The List

[Joseph]

In addition, FBI work order documents concerning translations related to September 11th investigations were falsified and contained forgeries of Ms. Edmonds’ name and/or initials.

By letter dated May 8, 2002, Ms. Edmonds, through counsel, notified Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, that as a direct result of the FBI’s failure to address or correct the serious misconduct and security breaches that were reported by Ms. Edmonds, the safety and security of Ms. Edmonds and her family has been jeopardized and that a foreign country has targeted Ms. Edmonds’ sister to be interrogated “and taken/arrested by force.” Ms. Edmonds’ counsel’s letter of May 8, 2002 to the Attorney General and FBI Director also provided them with a copy of the arrest warrant served by the foreign country at the residence of Ms. Edmonds’ sister in the foreign country together with a copy of the English translation of the arrest warrant.(4)

We believe that the warrant that was issued to Ms. Edmonds’ sister in the foreign country is the direct result of improper contacts between the xxxxersons and a foreign country, and was a result of the threats that were made by Mrs. xxxxerson when she threatened the lives and safety of Mrs. Edmonds and her family members, who were citizens of, and resided in, that same foreign country. In addition, we believe that the threats made by Mrs. xxxxerson, and the issuance of the arrest warrant, were the result of improper and undisclosed contacts by Mrs. xxxxerson and Major xxxxerson with a foreign official. Such acts taken by Mrs. xxxxerson (and other statements made and conduct by both xxxxersons) would indicate a preference for a foreign country over the United States which would also make Major xxxxerson prone to provide information or make decisions that are harmful to the interests of the United States, and such acts reflect a level of personal conduct and outside activities that raise a security concern that may be disqualifying. Our concern in this regard is heightened by the fact that it is alleged that Mrs. xxxxerson has maintained dual citizenship with a foreign country and has continued to possess a foreign passport from that same country as well as by the statements to others by both Major and Mrs. xxxxerson that they have financial or business interests in that foreign country.

It is inconceivable how the Department of Defense could tolerate permitting one of its military officers to have access to classified information under such circumstances, especially when that officer’s spouse is alleged to have: (1) threatened another person employed as a translator for the FBI on counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence cases; (2) committed other misconduct and serious security violations while employed by the FBI (such as having unreported contacts with one or more foreign officials while performing translation services for the FBI regarding conversations involving the same foreign officials); and (3) to make matters worse, carried out those threats by leaking information about the FBI translator to a foreign country (or agents thereof) so retaliation could be carried out against members of the FBI translator’s family who resided in that foreign country. Moreover, as outlined above, there is more than sufficient information to require a security investigation of Major xxxxerson based on foreign influence, foreign preference, personal conduct, security violations, and outside activities. See, e.g., Adjudicative Desk Reference (ADR), Adjudicative Guidelines, Version 2.2, pp. 3-13 (July, 2001) (Guidelines B, C, E, K, and L).5

Additionally, we do not believe that Major xxxxerson could be considered an “innocent spouse” and there is ample evidence that he was involved in (and/or had knowledge of and failed to report) many of the activities of his wife that comprise her acts of misconduct. Moreover, in light of the serious allegations raised against Mrs. xxxxerson, and the alleged involvement of Major xxxxerson in his wife’s nefarious activities with, or on behalf of, foreign interests, Major xxxxerson is vulnerable to coercion, exploitation, or pressure from foreign interests.

We do not believe that these matters could have been thoroughly or completely reviewed in the short time that AFOSI and the Air Force IG devoted to reviewing Ms. Edmonds’ letter of August 7th. After reviewing this matter further we believe that you will agree that Ms. Edmonds’ allegations of Personnel Security violations are very serious and that they warrant further investigation by your office. For all of the above reasons we hereby request that you re-open this matter and that the DOD OIG thoroughly investigate these matters.

Please direct all correspondence or communications about these matters to this office. If you, or anyone at the Department of Defense or Inspector General’s offices, has any questions regarding this matter please feel free to contact me. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

David K. Colapinto

Attorney for Ms. Edmonds

Enclosure

cc: Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Senior Member, Senate Judiciary Committee

ENDNOTES

1.) Mrs. xxxxerson is believed to be a United States citizen, but maintains dual citizenship with a foreign country and she is believed to possess a passport issued by that same foreign country. In addition, Mrs. xxxxerson and her husband also are believed to have financial interests in that foreign country.

2.) We believe that the “contract monitor” mentioned by Senators Leahy and Grassley in their August 13th letter to Attorney General Ashcroft is Mrs. xxxxerson.

3.) A copy of the June 19, 2002 letter from Senators Leahy and Grassley to the DOJ Inspector General, which referenced this FBI confirmation, was attached to Ms. Edmonds’ original letter to DOD OIG of August 6, 2002.

4.) A copy of Ms. Edmonds’ counsel’s letter to the Attorney General dated May 8, 2002 was attached to Ms. Edmonds’ letter of August 7th.

5.) The Adjudicative Guidelines are the “official U.S. Government policy that guides decisions on an individual’s eligibility for access to classified information.” See, ADR, p. 1. The ADR was developed by the Defense Personnel Security Research Center. Id.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5757

[Joseph]

2.

In addition, FBI work order documents concerning translations related to September 11th investigations were falsified and contained forgeries of Ms. Edmonds’ name and/or initials.

By letter dated May 8, 2002, Ms. Edmonds, through counsel, notified Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, that as a direct result of the FBI’s failure to address or correct the serious misconduct and security breaches that were reported by Ms. Edmonds, the safety and security of Ms. Edmonds and her family has been jeopardized and that a foreign country has targeted Ms. Edmonds’ sister to be interrogated “and taken/arrested by force.” Ms. Edmonds’ counsel’s letter of May 8, 2002 to the Attorney General and FBI Director also provided them with a copy of the arrest warrant served by the foreign country at the residence of Ms. Edmonds’ sister in the foreign country together with a copy of the English translation of the arrest warrant.(4)

We believe that the warrant that was issued to Ms. Edmonds’ sister in the foreign country is the direct result of improper contacts between the xxxxersons and a foreign country, and was a result of the threats that were made by Mrs. xxxxerson when she threatened the lives and safety of Mrs. Edmonds and her family members, who were citizens of, and resided in, that same foreign country. In addition, we believe that the threats made by Mrs. xxxxerson, and the issuance of the arrest warrant, were the result of improper and undisclosed contacts by Mrs. xxxxerson and Major xxxxerson with a foreign official. Such acts taken by Mrs. xxxxerson (and other statements made and conduct by both xxxxersons) would indicate a preference for a foreign country over the United States which would also make Major xxxxerson prone to provide information or make decisions that are harmful to the interests of the United States, and such acts reflect a level of personal conduct and outside activities that raise a security concern that may be disqualifying. Our concern in this regard is heightened by the fact that it is alleged that Mrs. xxxxerson has maintained dual citizenship with a foreign country and has continued to possess a foreign passport from that same country as well as by the statements to others by both Major and Mrs. xxxxerson that they have financial or business interests in that foreign country.

It is inconceivable how the Department of Defense could tolerate permitting one of its military officers to have access to classified information under such circumstances, especially when that officer’s spouse is alleged to have: (1) threatened another person employed as a translator for the FBI on counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence cases; (2) committed other misconduct and serious security violations while employed by the FBI (such as having unreported contacts with one or more foreign officials while performing translation services for the FBI regarding conversations involving the same foreign officials); and (3) to make matters worse, carried out those threats by leaking information about the FBI translator to a foreign country (or agents thereof) so retaliation could be carried out against members of the FBI translator’s family who resided in that foreign country. Moreover, as outlined above, there is more than sufficient information to require a security investigation of Major xxxxerson based on foreign influence, foreign preference, personal conduct, security violations, and outside activities. See, e.g., Adjudicative Desk Reference (ADR), Adjudicative Guidelines, Version 2.2, pp. 3-13 (July, 2001) (Guidelines B, C, E, K, and L).5

Additionally, we do not believe that Major xxxxerson could be considered an “innocent spouse” and there is ample evidence that he was involved in (and/or had knowledge of and failed to report) many of the activities of his wife that comprise her acts of misconduct. Moreover, in light of the serious allegations raised against Mrs. xxxxerson, and the alleged involvement of Major xxxxerson in his wife’s nefarious activities with, or on behalf of, foreign interests, Major xxxxerson is vulnerable to coercion, exploitation, or pressure from foreign interests.

We do not believe that these matters could have been thoroughly or completely reviewed in the short time that AFOSI and the Air Force IG devoted to reviewing Ms. Edmonds’ letter of August 7th. After reviewing this matter further we believe that you will agree that Ms. Edmonds’ allegations of Personnel Security violations are very serious and that they warrant further investigation by your office. For all of the above reasons we hereby request that you re-open this matter and that the DOD OIG thoroughly investigate these matters.

Please direct all correspondence or communications about these matters to this office. If you, or anyone at the Department of Defense or Inspector General’s offices, has any questions regarding this matter please feel free to contact me. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

David K. Colapinto

Attorney for Ms. Edmonds

Enclosure

cc: Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Senior Member, Senate Judiciary Committee

ENDNOTES

1.) Mrs. xxxxerson is believed to be a United States citizen, but maintains dual citizenship with a foreign country and she is believed to possess a passport issued by that same foreign country. In addition, Mrs. xxxxerson and her husband also are believed to have financial interests in that foreign country.

2.) We believe that the “contract monitor” mentioned by Senators Leahy and Grassley in their August 13th letter to Attorney General Ashcroft is Mrs. xxxxerson.

3.) A copy of the June 19, 2002 letter from Senators Leahy and Grassley to the DOJ Inspector General, which referenced this FBI confirmation, was attached to Ms. Edmonds’ original letter to DOD OIG of August 6, 2002.

4.) A copy of Ms. Edmonds’ counsel’s letter to the Attorney General dated May 8, 2002 was attached to Ms. Edmonds’ letter of August 7th.

5.) The Adjudicative Guidelines are the “official U.S. Government policy that guides decisions on an individual’s eligibility for access to classified information.” See, ADR, p. 1. The ADR was developed by the Defense Personnel Security Research Center. Id.

[Joseph]

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=61202&Disp=22&Trace=on

War on Terror
See other War on Terror Articles

Title: Did Pentagon Reveal Name of Edmonds’ 'Semi-Legit' Group?
Source: Balkan Analysis
URL Source: http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php? name=News&file=article&sid=391
Published: Aug 5, 2004
Author: CDeliso
Post Date: 2004-08-08 12:12:20 by aristeides
66 Comments

B>US: Did Pentagon Reveal Name of Edmonds’ 'Semi-Legit' Group?

Posted on Thursday, August 05 @ 18:25:00 EDT by CDeliso

The ongoing saga of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds’ small war with the Department of Justice has garnered increasing media attention in recent weeks. However, this has almost entirely centered on free speech and legal issues: John Ashcroft’s gag order, Judge Reggie Walton’s dismissal of her case, and now, her open letter to the 9/11 Commission. Incredibly, the Commission’s final report failed to include her shocking testimony confirming crime, corruption and incompetence in the Federal Bureau of Investigation – a failing that greatly diminishes the credibility and trustworthiness of the Committee itself.

However, this is just one dimension of a very far-reaching story.

For aside from Sibel Edmonds’ legal crusade is the issue of persons and organizations she encountered whose part-time activities touch on things from arms and drugs trafficking to espionage and even terrorism. Some of these figures (such as Can and Doug xxxxerson) have been publicly named, but the Department of Justice gag order on Sibel has prevented her from doing anything more than alluding to the other, and presumably bigger fish involved.

That said, a previously unreleased document from September 2002 may contain a key to unraveling the mystery at the heart of the case: who or what are the “semi-legitimate organizations” that Edmonds has cryptically referred to as being the major players behind the major organized crime rings whom Edmonds charges with endangering American national security?

On 7 August 2002, Sibel Edmonds launched a complaint with the US Air Force over the suspected illegal activities of USAF Major Douglas xxxxerson and his wife, Turkish-born FBI translator Melek Can xxxxerson (more information on them here).

On 10 September, Colonel James N. Worth, the director of the Inquiries Directorate in the USAF Office of the Inspector General, sent an official reply. This letter assured Edmonds that the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations (AFSOI) had “…conducted a complete and thorough review of her concerns,” and therefore the case was closed. Of course, this did not deter the indefatigable Edmonds, whose lawyers whipped off a letter challenging the validity and depth of the Air Force’s investigation – had one even taken place – on 19 September.

This 5-page challenge was addressed to Department of Defense Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz, and copied to Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley, previous backers of Edmonds’ cause.

Earlier today, Sibel Edmonds told us that, “…nobody has mentioned the DOD angle [of her case] to this date.”

Therefore we thought it would be appropriate to publish this last letter in its entirety (see below). According to Edmonds, the correspondence can be published because it “…was never classified… and their responses [were] sent via regular mail, thus, not classified either.”

While this letter mostly refers to long-known aspects of the case, there is one very striking reference which may shed light on a nagging mystery: who or what are the “semi-legitimate organizations” Edmonds has alluded to in the past?

According to the Edmonds team’s reply of 19 September, the USAF Inspector General’s letter had referred specifically to one American-Turkish Council, based in Washington, D.C., as being related to the xxxxersons. For the Edmonds team, this was a very strange disclosure:

“…notably, in his letter of September 10th, Col. Worth states that OSI’s investigation focused on ‘Major xxxxerson’s relationship with the American-Turkish Council.’ This statement is very troubling for a number of reasons. First, Ms. Edmonds never even mentioned the name of this organization in any of her communications with the DOD, DOD IG, Department of the Air Force IG, and AFOSI, concerning this matter.”

We asked Sibel earlier today if the American-Turkish Council was in fact the name of the key “semi-legitimate organization” that had infiltrated the FBI during her time there. Because of the DOJ gag order she is currently under she could only say, “I cannot confirm that… they said it, we did not.”

Yet why would the Pentagon specifically name an organization, connecting it with the suspect in the case, if there was no relationship? And why would they bring it to the attention of exactly the people they would have wanted to conceal it from? Did they assume that the story would break, and therefore that it wasn’t worth concealing? Or was the whole thing merely a mistake, a misunderstanding, a typo? In any case, there are clearly suspicious shades of the old paradox, ‘are you still beating your wife?’ at work here.

Whatever it may or may not be, the American-Turkish Council is a Washington-based “…business association dedicated to friendship and the promotion of U.S.-Turkish commercial, defense and cultural relations.” Again according to the ATC website, its “...diverse membership includes Fortune 500 and Turkish companies, multinationals, non-profit organizations, enterprises and individuals with an interest in U.S.-Turkish relations.” It boasts a star-studded board of directors, including Chairman and Retired USAF Lt. General Brent Scowcroft; President and CEO G. Lincoln McCurdy; Executive Vice-President George H. Perlman of Lockheed Martin; and several other ranking figures from corporate America. Some of these as well as many other American and Turkish business heavyweights are also well-placed on the ATC Executive Committee (PDF).

Indeed, the ATC is clearly quite an important organization with the ability to bring together highly influential people. According to its website, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan addressed the organization’s “Golden Horn” members (i.e., those companies who cough up $9,500 annually) at a June event sponsored by Motorola, Raymond James, Boeing and Raytheon. In April, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers addressed the group. Every major company known to man is either a member or a well-wisher. And so on and so forth.

However, scrutinizing the posted schedule covering the 244-day period of January through August 2004, one finds only 18 days that actually mention scheduled events. And there are no scheduled events at all for September through December (though they’re no doubt still being planned). So, unless the ATC is hurting for secretaries to put things down in writing, they don’t do too much meeting.

Now the 64 million dollar question remains that, if the TAC or another organization like it was in fact a “semi-legitimate” organization, would all of its board members and officials therefore be wise to the illicit activities going on behind the scenes? Or just a few unsavory characters?

We put this question to Sibel Edmonds today. It was understood that we were speaking here only in hypotheticals, since after all she has never mentioned any organization by name.

So would such a nefarious side-business involve everyone? “No, it does not,” Edmonds replied. “It does not involve all on [the] board- but quite a few.”

Yet this is only the case in regard to board members of the largest such organizations, however: “with the smaller organizations, depending on their geographic location in the United States, [it can include] all of them.”

If the Pentagon did indeed inadvertently blow the cover of this “semi-legitimate organization” by mistake in the cited letter of 10 September 2002, it would answer a lot of questions – besides helping to put the pieces together in this jigsaw puzzle of intrigue.

So, what do we know for sure from previous information about the specific, unnamed organization(s) accused by her of infiltrating the FBI, compromising American national security and being involved with global organized crime and terrorism? They are:

-located in the Washington, D.C. area;

-very appealing to those with socialite ambitions, boasting as they do influential members from high society, big business and government;

-in cahoots with specific named and unnamed FBI and DOD employees, diplomats and “elected officials;”

-involved in highly lucrative international drugs, arms and money laundering affairs;

-allowed to continue with these activities because stopping them “…would hurt certain foreign relations abroad.”

And, what we know for sure about Sibel Edmonds’ prime suspects, the xxxxersons? They:

-had interesting backgrounds- she Turkish-born, he an Air Force man formerly stationed in Turkey and tasked with weapons procurement there for countries including Uzbekistan and Turkey itself;

-asked Sibel Edmonds and her husband to join the specific “semi-legitimate organization,” unsuccessfully;

-disclosed that joining that organization would be very lucrative for the Edmonds’ and in return would require passing over classified FBI information;

-deliberately kept a FBI suspect of Turkish origin safe from investigators by obstructing translations;

-later threatened Sibel Edmonds and her family;

-allegedly influenced the Turkish government to harass Sibel Edmonds’ sister while in Turkey;

-were protected by the system, even after Edmonds’ allegations had been made, and allowed to escape to work for NATO in Belgium;

-have financial assets in Turkey, making “…both of them vulnerable to foreign influence.”

We mention these bits of salient information, deriving from the testimony of Sibel Edmonds and other sources, strictly as matters of public interest. Reader is left to make his own conclusions.

What follows is the previously unpublished document cited above, the letter of 19 Sept. 2002 from Sibel Edmonds’ lawyers to DOD Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz. The letter is reprinted as received from Sibel Edmonds, including bolded texting, the only changes being the removal of some unfriendly HTML tags and internal linking that caused formatting problems, hence footnotes are listed as endnotes.

September 19, 2002

Via Fax: (703) 604-8567

Joseph E. Schmitz

Inspector General

U.S. Department of Defense

The Pentagon

Washington, D.C.

Dear Inspector General Schmitz:

We represent Ms. Sibel Edmonds, who filed allegations regarding violations of the DOD Personnel Security Program by letter dated August 7, 2002. An inquiry into Ms. Edmonds’ allegations was opened under Hotline case number 85069.

By letter dated September 10, 2002, Colonel James N. Worth, Director, Inquiries Directorate, Office of the Inspector General, Department of the Air Force, informed Ms. Edmonds that the matter was being closed as a result of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFSOI) having conducted a complete and thorough review of her concerns. I am writing to bring to your direct attention our concern that this matter was not thoroughly or completely investigated and that this matter was not properly handled. In addition, we ask that your office look into this matter further and investigate these very serious matters.

Ms. Edmonds alleged in her letter of August 7th that both Major Douglas xxxxerson and his wife, Melek Can xxxxerson,(1) have committed numerous violations of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Personnel Security Program. Improper contacts with foreign governments, officials or organizations by spouses of military personnel also constitute violations of the DOD Personnel Security Program. In addition, a security risk may exist when an individual’s family members may be subject to duress or other potential influence by a foreign country.

Notably, in his letter of September 10th, Col. Worth states that OSI’s investigation focused on “Major xxxxerson’s relationship with the American-Turkish Council.” This statement is very troubling for a number of reasons. First, Ms. Edmonds never even mentioned the name of this organization in any of her communications with the DOD, DOD IG, Department of the Air Force IG, and AFOSI, concerning this matter. Second, Ms. Edmonds’ concerns are not limited to whatever contacts Major xxxxerson might have with the American-Turkish Council. Third, this statement by Col. Worth is evidence that the AFOSI and the Air Force IG did not properly review Ms. Edmonds’ concerns in this matter. Fourth, Col. Worth’s letter characterized Ms. Edmonds’ concerns in the narrowest and most limited way which demonstrates that both the AFOSI and the Air Force IG did not appreciate the gravity and seriousness of Ms. Edmonds’ allegations in this matter.

There is no indication that either the AFOSI or the Air Force IG has investigated the xxxxersons’ relationships with other organizations and individuals which would be necessary in order to conduct a complete and thorough investigation of this matter. In addition, neither Ms. Edmonds nor her counsel was requested by AFOSI or the Air Force IG to provide additional information. Without obtaining additional information from Ms. Edmonds it would be impossible for the AFOSI or the Air Force IG to obtain the detailed information regarding the identities of the organization(s)/individual(s) and the scope of their relationships to the xxxxersons. In addition, there are a number of other allegations of wrongdoing that have been made (a number of which have already been substantiated) against Mrs. xxxxerson, which would constitute additional violations of the DOD Personnel Security Program. Once again, there is no indication that either the AFOSI or the Air Force IG is even aware of these matters involving Mrs. xxxxerson which impact her husband’s clearance, let alone that a complete and thorough review of such allegations has taken place.

We are hereby providing you with additional information so that you may commence an investigation immediately. These allegations involve extremely serious matters, including but not limited to several leaks of sensitive information by Mrs. xxxxerson to a foreign country and direct threats that were made by Mrs. xxxxerson against Ms. Edmonds and her family. These allegations are also considered serious by the Senate Judiciary Committee. See, Letter from Sen. Patrick J. Leahy and Sen. Charles E. Grassley to Hon. John Ashcroft (August 13, 2002), attached hereto.(2) We also incorporate herein all of the allegations contained in the attached August 13th letter from Senators Leahy and Grassley to Attorney General Ashcroft.

Mrs. xxxxerson was a contract monitor at the FBI Washington Field Office translations department and was granted a security clearance by the FBI to work as contract monitor to perform translation services for the FBI commencing in October or November, 2001. However, Mrs. xxxxerson had past and ongoing associations with one or more subject(s) or target(s) of an ongoing FBI investigation and failed to disclose those associations to the FBI. In June, 2002, the FBI confirmed in an unclassified briefing to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that Mrs. xxxxerson did, in fact, have undisclosed contacts with a foreign official who was the subject or target of an FBI investigation.(3)

Ms. Edmonds believes there is credible evidence that both Mrs. xxxxerson and her husband, Major xxxxerson, had ongoing improper and undisclosed contacts with one or more foreign officials. Such improper contacts are not limited to whatever contacts the xxxxersons may have with the American-Turkish Council. Notably, the public record already reflects that the xxxxersons maintained frequent associations with foreign nationals (aside from whatever relationship with the American-Turkish Council they may have). We believe that those associations and the frequency of such associations were not reported by the xxxxersons as required by FBI/DOJ and DOD requirements, and that these associations are such that the xxxxersons would be vulnerable to coercion, exploitation, or pressure from a foreign government.

Moreover, the xxxxersons made statements to Ms. Edmonds and others that reflect that the xxxxersons have a substantial financial interest in a foreign country that makes both of them vulnerable to foreign influence.

In addition, Mrs. xxxxerson was assigned to translate information obtained from FBI wire-taps concerning one or more subject(s) or target(s) of an investigation, but she had past and ongoing improper and undisclosed contacts with the subject(s) or target(s). Mrs. xxxxerson is suspected of leaking information to one or more targets of an FBI investigation to which she was assigned to perform translation services.

Mrs. xxxxerson also improperly instructed Ms. Edmonds and another employee at the FBI not to listen and translate certain FBI wire-taps because Mrs. xxxxerson claimed that she knew the subject(s) and was confident that there would be nothing important to translate concerning those subject(s) or their conversations.

When Ms. Edmonds refused to go along with Mrs. xxxxerson’s instruction and, after Ms. Edmonds reported Mrs. xxxxerson’s conduct to FBI management, Mrs. xxxxerson threatened the lives and safety of Mrs. Edmonds and her family members, who were citizens of, and resided in, a foreign country. Ms. Edmonds alleges that Mrs. xxxxerson made such threats because Ms. Edmonds refused to go along with Mrs. xxxxerson’s scheme to obstruct justice and because Ms. Edmonds reported her concerns about Mrs. xxxxerson’s wrongdoing to FBI management.

As a result of misconduct by Mrs. xxxxerson, numerous translations were not properly conducted, and/or intentionally not conducted, which threatened intelligence and law enforcement investigations related to September 11th and other ongoing counter-terrorist, counter-intelligence and law enforcement investigations. As a result of Mrs. xxxxerson’s misconduct, extremely sensitive and material information was deliberately withheld from FBI translations.

[Joseph]

Society of Turkish American Architects, Engineers and Scientists
c/o Gokhan Tanriverdi, Pres.
821 UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (631) 667-1467
URL: http://www.avrupa.com/mim/
Organization Notes:
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Society of Turkish Architects, Engineers and Scientists in America (MIM)
Architects, engineers, scientists, and others who possess at least a bachelor's degree in the positive and technical sciences; associate members are individuals who possess associate or bachelor's degrees in social sciences; student members are post-graduate students of architecture, engineering, and science schools. Encourages and fosters the unity, professional collaboration, networking and mutual cooperation of Turkish American architects, engineers and scientists. Works to develop, establish, and maintain programs designed to foster the professional advancement of members and to initiate and develop collaboration with other scientific organizations.
821 United Nations Plz., 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone609) 275 1358
E-Mail: [email protected]
Contact(s): Yalcin Kaya Sarier, Pres.
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Solidarity of Balkan Turks of America
1030 Main St., Ste. 6
Paterson, NJ 07503 USA
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Tri-State Turkish-American Association
7414 Walnut Creek Dr.
West Chester, OH 45069-5528 USA
Turk Ocagi
760 Pennsylvania Ave.
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 USA
Phone: (201) 935-7584
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkestanian American Association
266 Vail Rd.
Parsippany, NJ 07054 USA
Phone: (212) 737-9703
Fax: (212) 737-9688
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association (TAA)
Promotes cultural relations between the United States and Turkey. Sponsors Turkish radio program in the New York/New Jersey area, films, concerts, music festivals, conferences, and lectures; arranges charter flights to Turkey.
1600 Broadway
48th St., Ste. 318
New York, NY 10019-7413 USA
Phone: (212) 956-1560
Fax: (212) 956-1562
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Association for Cultural Exchange
825 Jaipur Ave.
Naperville, IL 60540 USA
Phone: (630) 416-9820
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Arizona
PO Box 373
Tempe, AZ 85281-0373 USA
Phone: (602) 253-7118
URL: http://www.taaaz.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of California
2053 Grant Rd., Ste. 123
Los Altos, CA 94024 USA
Phone: (415) 646-0946
URL: http://www.taaca.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Central Ohio
P.O. Box 12454,
Columbus, OH 43212-0454
Email:[email protected]
Web Address: www.taaco.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Greater Kansas City
505 NW 41 St.
Kansas City, MO 64116 USA
Phone: (816) 452-1968
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://members.aol.com/taaofkc
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Louisiana
PO Box 55112
Metairie, LA 70055-5112 USA
Phone:504 669 5461
Email:[email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Milwaukee
1517 W. Pierce St.
Milwaukee, WI 53204 USA
Phone: (414) 671-1255
Fax: (414) 671-4264
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Minnesota
Fosters awareness in the community of the richness of Turkish heritage and the contributions of the people of Turkey and their families to American life and to the cultures of the world and seeks to keep Turkish culture alive among the people of Turkey and their families who are residing in the state of MN. Also organizes social, educational, recreational, and other functions to promote better understanding and friendship both among the members of this corporation and among individuals and organizations within MN who share an interest in Turkish culture. Activities include social events, concerts, student welcome nights, film shows, and slide shows. Attends the International Festival in MN to represent Turkey and it's culture. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
PO Box 14704
Minneapolis, MN 55414 USA
Phone: (651) 631-7122
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.taam.org
Contact(s): Can Cinbis, Sec. Chair
Email:[email protected]
Turkish American Association of Northern Texas
PO Box 1837
DeSoto, TX 75123-1837 USA
Phone: (972) 223-7250
Fax: (972) 223-7250
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.turant.com
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Oklahoma
10010 E. 16th St.
Tulsa, OK 74128-4813 USA
Phone: (916) 665-6575
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Pittsburg
4 Camden Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15215 USA
Phone: (412) 782-3393
Fax: (412) 782-3384
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Association of Southern California
PO Box 53024
Irvine, CA 92619-3024 USA
Phone: (714) 806-7720
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.atasc.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Business Forum, Inc.
51 East 42nd Street, Suite 510,
New York, NY 10017
Phone212) 599-1192
Fax212) 599-2565
Email:[email protected]
Webpage: www.forum.org
Turkish American Cultural Alliance of Chicago
3845 N. Harlem Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634 USA
Phone: (773) 725-3655
Fax: (773) 725-3685
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: www.tacaonline.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Alliance of St. Louis
5614 Wieland Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63128 USA
Phone: (314) 894-1824
Fax: (314) 894-1824
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association
222 Pearl St., Lawrence
New York 11559
NY USA
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Cultural Association of Alabama
11116 Hillwood Dr. SE
Huntsville, AL 35803 USA
Phone: (256) 881-8788
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association of Florida
Seeks to raise the knowledge level of Turkish culture and history in the community; to perform activities which are charitable, educational and non-profit; to provide an intellectual bridge between mainland Turkey and the local community; to support and maintain ties with other organizations of similar goals. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
PO Box 3303
Brandon, FL 33509-3303 USA
Phone: 727-799-2501
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.tacaf.org
Turkish American Cultural Association of Georgia
PO Box 190013
Atlanta, GA 31119-0013 USA
Phone: (770) 913-9431
Email:[email protected]
URL: http://www.tacaga.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association of Michigan
Follows the philosophy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, which encompasses the nation's creative legacy as well as the best values of world civilization. Emphasis is placed on personal and universal humanism. Seeks to promote cultural independence; to provide social function gatherings; to provide educational workshops in the community; and to provide political awareness. Sponsors cultural events that educate the MI community. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
28847 Beck Rd.
Walled Lake, MI 48393 USA
Phone: (248) 348-4176
Fax: (248) 626-8279
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.tacam.org
Turkish American Cultural Association of Southern New England
291 Vine Rd.
Stamford, CT 06905 USA
Phone: (203) 225-4784
Fax: (203) 329-1640
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington
PO Box 357
Kirkland, WA 98083-0357 USA
Phone: (425) 294-4240
Fax: (425) 717-1506
Email:[email protected]
Webpage:www.tacawa.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Society of Colorado
PO Box 260435
Highlands Ranch, CO 80163-0435 USA
Phone: (303) 708-4408
Fax: (303) 708-4020
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Cultural Society of New England
Individuals of Turkish origin and Americans who have lived or spent time in Turkey. Seeks to educate Americans about Turkey and its culture and to unite ethnic Turks and friends of Turkey. Conducts lecture series on topics related to Turkey. Teaches Turkish language. Sponsors various social activities. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
PO Box 1308
Boston, MA 02104-1308 USA
Phone: (617) 536-4418
Fax: (617) 536-4418
URL: http://www.tacsne.org/
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Friendship Association of Hawaii
1330 Ala Moana Blvd. No. 1506
Honolulu, HI 96814-4216 USA
Phone: (808) 593-0500
Fax: (808) 596-9546
Email: [email protected]

Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Friendship Society of the United States
249 St. Joseph's Way
Philadelphia, PA 19106 USA
Phone: (215) 629-1089
Fax: (215) 629-9745
Email: [email protected]
Webpage: www.tafsus.com
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Neuropsychiatric Association
8335 Brittany Hill Ct.
Grand Blanc, MI 48439 USA
Phone: (810) 694-1808
Fax: (810) 694-6100
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish American Physicians Association
1350 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10128 USA
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American Physicians Association
645 Beaver Dam Rd.
Stratford, CT 06614 USA
Phone: (203) 378-4178
Fax: (203) 375-1790
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish American scientist and Scholars association (TASSA)
TASSA is an independent, non-profit and non-political organization promoting educational and scientific coorperation between the USA and Turkey. Established in June 2004 in washington, D.C., it aims to facilitate the advancement of science in Turkey and the USA through scientific exchange and educational programs and increased networking.
Executive Director: Levent Yanik
1526 18th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
USA
Phone: +1-800-620-4120
Fax: +1-800-620-4120
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.tassausa.org
Turkish American Society of Northeastern Ohio
P.O. Box: 22121,
Cleveland OH 44122
President:Suleyman Gokoglu
Phone: 440-546-0745
Fax: 216-977-7065
Email:[email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish Children Foster Care
730 Ticonderoga Ave.
Severna Park, MD 21146 USA
Phone: (410) 647-1315
Fax: (410) 647-0109
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Turkish Cultural Foundation
Email [email protected]
Mailing Address TCF
12 Elizabeth Drive
Chelmsford, MA 01824
USA
Telephone 301-571-0980
Executive Director, WDC
USA
www http://www.turkishculture.org/
Turkish Cypriot Aid Society
843 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx NY 10462
Phone718) 892 7640
Email:[email protected]
Turkish Fine Arts Ensemble
Individuals interested in promoting the dances, music, drama, and artwork of Turkish people with the goal of uniting Turkish speaking immigrants living in the U.S. Provides financial assistance for relocation to the United States to those skilled in Turkish arts. Maintains a meeting house and sponsors social events.
45-54 39th Pl., Ste. 2C
Sunnyside, NY 11104 USA
Phone: (718) 937-5211
Email: [email protected]
Contact(s): Mr. Tayyar Akdeniz, Pres.
Turkish Society of Rochester
2841 Culver Rd.
Rochester, NY 14622 USA
Phone: (716) 266-1980
Fax: (716) 266-1752
Webpage:www.tsor.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Turkish Women's League of America (TWLA)
Americans of Turkish origin united to promote equality and justice for women. Organizes cultural and recreational activities to foster better understanding between the people of Turkey, the U.S., and other counties, including the new Turkish republics of the former Soviet Union; brings together Turkic-speaking people in the U.S. Defends human and civil rights. Operates Ataturk School, which offers courses in Turkish language, history, music, and folk dancing; sponsors workshops and seminars for high school teachers. Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations; Federation of Turkish-American Associations. Also Known As: Amerika Turk Kadinlar Birligi.
821 UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (212) 682-8525
Fax: (212) 682-8525
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association
US Council for Human Rights in the Balkans, Inc.
67-57 Exeter Street,
Forest Hills, NY11375
Tel: 718-520-8487
Washington Turkish Women Association
PO Box 2246
Kensington, MD 20891 USA
Phone: (301) 384-8254
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Young Turks Cultural Aid Society
57 Ashley Ct.
Bedminster, NJ 07921 USA
Phone: (732) 981-0099
Fax: (732) 981-9666
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Young Turks of America Cultural Aid Society
821 UN Plaza, 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (212) 535-2153
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Updated March 1, 2005.

[Joseph]

TURKISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS

In the United States

American Association of Crimean Turks
4509 Newutrecth Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11219
Phone:718-851-6621, Fax:718-435-1237
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Federation of Turkish-American Association

American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT)
Teachers of the Turkic languages; universities, including language schools in government services; other institutions. Dedicated to the enhancement of study, criticism, and research in the field of Turkic languages, literature, and linguistics. Seeks to improve and advance the teaching of modern and historical Turkic languages. Is developing guidelines and standards for proficiency-based teaching of Turkic languages, bibliography of teaching materials, and workshops for teachers.
Princeton University
Near Eastern Studies
110 Jones Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1008 USA
Phone: (609) 258-1435
Fax: (609) 258-1242
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~turkish/aatt

American Friends of Turkey (AFOT)
Charitable and fundraising organization.
915 15th St., NW, 7th Fl.
Washington, DC 20005-4902 USA
Phone: (202) 783-0449
Fax: (202) 783-0511
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.americanturkishcouncil.org

American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT)
Institutions of higher learning in the U.S. and Canada. Works to advance knowledge of Turkey and enchance mutual understanding between the U.S. and turkey by supporting and promoting research and study of Turkey in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Research support includes maintaining two research centers in Turkey and administering a program of research fellowships and language study. Bosphorus University, Istanbul. Maintains research facility and 10,500 volume library in Istanbul, Turkey on Byzantine, Islamic, Ottoman, and modern Turkish studies and a 7000 volume library in Ankara, Turkey on archaeology.
c/o University of Pennsylvania Museum
33rd & Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324 USA
Phone: (215) 898-3474
Fax: (215) 898-0657
Email: [email protected]

American Turkish Association of Houston
PO Box 61002
Houston, TX 77208-1002 USA
URL: http://www.atahouston.org

Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
American Turkish Association of North Carolina
PO Box 31761
Raleigh, NC 27622-1761 USA
Phone: (919) 991-7030
Fax: (919) 859-4090
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.ata-nc.org

American Turkish Association of Washington, DC
1526 18th St NW
Washington DC 20036
Phone: 1-888-282-3236
Contact: Pelin Aylangan (President, ATA-DC)
General Information: [email protected]
Turkish School: [email protected]
To become a member: [email protected]
Cultural Activities: [email protected]
Webpage: www.atadc.org
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
American Turkish Islamic and Cultural Center
President: Nureddin Demircan
Address: 888 Main Street
Peterson, NJ 07503
PH: (973) 345-3940
EM: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.

American Turkish Society (ATS)
American and Turkish diplomats, banks, corporations, businessmen, and educators. Promotes economic and commercial relations as well as cultural understanding between the peoples of the United States and Turkey. Serves as information center. Holds a series of lectures and symposia cultural programs. Sponsors social activities between U.S. and Turkish official and businesspersons. Conducts charitable work including aid for victims of earthquakes and floods.
3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
305 E. 47th Street, 8 th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212-583-7614 Fax: 212-583-7615
e-mail: [email protected]
Webpage: www.americanturkishsociety.org

American-Turkish Council (ATC)
Devoted to increasing understanding of commercial, defense, and cultural issues involving the U.S. and Turkey. Provides information on historical, economical, and social advancement of Turkey. Conducts educational programs to increase business relations and opportunities between the U.S. and Turkey.
915 15th St. NW, 7th Fl.
Washington, DC 20005 USA
Phone: (202) 783-0483
Fax: (202) 783-0511
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.americanturkishcouncil.org
Contact(s): G. Lincoln McCurdy, Pres.

Anadolu Club
152 North Passaic Avenue , CHATHAM, NJ 07928
Phone: 973 222 0484
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association
Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA)
1526 18th St. NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA
Phone: (202) 483-9090
Fax: (202) 483-9092
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.ataa.org

Ataturk Society of America-ASA
4731 Mass. Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016
Tel:202-363-0945, Fax:202-363-4075
Webpage:www.ataturksociety.org
Federation of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA)
Local organizations (35) of Turkish-Americans in the U.S. Promotes fellowship; works to advance cultural and educational interests; seeks to maintain and preserve knowledge of the cultural heritage of Turkey and the U.S. Maintains Turkish Cultural Center. Observes Children's Day (Apr. 23), Youth and Sports Day (May 19), Turkish Day Parade (3rd Saturday of May), and Ataturks Commemoration Day (Nov. 10). Broadcasts Turkish radio program in New York City.
821 United Nations Plz.
New York, NY 10017 USA
Phone: (212) 682-7688
Fax: (212) 687-3026
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.tadf.org/index.php3
Contact(s): M. Ata Erim, M.D., Pres.

Florida Turkish American Association
PO Box 50021
Lighthouse Point, FL 33074 USA
Phone: (954) 975-3384
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Institute of Turkish Studies
Founded and incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1982 and currently located at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of the Georgetown University, the oldest and largest school of international affairs in the country, the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS) is the only non-profit, private educational foundation in the United States that supports the development of Turkish Studies in American higher education.

Institute of Turkish Studies
Intercultural Center
Box 571033
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
20057-1033
Tel: .(202) 687-0295
Fax: (202) 687-3780
Sabri Sayari, Executive Director
[email protected]
Intercollegiate Turkish Students Society ITSS
Intercollegiate Turkish Students Society ITSS As a volunteer students organization, ITSS was established in 1997 to increase communication and cooperation among Turkish Student Associations in USA and Canada. Its major aims are to provide an exchange of information, experience and resources; support students before-during-after their schools; better implement lobyyist activities; better promote peaceful relations among societies and strengthen 'Peace at home, Peace on the world'.
Contact: Aydin BIRIK- Secretary General
Phone: 347 276 0839
Address: 821 UN Plaza, 7th Fl.New York, NY 10017
Web-site: www.itss.org
E-mail: [email protected] |[email protected]
Karacay Turks Mosque and Cultural Association
92 Ballantine Dr.
North Haledon, NJ 07508 USA
Phone: (973) 238-1868
Organization Notes:
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations and Federation of Turkish-American Association

Maryland American Turkish Association
10176 Baltimore National Pike, Ste. 211
Ellicott City, MD 21042 USA
Phone: (410) 750-7735
Fax: (410) 750-3158
Email: [email protected]
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Melungeon Heritage Association
PO Box 4042
Wise, VA 24293 USA
URL: http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Inn/1024/
Affiliated With: Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
Pittsburg Turkish American Association - PTAA
PO Box 7545
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone:412-856 5616
Email[email protected]
Webpage: www.ptaa.org

[Joseph]

http://www.turkishcoalitionofamerica.com/caucus.html

*G. Lincoln McCurdy lives in Arlington, Virginia. He was the Consul for Commercial Affairs at the US Consulate General in Istanbul in the early 1980s. He was with the American-Turkish Council from 1989 to 2004 and served as its president for the last five years. He is currently an independent consultant.

[Joseph]

A little more background on the neocons for a book review

Book Review


They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons

The American Conservative - 24 January, 2008

Author: Jacob Heilbrunn

Review by Philip Weiss

It is hard to imagine a title more overdue than They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons. Ever since neoconservatism’s chief contribution to world betterment, the Iraq War, began losing its luster, its adherents have gone into a kind of hiding, and the media has given them cover. Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and New York Times columnist David Brooks, one or both of whom are neoconservatives, have suggested that the word is an anti-Semitic epithet. Others try to avoid it entirely: when Bill Kristol, who was definitely once a neoconservative, was hired by the New York Times as a columnist, the paper called him a “conservative” and said his father Irving Kristol, one of the movement’s founders, was a leader of “modern conservatism.”

Jacob Heilbrunn asserts that neoconservatives have so far gotten away “scot-free” with planning the greatest foreign-policy disaster since Vietnam. And so his book will call them to account. Not quite.

Heilbrunn achieves one important chore: a forthright social narrative of the neocons as a Jewish movement. Tracing ideological currents in the Jewish community from the 1940s to the 1970s, Heilbrunn, a journalist who himself flirted with neoconservatism, describes how the neocons were propelled by resentments against WASP elites—the men who had ignored the Holocaust, they felt, and “frozen out” Jews from the establishment. It would be hard to overemphasize Heilbrunn’s accomplishment. There has been endless prevarication about the fact that neoconservatism is an element of the Jewish experience, even from liberal Jews. Yet Heilbrunn will have none of it. He says that neoconservatism is “intimately linked with the memory of the Holocaust and the allies’ failure to save the Jews during the war” and notes that a “peculiar amalgam of intellectual rigor and ethnic resentment … lies at the heart of the neoconservative outlook.”

And here’s the topper: a “lifelong antipathy toward the patrician class among the neocons … prompted them to create their own parallel establishment.”

The sociological insights in his story are often exciting. Neocon godfather Norman Podhoretz had “the classic Jewish experience with the WASP elite” but became a “social climber” himself Heilbrunn says. The other godfather, Irving Kristol didn’t at first take the late Allan Bloom seriously. Bloom told Heilbrunn that his relationship with Kristol got “easier” once Bloom, like Kristol, had wealth. The neocons didn’t like Kissinger because he was hofjude, “a court jew of the WASP foreign policy establishment.” They didn’t like Zbig Brzezinski because he was Polish and the neocons suspected him of Pale-era anti-semitism.

Boiling resentment meant very little without a political program. The neocons got that in the late 1960s. And not surprisingly, the issues had a Jewish character. “With the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem, the 1967 war, and the rise of black anti-Semitism in the United States, neoconservatism was born,” Heilbrunn writes. So now Brzezinski was resented because he was against the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and McGeorge Bundy because he wanted to push Israel to make a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Neoconservative ideas might have been confined to small magazines, but the neocons stunned themselves in the 1970s by gaining traction in American political life—through the offices of Washington Sen. Henry Jackson (whom a Saudi ambassador called “more Jewish than the Jews”). With Jackson’s support, the neocons staged their first great victory, pressuring the Soviet Union to free Jews. After Daniel Patrick Moynihan won his New York Senate seat with “strong Jewish support” in 1976, the neocons had a second home.

At that time, of course, they were Democrats. Martin Peretz, the once leftwing editor of The New Republic, was so shaken by the Left’s friendliness to the Palestinians, that he provided access in his pages to hawks, and became “a major force in the mainstreaming of neoconservative ideas.” Douglas Feith, an architect of the Iraq disaster, tells Heilbrunn, “I grew up in a liberal Democratic Jewish household.” Again Israel was key. At the age of 15, two years into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Feith wrote a precocious letter to the New York Times attacking the State Department policy in the Middle East. “It is appalling the State Department can be so blind to historical precedent as to call for a withdrawal from the captured area.” Captured, not occupied.

Israel-centrism made the neocons lousy wardheelers. They turned against Jimmy Carter on foreign policy, and so helped to elect Ronald Reagan in 1980. Not one to slight the power of his subjects, Heilbrunn says that had they not spurned Carter, he might have been re-elected. Neocons came back to the Dems in 1992, again over Israel. George H.W. Bush—“a scion of the WASP establishment”—was “acting like Jimmy Carter when it came to Israel.” Knocking off the Soviet Union gave the neocons a sense of hubris that would doom their ideas about Iraq. Their thinking was also damaged by the fact that the neocons overprized “filial piety”—and so their sons were enlisted in their fathers’ battles without having to develop their own ideas.

Good stuff. Alas, the book’s riches are set in the ancient past: the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Didn’t the neocons just wreck our image around the world? Heilbrunn doesn’t get to 9/11 till page 228. There are only 60 pages left, and the social insights that have characterized the first half of the book disappear, giving way to a stentorian, op-ed style. The neocons have “debauched” the idea of intervention. They were “hopelessly naïve about the Arab predicament.”

I hoped that this book would do for the parallel establishment what The Best and the Brightest did for the last one in the wake of Vietnam. But Heilbrunn seems to have had only three or four interviews with Iraq war planners and we learn little about their psyches. How do they feel about Israel? How much money do they make? Do they think there is going to be another Holocaust? What was the importance of Cheney’s American Enterprise Institute chapter (both he and his wife have been fellows at AEI) to his inoculation with neocon doctrine? Heilbrunn doesn’t provide answers.

There are two reasons for his failure, the first vocational, the second far more worrisome. Heilbrunn was evidently under a deadline, and having spent years working on the first part of his book, he appears to have rushed the second half. His writing goes downhill. In the galley, two sentences in a row have the verb “would end up.” Twice on the same page former Sen. Bob Kerrey provides “important … cover” for the neocons.

The more troubling reason is self-censorship. It is one thing to write about the past with dispositive energy and quite another to render sharp judgments about the present. Heilbrunn hints at great ideas without the ability to follow through on them. He says the neocons’ obsession with radical Islam as another cold war was a self-delusion—did they also confuse Palestinian suicide bombers with Nazis? He talks about a parallel establishment and “an elite caste,” but doesn’t do anything to explore the huge pots of money available to the neocons and to politicians who stick by Israel. There is no follow through because all these ideas are close to anti-Semitic “canards,” the word the pro-Israel crowd likes to use when anyone tries to address Jewish influence in public life. Heilbrunn is conscious of these tactics. He notes that Francis Fukuyama said much more about the neocons’ love of Israel in an article than he did in his subsequent book and chalks the scholar’s silence up to “the bullying tactics the neoconservatives often employed to avert any criticism of Israel, however mild.” Well, Heilbrunn seems to have worried about the same thing.

As for bullying, what are we to make of Heilbrunn’s own vicious outbursts toward anybody who has tried to change American policy toward the hateful Israeli occupation? Thus George Kennan worried about “so-called ethnic lobbies.” Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer’s groundbreaking 2006 paper, “The Israel Lobby,” is dismissed as an “addled essay”, without another word. Jimmy Carter is accused of “crackpot moralism.” Edward Said was “a smooth, urbane purveyor of much nonsense about the Middle East.”

Between these knifings, Heilbrunn loses his own point of view. He tells us that Bush fell “into the web that the neoconservatives had woven around him.” Sounds like a conspiracy. Twice the author uses the word “cabal.” Harvard’s government department “was the first academic neoconservative cabal.” Later there is “the Pentagon cabal of neoconservatives.” Not even Walt and Mearsheimer used the word, though maybe they should have. Certainly, the neocons have often formed cells and have not been transparent about their ideas or their aims.

The book’s promotional copy teases the reader with that revelation. The boldfaced paragraph on the back of the galley asserts that many believe that a “cabal” of neocons launched a “war primarily on Israel’s behalf.” If Heilbrunn doesn’t believe this, he ought to state why not. As it is the reader is left with the shadowy sense that the neocons have a pro-Israel agenda that they are not upfront about. But it isn’t a conspiracy, Heilbrunn warns. The neocons have convinced themselves that the U.S. and Israel have congruent interests. “They just believe this stuff. They’re not agents,” an anonymous source tells him, speaking of Cheney aide David Wurmser, who is married to an Israeli.

Jacob Heilbrunn’s book should be hailed as a real sign of progress in assessing responsibility for the Iraq War, and yet the real work remains undone. I understand why there are inhibitions. Blaming the neocons’ Israel-first worldview for the war raises deep fears among Jews. The liberal Forward greeted Walt and Mearsheimer’s paper on the Israel lobby with the bitter retort: “In Dark Times Blame the Jews.” We need to get past this sort of defensiveness if we are going to understand our own democracy, let alone the Middle East. What Heilbrunn rightly calls an “elite caste” could lose status, yes. But others’ lives are at stake.

[Joseph]

http://www.armenianweekly.com

The Armenian Weekly; Volume 74, No. 8; March 1, 2008


An Overdue Housecleaning


By Paul Ternamian

Tradmarked by Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, "change" now appears to be
the campaign slogan shared by both Democratic candidates. As we gradually
wave goodbye to the Bush administration's eight catastrophic years at the
helm and slowly sieve the crop of willing successors on both sides of the
floor, "change" is definitely in need. But how does one begin to cleanse the
putrid a-Bush mess that has been eight years in the making? The plausible
answer is "the State Department," say the pundits.

To effectively evaluate the State Department's policies against House
Resolution 106, one must understand the misleading and distorted arguments
presented that deliberately sway and intentionally misinform politicians.
Only by understanding and analyzing their Machiavellian covert methods can
we effectively counter their assault.

Leading the charge against the resolution and various other Armenian
initiatives, such as regional security, economic development and investment
opportunities, are the notorious tandem of Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. When members of Congress are
invited to travel to Turkey, which happens with great frequency, the State
Department organizes their sojourn and schedules their meetings. It will be
naive to assume that these planned trips are only friendly visits by
congressmen from one NATO member to another. These sprees are specifically
tailored for senators, congressmen and senior policy advisors, who have been
briefed by the State Department to discuss significant issues like
H.Res.106. What is important to note is that these politicians and peddlers
of influence are sent not only to meet with Prime Minister Erdogan and his
AK party cronies, but more importantly to meet top local American
businessmen, political party organization representatives and various
special interest groups, like the American Chamber of Commerce and the
American Defence Industrial Core stationed in the country.

Ever since this Administration's inauguration, the unity and political
tenacity of the Armenian diaspora has been tested on numerous occasions. The
best example was the State Department's appalling and inexcusable decision
to add Armenia to the list of terrorist states. This meant that male
Armenian citizens visiting the U.S. would be subjected to strenuous
additional screening and fingerprinting. To ensure unopposed passage and
slow community opposition to this draconian measure, the list was
deliberately released on a Friday afternoon. What was particularly
objectionable and disturbing was that Armenia is the only country in the
region without a terrorist group operating within its borders and the only
non-Al Queda supporter on the list.

However, after forwarding a torrent of more than 10,000 webfaxes and
webmails to the President over the weekend, the true brawn of our community
leadership and mobilization capabilities came through. Much to the dismay of
the State Department, Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia was rightfully removed
>From this terrorist list the following Tuesday. It is hurdles like these
that the State Department continually erects in our path to justice and
reparation. They thrive to divert our collective attention and derail our
resources to test the resilience and determination of the Armenian
community-just to see if we're still kicking.

Glancing back at the Bush Administration's horrendous tract record, the
State Department's first attempt to amend Turkish-Armenian relations was the
establishment of a joint commission, better known as the Turkish Armenian
Reconciliation Commission (TARC). This farcical State Department creation
was made up mostly of Turkish members, a few diasporan Armenians, and former
Armenian government officials. It was strategically established at the turn
of the century, just as the first U.S. genocide resolution was picking up
steam. However, there was more to this insidious calculated move than is
often realized. In the late 1990's, France, Italy, Sweden and Vatican City
officially recognized the Armenian genocide. This surge of recognitions by
several major European countries, coupled with growing support of the 2000
U.S. Armenian Genocide Resolution, compelled Turkey to squeal for help.

Even though the then-Armenian government denied any direct connection with
TARC, many former senior government officials were members of this joint
commission. Under immense pressure from the Armenian diaspora, the State
Department eventually suspended support for its ridiculous attempt at
undermining our quest for justice, and TARC was rightfully terminated.
However, this did not signal a permanent end to the State Department's
malevolent ambitions.

In spring 2006, two specific events startled Turkey and the State
Department. The first major blow was the passage of the law criminalizing
genocide denial by individuals in France, a setback for all those working
against genocide recognition. The second and more significant event was
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recognition of the Armenian
genocide in April. Not only was Canada the first major English-speaking ally
to officially recognize the genocide, but the fact that this affirmation
emanated from a Conservative right-leaning government took Turkey and the
U.S. by total surprise. As a result, Turkish pressure began to mount on the
U.S. and the wheels started churning for the State Department to resurrect
and recreate a new joint commission. However, this time there was one
exception: To ensure insulation, the diaspora was not invited to
participate.

Over a year ago, just as H.Res.106 started to gain serious momentum, the
State Department began to construct fallacious arguments used to brief
Congress and government officials to convince them to vote against the
resolution. There are two main arguments used by the State Department in
opposition to the resolution.

The first is that "the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey are in
the process of establishing a new joint commission of academics and
histories to establish the facts in parallel with efforts to establish
official bi-lateral relations." Members of Congress are intentionally
misinformed by special envoys and are led to believe that voting for
H.Res.106 will support the continual conflict between both countries. The
logic goes, because Armenia and Turkey have finally come together, hand in
hand, under this joint pseudo-commission to discuss important regional
issues, which will help establish official bi-lateral relations, why should
Congress get involved and pass this resolution? It will only anger our NATO
ally and more importantly complicate the reconciliation efforts between
Turks and Armenians who are finally going to come to a decision on their
own.

It is unfortunate, however, that these pathetic attempts to undermine and
brainwash unsuspecting members of Congress is frequently effective. The
argument's major flaw is the assumption that both governments have agreed to
participate in this joint commission. The Armenian government and Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian have neither endorsed nor accepted any such
offer, and refuse to participate as the veracity of the genocide has already
been irrefutably established by numerous credible sources worldwide.

In addition, the State Department has strategically and surreptitiously
linked two entirely separate issues: the idea of a joint commission with
that of bilateral relations. Turkey's unwavering stance is that without a
joint commission there can be no bilateral relations and separating these
two distinct issues puts us in a stronger position by showcasing Turkey's
intransigence. The worst possible decision by the Armenian government would
be to agree to this new joint commission, as it would confirm that the facts
have not been indubitably established and thus validate this ridiculous
argument. By excluding members of the diaspora, the State Department
attempts to undermine our collective efforts by portraying us as a nuisance
to forward progress and to avoid another "TARC-ing." With continual pressure
for Armenia's participation in the joint commission by the State Department,
it has become evident that the Bush Administration's ultimate goal is to use
this opportunity as a means of coercing Armenia to forgo the coveted and
just reparations claims in exchange for bilateral relations, an open border,
and the development of a port facility for lines of communications and trade
in Trabizon.

The State Department's second argument is that passage of H.Res.106 will
lead to an intensely negative and nationalistic backlash response working
against those in Turkey who are now calling for a) a comprehensive review of
the events and b) creating bilateral relations with Armenia. This argument
shifts its focus away from establishing a joint commission and once again
attempts to weave the precondition of determining the facts of the genocide
with the creation of bilateral relations. The glaring flaw in this argument
is the actual lack of serious calls for a comprehensive and constructive
review of the genocide because anyone who attempts to introduce serious
reconciliation is swiftly marginalized and silenced.

Hrant Dink's cold-blood murder for calling it "genocide" and Orhan Pamuk's
numerous death threats despite never calling for a comprehensive review or
even labeling it as "genocide" are just some heinous examples of the fate of
one who dares to speak the truth. Ultimately, the State Department's tacit
support for this climate of obtuse oppression emboldens the present Turkish
government-and their paid lackeys in Washington-to create the illusion of
forward movement, while undermining the recognition, reparation and
reconciliation processes. With a 17-year blockade and still no embassy in
Armenia, there has been no tangible movement toward change in attitudes even
before this administration took office in 2000.

As chants for "change" gradually get louder and more fervent as we approach
election day on Nov. 4, Armenians all over the world will wonder if this
whiff of change emanating from Washington will permeate the corridors of the
State Department and create a much overdue surge of principled policies that
will support justice, enhance regional security and create economic
stability in the Caucuses free of prejudice.

Toronto, Ontario

[Joseph]

Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish lobbies
From Armeniapedia.org
Horizon Armenian Weekly
Montreal
Quebec, Canada
November 29, 2005

Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish lobbies
By David B. Boyajian <http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=David_B._Boyajian>

Washington’s widening spy investigations threaten to expose the lovers’ triangle of Neoconservatives, the Jewish lobby, and the Turkish lobby.

There are three major espionage cases: Sibel Edmonds/FBI/Turkey, Larry Franklin/AIPAC/Israel, and Valerie Plame/CIA/Libby.

The latter two (and perhaps the first) involve so-called Neoconservatives. The hallmark of Neocons is, of course, an outspoken devotion to Israel. There are dozens of them, and 90 percent are Jewish.

And, yes, ideologically cohesive ethnic or religious groupings, whether Turks, Jews, Muslims, Christian evangelicals, Armenians, Cubans, or Greeks, are fair game for discussion.

Allies: Turks and Jews

The Jewish lobby has for years befriended the Turkish lobby. No one seriously disputes this (also see http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweek...litics001.html ).

Indeed, Armenian genocide resolutions in Congress, acknowledged The Jerusalem Post, “have been snuffed out by Turkey and its right-hand man on this issue, the Israel lobby.”

The lobbies’ friendship grew out of the bond between Israel and Turkey, who share an aversion to much of the Arab world and Iran.

Having worked their way into the media, academia, think tanks, and government—most notably the Bush administration—Neocons are immensely influential. Being pro-Israel hawks, they are, not surprisingly, strongly pro-Turkish.

As far back as 16 years ago, for example, two former members of the current administration, Neocons Douglas Feith and Richard Perle, founded International Advisors Inc., which registered as a foreign agent for Turkey. IAI, said journalist Jason Vest, helped to “quash a U.S. Senate resolution marking ... the Armenian genocide.”

Feith left Reagan’s National Security Council in 1982 after the FBI suspected him of passing classified information to Israel. Perle was reportedly suspected of the same thing a decade earlier.

In fairness, we must also recognize that scores of Jewish and Israeli academicians and elected officials have generally been supportive of Armenians and have acknowledged the Armenian genocide.

Gagged: Sibel Edmonds

Sibel Deniz, 35, was born an Azerbaijani Iranian. After moving to Turkey, Sibel immigrated to the United States and married an American, Matthew Edmonds.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, she put her linguistic skills to work at the FBI. Vanity Fair’s David Rose (September 2005) reported that Sibel listened to secretly recorded tapes of Turks and persons associated with the high-powered American Turkish Council (ATC) allegedly engaged in illicit drug deals, the sale of classified military technology, and bribery of American officials. Some of the FBI wiretaps dated back to 1997.

Late in 2001, the Edmondses were approached by another FBI Turkish translator, Melek Can (pronounced Jan) xxxxerson, and her husband, USAF Major Douglas xxxxerson. Melek had met Douglas when he was stationed in Turkey selling U.S. weapons.

The xxxxersons allegedly tried to lure Sibel and Matthew into joining the ATC and ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) by promising lives of leisure. (Melek Can had apparently illegally hidden her previous employment at the ATC from the FBI.)

“Just tell them that you’re a Turkish translator for the FBI,” the xxxxersons reportedly told Sibel, “and you will get in very quickly.”

When Sibel spurned the offer, Melek allegedly stopped her from listening to any more FBI tapes related to Turkey.

Sibel blew the whistle and was fired. The xxxxersons fled the United States.

A Justice Department investigation, now classified, confirmed many of Sibel’s claims.

She has testified before Congress and the 9/11 Commission and is suing the FBI (JustaCitizen.com).

But the U.S. Attorney General, citing the rarely used “state secrets privilege,” got a judge to stop her lawsuit cold and slap a gag order on her. The ACLU is appealing the gag order to the Supreme Court.

Guilty: Larry Franklin

Undersecretary of Defense Larry Franklin (a Neocon, but Catholic) pled guilty this fall to passing classified information about Iran to Israeli embassy officer Nair Gilon and lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee). Gilon fled the United States, and Rosen and Weissman are due to go on trial.

Larry Franklin’s boss at the Pentagon was none other than Douglas Feith, the Neocon Turkish lobbyist and former FBI suspect.

Did Feith know Franklin was spying for Israel? Was Feith working not just for Turkey but Israel as well?

Sibel’s Bombshell

Christopher Deliso of Balkanalysis.com recently asked Sibel Edmonds whether “the Turkish and Israeli [Franklin/AIPAC] investigations had some overlap.”

Edmonds answered with this bombshell: “There is only one investigation ... a very big ... all-inclusive one ... You can start from the AIPAC angle [or] the [Valerie] Plame case ... they revolve around the same nucleus of people.”

It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that together the three spy cases could become the biggest scandal in U.S. history.

Outed: Valerie Plame

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has just indicted Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby, for perjury and obstruction of justice. Yes, Libby is a longtime Neocon.

In 2003, ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson had publicly alleged the falseness of President Bush’s pre-Iraq war claim that Saddam Hussein had sought nuclear weapons material from Africa.

Libby or other Bush officials apparently retaliated by illegally informing some journalists that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA operative. One such journalist, The New York Times’ Judith Miller, is Jewish and has become a Neocon favorite.

Fitzgerald hints at more indictments: “It’s not over.”

Action Needed

For the lid to be blown off the Neocon-Turkish-Jewish “menage a trois,” the stalled Sibel Edmonds case needs to go forward.

Armenian-Americans need to get behind those pushing to lift the case’s gag order. A special Federal prosecutor must be appointed, or Fitzgerald’s mandate broadened, to cover the Edmonds scandal.

Members of Congress’s Armenian Caucus should be urged to take the lead, though one wonders if anyone in Congress has the courage to take on Neocons and two powerful lobbies.

Armenian-Americans, meanwhile, can feel a certain satisfaction knowing that many of those who have opposed them on matters such as Genocide affirmation may be more unsavory than anyone ever suspected.

Article used with authors permission.

[Joseph]

http://letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com/2008/01/sibel-names-names-in-pictures.html

More names to be added