazed the plane got off the ground in Turkey -- what with all the fine rugs and pashminas -- not to mention some Turkish-made shotguns Hastert and Dingell bought.

With such a display of hospitality, it is not surprising that Speaker Hastert invited his Turkish friends for a visit in May 2005. The Anatolia News Agency reported on the trip:

Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc has indicated today that his visit to the US Congress will be the first ever one by a Turkish parliament Speaker…



Arinc will be in Washington DC upon an invitation from US House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert.

A Turkish government website added:

Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç visited Washington between May 24-27 as the guest of Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Arınç also attended a reception hosted in his honor by Hastert. …



Arınç, who completed his meetings in Washington D.C. arrived in Chicago on May 27. …



Arınç, who got information from Turkish Consul General Naci Koru about the work of the Turkish Consulate General in Chicago on Saturday… met Turkish community in Chicago on May 29.

The previous passage would have seemed relatively innocuous, if not for the recent Vanity Fair article which included passages such as:

“It began in D.C.,” says an F.B.I. counter-intelligence official who is familiar with the case file. But “it became apparent that Chicago was actually the center of what was going on.” …



The FBI’s investigations into a senior official at the Turkish Consulate is said to have claimed in one recording that the price for Hastert to withdraw the resolution would have been at least $500,000. …



In all, says a source who was present, she [Edmonds] managed to listen to more than 40 of the Chicago recordings supplied by Robertz. Many involved an F.B.I. target at the city’s large Turkish Consulate… and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations.

It should come as little surprise that while in the U.S., Arinc visited the ATAA, according to the Anatolia News Agency:

Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, who is currently in the United States upon formal invitation of the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, met representatives of the Jewish community and of the Assembly of the Turkish-American Associations (ATAA) on Wednesday.

Though even without the recent allegations by Sibel Edmonds, the following report from The Turkish Daily News regarding Prime Minister Erdogan’s 2004 trip stateside to meet President Bush may have raised an eyebrow:

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan… first arrived at the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago. …



After the concert, Chicago Municipal Mayor Richard M. Daley held a dinner for Erdogan.

Welcome to America.

[Gavur]

Turning Heroes into Pariahs

V.15 No.26 | June 29 - July 5, 2006
This Week's Featurefeature | << last week

http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=15580&scn=feature

Blowing the whistle on government corruption just got a whole lot harder
By Laura Sanchez

Sibel Edmonds is a beautiful woman, even with the gag pulled tight across her face. Normally, the mainstream press would be covering Hot-Damsel-in-Distress Edmonds 24/7, but Edmonds has been deemed an invisible person in Bushworld, and the Washington press hasn't been noted for its courage these last few years.

Edmonds, a Turkish-American translator hired by the FBI shortly after the 9/11 attacks, testified to Congress, the Justice Department and the 9/11 Commission that the FBI was deliberately slowing down their Middle Eastern language translators to get more funding. They'd even erased translations she had completed during the day from her computer at night. For her whistle-blowing pains, Edmonds was fired, and her publicly available testimony retroactively reclassified.

Two federal actions mark out the boundaries of the whistle-blower fight. In 2002, following the Enron corruption geyser, Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) and Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) sponsored a bill to rein in corporate and securities fraud. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also known as the Whistleblower Protection Act, encourages corporate employees to report fraud and prohibits retaliation against whistle-blowers.

So everything's ducky, right? Ha! Enter the Bush Supreme Court. In October 2005, a Supreme Court ruling split 4-4 on an appeals court decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos . L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Richard Ceballos had persisted in complaints to superiors that a deputy sheriff lied to obtain a search warrant. Ceballos claimed that, in retaliation, he was removed from the case, demoted and transferred.

On May 30, 2006, the Supreme Court heard the case again, this time without Justice Sandra Day O'Connor but with new Bush appointees John Roberts and Samuel Alito. The court ruled against Ceballos, saying the First Amendment does not protect the right of government employees to speak out on job-related matters against their bosses' wishes. The ruling basically silences government employees like Sibel Edmonds who speak out to protect the public good. Or like Richard Foster, the government's chief Medicare cost analyst, who said he was threatened with firing if he told Congress that Bush's drug bill would cost $534 billion instead of $400 billion.

The court majority argued that they didn't want to gum up the legal system by allowing any disgruntled employees to challenge a demotion or firing. As a result, the most secretive administration in living memory has a much better chance of keeping their screwups and corruption hidden from the public.

Thankfully, on June 23 the U.S. Senate added an amendment to the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act that would restore protection for government employee whistleblowers. The bill passed the Senate 96-0. It will have to be reconciled with similar bills in the House.

[Joseph]

More Sibel Edmonds

The American Conservative

April 24, 2006

By Philip Giraldi

Sibel Edmonds, the Turkish FBI translator turned whistleblower who has been
subjected to a gag order could provide a major insight into how
neoconservatives distort US foreign policy and enrich themselves at the same
time.

On one level, her story appears straightforward: several Turkish lobbying
groups allegedly bribed congressmen to support policies favourable to
Ankara.

But beyond that, the Edmonds revelations become more serpentine and appear
to involve AIPAC, Israel and a number of leading neoconservatives who have
profited from the Turkish connection.

Israel has long cultivated a close relationship with Turkey since Ankara's
neighbours and historic enemies - Iran, Syria and Iraq - are also hostile to
Tel Aviv. Islamic Turkey has also had considerable symbolic value for
Israel, demonstrating that hostility to Muslim neighbours is not a sine qua
non for the Jewish state.

Turkey benefits from the relationship by securing general benevolence and
increased aid from the US Congress - as well as access to otherwise
unattainable military technology. The Turkish General Staff has a particular
interest because much of the military spending is channeled through
companies in which the generals have a financial stake, making for a very
cozy and comfortable business arrangement.

The commercial interest has also fostered close political ties, with the
American Turkish Council, American Turkish Cultural Alliance and the
Assembly of Turkish American Associations all developing warm relationships
with AIPAC and other Jewish and Israel advocacy groups throughout the US.

Someone has to be in the middle to keep the happy affair going, so enter the
neocons, intent on securing Israel against all comers and also keen to turn
a dollar. In fact the neocons seem to have a deep and abiding interest in
Turkey, which, under other circumstances, might be difficult to explain.

Doug Feith's International Advisors Inc, a registered agent for Turkey in
1989 - 1994, netted $600,000 per year from Turkey, with Richard Perle taking
$48,000 annually as a consultant. Other noted neoconservatives linked to
Turkey are former State Department number three, Marc Grossman, current
Pentagon Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman, Paul Wolfowitz
and former congressman Stephen Solarz. The money involved does not appear to
come from the Turkish government, and FBI investigators are trying to
determine its source and how it is distributed. Some of it may come from
criminal activity, possibly drug trafficking, but much more might come from
arms dealing. Contracts in the hundreds of millions, or even billions of
dollars provide considerable fat for those well placed to benefit.

Investigators are also looking at Israel's particular expertise in the
illegal sale of US military technology to countries like China and India.
Fraudulent end-user certificates produced by Defense Ministries in Israel
and Turkey are all that is needed to divert military technology to other,
less benign, consumers.

The military-industrial-complex/neocon network is also well attested. Doug
Feith has been associated with Northrup Grumman for years, while defense
contractors fund many neocon-linked think tanks and "information" services.
Feith, Perle and a number of other neocons have long had beneficial
relationships with various Israeli defense contractors.

[Joseph]

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email [email protected]
Internet www.anca.org

PRESS RELEASE
March 7, 2007
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918


ANCA JOINS DIVERSE COALITION IN CALLING FOR CONGRESSIONAL
WHISTLEBLOWER HEARINGS ON SIBEL EDMONDS CASE

-- Urges House Oversight Committee to Lift Gag Order on Edmonds;
Investigate Abuse of State Secret Privilege

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
joined a broad cross-section of civil liberties, public policy and
human rights groups today in calling on the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform in Congress to hold public hearings
on the case of FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds.

Edmonds, a former FBI Language Specialist, was fired from the FBI
after reporting concerns about inferior translations relating to
the 9-11 attacks and possible espionage within the agency. The
Department of Justice's (DOJ) Inspector General would later confirm
many of Edmonds' assertions. However, the DOJ used the State
Secrets Privilege to deny her legal recourse and prevent Congress
from exploring the matter.

Civil Liberties advocates argue that Edmonds' case is an example of
other instances where whistleblowers, who tried to inform Congress
and taxpayers about national security threats, were intimidated,
silenced, and retaliated against.

A petition to the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform, signed by thirty prominent groups, including OMB Watch, the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Concerned Foreign Service
Officers, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington
(CREW), Government Accountability Project (GAP), U.S.-Armenian
Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC), Project on Government Oversight
(POGO), and the ANCA, was delivered earlier today.

The full text of the petition is provided below.

The Sibel Edmonds Whistleblower case has received broad media
attention, including a 10-page expose in the September 2005, issue
of "Vanity Fair". According to the article by contributing editor
David Rose, Edmonds claimed that FBI wiretaps reveal that the
Turkish government and its allies boasted of bribing - with as much
as $500,000 the former Speaker of the House of Representatives as
part of an alleged deal to stop consideration of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution.

The article cites accounts by Edmonds regarding FBI wiretaps of the
Turkish Embassy and Turkish groups such as the American Turkish
Council (ATC) and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations
(ATAA), including conversations concerning former Speaker Hastert's
dramatic reversal on legislation concerning the Armenian Genocide.
In October 2000, despite overwhelming Congressional support,
Speaker Hastert reversed his initial support and removed the
Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res.596) from the House docket just
minutes before the resolution was scheduled for a vote, citing
national security concerns by President Clinton.

The American Turkish Council and the ATAA have already registered
their opposition to pending Armenian Genocide legislation
(H.Res.106), which was introduced by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA),
George Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs
Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and currently has
179 cosponsors. In an interview published in "Today's Zaman"
newspaper on February 2, 2007, ATC President James H. Holmes stated
that, "Our interest is seeing this resolution defeated, derailed,
delayed. I don't care what the formula is. We want it to fail."

#####


National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

https://www.nswbc.org

To: The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

A Petition to require public hearings by the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform into confirmed reports by FBI
Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds of wrongdoing, criminal activities,
cover-ups against the security and interests of the United States
and its citizenry, and the erroneous use of the State Secrets
Privilege to shut down all court proceedings in her case.

In March 2002 the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector
General (DOJ-IG) began its investigation of Ms. Edmonds' reports.

In June 2002, in at least two unclassified Senate briefings, FBI
officials confirmed the validity of Ms. Edmonds reports; however,
in May 2004 Attorney General John Ashcroft retroactively classified
information from these briefings and gagged the Congress,
preventing further investigation.

In October 2002 Attorney General Ashcroft invoked the 'State
Secrets Privilege' to block all court proceedings in Edmonds' case.

In July 2004 the DOJ-IG investigation into Edmonds' dismissal was
completed but was entirely classified.

In January 2005 the DOJ-IG released an unclassified summary report
on Edmonds' case which concluded that Edmonds was fired for
reporting serious security breaches and misconduct in the agency's
translation program, and that many of her allegations were
supported by other witnesses and documents.

The issues that were reported by Ms. Edmonds include:

? Cases of espionage activities within the FBI, DOD, and the
Department of State.

? Cases of cover-up of information and leads pre and post
9/11, under the excuse of protecting certain diplomatic
relations.

? Cases of intentional blocking and mistranslation of crucial
intelligence by FBI translators and management.

? Cases of foreign entities bribing certain government
officials and elected representatives.

Edmonds filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Department of
Justice, but the government successfully argued that the state
secrets privilege was an absolute bar to her suit going forward.

She was even barred from the courtroom during the argument of her
appeal! The Supreme Court declined to review the case. The
government's invocation of the state secrets privilege in a motion
to dismiss her case contradicts the core idea of judicial review
and essentially allows the Executive Branch to dictate to the
federal courts what cases they can and can't hear.

Invoking the State Secrets Privilege is a tactic frequently used by
the Executive Branch to stop potentially embarrassing lawsuits
against the government. Many of these suits are brought by
government employees, such as Ms. Edmonds, who allege fraud,
mismanagement, or other unlawful conduct, and the state secrets
privilege has successfully been invoked by the government to
silence them. The state secrets provision has been used too
frequently and with too little public protection.

Given the seriousness of Ms. Edmonds' reports and in the best
interests of the security of the country, it is incumbent upon the
Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities and authority
as representatives of the people of the United States, therefore:

We, the undersigned, now call upon the House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform in Congress 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.

Signatories:

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Anthony Romero, National Director

National Coalition against Censorship
Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director

Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC)
Nancy Talanian, Director

OMB Watch
Sean Moulton, Director

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director

National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
Bill Weaver, Board Member

Liberty Coalition
Michael Ostrolenk, Co-founder & Director

National Whistleblower Center
Steve Kohn, Chair

Open the Government .Org
Patrice McDermott, Executive Director

U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC)
Ross Vartian, Executive Director

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Melanie Sloan, Director

Citizen Outreach
Doug Bandow, Vice President of Policy

Concerned Foreign Service Officers
Daniel Hirsch, Board Member
People for the American Way
Ralph Neas, President

Fairfax County Privacy Council
Mike Stollenwerk, Director

Federal Hispanic Law Enforcement Officers Association
Sandalio Gonzalez, Director

Government Accountability Project (GAP)
Tom Devine, Legal Director

National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation
Gail Dunham, President

Ohio Taxpayers Association & OTA Foundation
Scott Pullins, Chairman & CEO

Project on Government Oversight (POGO)
Danielle Brian, Executive Director

September 11th Advocates
Mindy Kleinberg, Director

Veterans Affairs Whistleblowers Coalition (VAWBC)
Dr. Jeffrey Fudin, President

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Aram Hamparian, Executive Director

U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation (USBOR)
Dane Von Breichenruchardt, President

Center for Financial Privacy & Human Rights
J. Bradley, Jansen, Director

Consumer Action
Linda Sherry, Director

Privacy Activism
Linda Ackerman, Staff Counsel

The Multiracial Activists,
James Landrith, Founder

The New Grady Coalition
Ron Marshall, Director

Doctors for Open Government
Dr. Jim Murtagh, Director

Georgian for Open Government
Gwen Marshall, Director

Ethics in Government Group (EGG)
George Anderson, Director

DemocracyRising.US
Kevin Zeese, Executive Director

[Gavur]

More on Sibel Edmonds

Turkey and America: the Corridors of Intelligence and Geopolitics

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070405&articleId=5283

by John Stanton

Global Research, April 5, 2007




“Turkey is not as politically stable or as secular domestically as they would have you believe”, said one long time observer of US-Turkish relations in Washington, DC. “The Turks do not have a large community across the United States like, say, the Armenians and the Greeks who have been here a long time. Because of this you see a very large Turkish presence inside Washington, DC”.

Lacking a legitimate national grassroots organization, Turkey has built a notable presence inside the corridors of power in Washington, DC by spreading cash around and buying direct access to key US decision makers in and out of the US government. It all seems legitimate enough: campaign donations/junkets for members & staff of the US Congress (FMOCs); consulting fees to former FMOCs, US military generals, US State Department employees; and promises of billions of dollars in contracts to US corporate representatives operating in Washington, DC. With so much money chasing politicians, consultants and contractors of all stripes, there's bound to be some corrupt and even criminal activity. No seasoned observer of politics anywhere is completely surprised at the occasional and well timed conviction of a white collar criminal.

But Sibel Edmonds' seems to have stumbled into the really big white collar crime ring that ties an old George Bush I family friend, Brent Scowcroft—and his American Turkish Council--in with former US Ambassador to Turkey Marc Grossman; members of the Turkish Caucus in the US Congress; Douglas Feith, (once had his security clearance revoked and was rumored to be watched by the FBI) who once greased arms sales to Turkey back in the 1990's, is a famed Zionist, formerly of the Pentagon and now at Georgetown University in Washington, DC; the Bob Livingston Group (Livingston a FMOC), who has gotten very wealthy via Turkish business; and Joe Ralston the former USAF general whose bank account has blossomed after joining Lockheed Martin and being put on the Turkish payroll as a counter-Kurdish insurgency expert. Finally, former Speaker of the US House Dennis Hastert seems a natural part of the ring whose claim to fame may become that he kept debate on the Armenian Genocide Resolution off the House floor during his tenure and was the subject of a Vanity Fair piece.

Many of us have written on Ms. Edmonds' case and after so many years find it infuriating that the FBI continues to shut her up behind a State Secret Privilege holding. Taking recent events at the Department of Justice as guides, it is probably safe to say that Ms Edmonds' is being silenced because of some sort of State Embarrassment Privilege. The Department of Justice, of which the FBI is a subsidiary, is seeing its credibility quotient crushed under the weight of Attorney General Albert Gonzales' arrogance and the adolescent antics of his staff. Meanwhile at the FBI, Director Mueller is under fire for the antics of his staff and its abuse of PATRIOT Act provisions to catch common criminals, not “terrorists.”

A few thoughts come to mind here. First, the FBI apparently was illegally monitoring subjects associated, somehow, with the Edmonds' matter and, perhaps, saving a savory scandal for the right time. J Edgar Hoover, former FBI Director, was skilled at that sort of subterfuge. If the illegal monitoring allegation is true, that's another damaging blow to the Justice Department and the US justice system.

Second, Ms Edmonds must have stumbled upon the payola racket that Turkey had been running and there were so many big US names involved in so many high places that to air that laundry would damage US credibility not so much abroad, as right here in the USA. Imagine one one news day FMOCs, active members of the US Congress, US military personnel, US State Department people, US Justice Department folks all get nailed for being in on the Turkish gig or at least knowing about it. And what could be worse than the FBI, DEA and CIA knowing about it? Foreign intelligence agencies, of course.

Third, if it is true that Turkey is not as secular or as politically stable as its proponents in Washington, DC and Ankara say, then the whole Turkey-as-US strategic partner and would-be European Union partner would be one of the better smoke and mirrors acts sold to the US public, and the world, in recent memory.

The reality is that Turkey remains a distant and unknown entity for most Americans, although if Ms. Edmonds were allowed to speak freely it may become a well known country. It's a product that is difficult to sell to citizens here in the USA as a strategic necessity, as a wonderful vacation land, or as a dynamic society full of business opportunity. The harsher side to the story is that Turkey has threatened to invade Northern Iraq/Kurdistan should it declare its independence, or if an upcoming referendum on oil-rich Kirkuk goes the Kurds way; the Turks brutally repress their Kurdish population; free speech and tolerance of government critiques are in short supply; and, in reality, the Turkish military holds the keys to power in Ankara.

Lastly, according to the observer of US-Turkish relations, “It seems to me that the government in Ankara, Turkey is always working on propaganda, on slogans. Trying too hard. If you visit Turkey you'll notice everywhere you go that there is a picture of Turkey's founder Attaturk. It reminds me sort of like Soviet times where you'd see a picture of Lenin everywhere. The Turks spend too much time worrying about petty resolutions like those recognizing the Armenian Genocide.”

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in political and national security matters. Reach him at [email protected]. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.


Global Research Articles by John Stanton

[Nick_A]

Thanks for posting this info Gavur. I must say that I dislike the sleaze of politics so I'm not really attracted to reading and arguing over it. It always seems to me that there should be a better way. But, these are things I should know. So if you go to the effort to post, I will make the smaller effort to say thanks.