Sibel Edmonds story picked up by Military.com

besides the articles from last year in the uk times (i've posted extensively on sibel - see here for the full list), this is some of the first exposure edmonds has gotten in the u.s. from other than weblogs and alternative news media, altho' i'm not sure military.com exactly qualifies as "traditional" news media...

anywayz...

In sworn testimony to attorneys on Aug. 8, Sibel Edmonds described a Pentagon where key personnel helped pass defense secrets to foreign agents or provided them names of knowledgeable officials who were vulnerable to blackmail or co-option.

And firmly rooted in this espionage program in the 1990s, according to Edmonds’ deposition, were two men who, with the election of George W. Bush as president in 2000, found themselves in the Pentagon: Douglas Feith, who would head the Office of Special Plans, and Richard Perle, who would become chairman of the Defense Advisory Board.

"They were 100 percent directly involved," Edmonds told Military.com. "They were not in the Pentagon [in the late 1990s] but they had their people inside the Pentagon." One of those people, she said, was Larry Franklin, an Air Force officer assigned to the Office of Special Plans who, in 2003, passed classified information to representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Office, or AIPAC. By then Feith was leading the OSP.

Edmonds cautioned that she does not know if these practices are continuing, since she was fired by the FBI in April 2002 after pressing for an investigation into an attempt by a colleague to recruit her for an organization that was itself a target of FBI surveillance.

Perle, today a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and board member for or adviser to other think tanks, including the National Institute for Neareast Affairs and the Center for Security Policy, emphatically denied Edmonds’ claims in an interview with Military.com.

“This woman is a nutcase. Certifiable,” Perle said. “She makes wild accusations. She was fired from her job, and has been on a vendetta against … imagined demons ever since.”

Feith, in an email to Military.com, said: “What I’ve read on the Internet about Ms. Edmonds’s claims about me is wildly false and bizarre.”

"nutcase"...
"certifiable"...
"wild accusations"...
"imagined demons"...
"wildly false"...
"bizarre"...

interesting terms from two of the most vicious neocon nuts to ever fall from the wingnut tree...

edmonds obviously knows something of value or she wouldn't have been slapped with a "state secrets" gag order after her firing... she also has a very credible corroborator who is still working in the system...

One of Edmonds’ believers is John M. Cole, a former FBI counterintelligence analyst and author of “While America Sleeps: An FBI Whistleblower's Story.” Cole, who worked for the bureau 18 years and now works for the Defense Intelligence Agency at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., said the pattern of espionage described by Edmonds is familiar to him.

“In the 1990s I was responsible for Western Europe and Israel [counterintelligence cases],” Cole told Military.com. “We did have ongoing investigations of officials in the State Department and also the Department of Defense.” And he said cases did extend outside the Pentagon, to various Air Force Bases and the RAND Corp. – something Edmonds also stated in her testimony.

one of these days, this is going to pop open like the festering sore it is, preferably sooner than later...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The nuclear black market and the myth of so-called U.S. "news"

yes, most everyone reading this blog is fully aware of the sad reality of what passes for "news" in the united states... however, it's always nice to have that truth validated in such an articulate fashion...

Centrism is the philosophy of the American media - and that essentially backs the status quo, when you're a centrist, and this game of objectivity that they play is really limited by parameters that you're allowed to ask questions and to investigate and in a sense then you're transmitting these assumptions, and reinforcing every day that the US is really a functioning democracy...

[...]

The mindset of the American mainstream press does not allow certain ideas to easily filter through: the idea that high-ranking US officials might actually be facilitating this [nuclear black market]... It's entertainment all the time, the presidential campaign is entertainment, and do you actually think that these guys would actually go in there and make changes, whoever wins, when behind this wall of entertainment put forward by news media and the entertainment industry is a murky world of terrorism, nuclear procurement ring, of CIA, of the FBI working - and this rarely breaks through to the mainstream press...

They rarely look at the entire system being rotten, not just one official here or there being rotten, and they pat themselves on the back. And when I say the entire system being rotten, I mean Congress that is enthralled to corporate backers, and approving their aggressive foreign policy that enriches themselves, and does nothing to secure the American people or the interests of most American people. That is not even in the discussion in the mainstream press...

this is part of an interview conducted by scott horton of joseph luria (audio here, full transcript here), one of the london sunday times investigators who is still working on the sibel edmonds story... luke ryland has one of his usual highly informative, thorough posts up on daily kos that captures the whole thing...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Stand Clear of the Fan

Israeli police question Olmert

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, is being questioned for a second time by the police, as a part of a bribery investigation.

Friday's investigation will probe Olmert's alleged role in accepting money from Morris Talansky, an American Jewish businessman.

Olmert has denied accepting any bribe from

US businessman Morris Talansky [GALLO/GETTY]

Earlier, Israel's chief prosecutor had said that investigators suspected Olmert had taken envelopes of cash from Talansky, a New York based fundraiser.

[...]

Meanwhile, Talansky has said that he received nothing from Olmert in exchange for the money. He is due to give evidence in court on Sunday.

Prosecutors want Talansky to give evidence under oath before a court order banning him from leaving Israel expires on Monday.

Jacques Chen, Talansky's lawyer, said: "He is anxious to return to the US immediately thereafter."

Olmert's defence team, however, wants to put off Talansky's testimony, saying it needs more time to prepare for his cross-examination.

Israel announced on Wednesday that it had begun indirect peace talks with Syria in Turkey, a move that many Israelis think is meant only to divert attention from the inquiry into Olmert.

Ya'know....... I wondered why they were having those peace talks. But it still doesn't answer the question of why the U.S. was left out of them.

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Dallas Morning News breaks the Sibel story

yes, it's phil giraldi, and yes, it's on the op-ed page, but, hey... at least it's a major u.s. paper...

Philip Giraldi: What FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds found in translation

FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds has spilled her secrets, says PHILIP GIRALDI. Why is her story being covered up?

12:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will.

The former FBI translator turned whistle-blower tells a chilling story of corruption at Washington's highest levels – sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage. She may be a first-rate fabulist, but Ms. Edmonds' account is full of dates, places and names. And if she is to be believed, a treasonous plot to embed moles in American military and nuclear installations and pass sensitive intelligence to Israeli, Pakistani and Turkish sources was facilitated by figures in the upper echelons of the State and Defense Departments. Her charges could be easily confirmed or dismissed if classified government documents were made available to investigators.

But Congress has refused to act, and the Justice Department has shrouded Ms. Edmonds' case in the state-secrets privilege, a rarely used measure so sweeping that it precludes even a closed hearing attended only by officials with top-secret security clearances. According to the Department of Justice, such an investigation "could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the foreign policy and national security of the United States."

After five years of thwarted legal challenges and fruitless attempts to launch a congressional investigation, Sibel Edmonds is telling her story, though her defiance could land her in jail. After reading its November piece about Louai al-Sakka, an al-Qaeda terrorist who trained 9/11 hijackers in Turkey, Ms. Edmonds approached the Sunday Times of London. On Jan. 6, the Times, a Rupert Murdoch-owned paper that does not normally encourage exposés damaging to the Bush administration, featured a long article. The news quickly spread around the world – but not in the United States.

why should getting the REALLY important stuff out in the public eye be like trying to shove a camel through the eye of a needle...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Hillary, the narcotics trade, high-level bribery, Dennis Hastert, and the Turkish "deep" state

yet more damning info that says hillary should just drop out...

luke ryland at let sibel edmonds speak...

Key Clinton Backer Guilty in Sibel Edmonds Case

The UK's Times has already run three bombshell articles on the nuclear black market element in the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds this year, and we are expecting more fallout in the near future as new evidence and witnesses come forward.

In the meantime, another important angle to Edmonds' case has opened up. Earlier this week, the New York Post ran a Page 6 piece, ODD FILM BY HILLARY BACKER, which highlights the close relationship between Hillary Clinton and Chicago-based Turkish businessman Mehmet Celebi.

Celebi, "one of the national leaders of the Turkish-American community in the US," is a key fundraiser for Clinton, and is one of Clinton's Chicago delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Celebi was also heavily involved in the controversial 2006 movie "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" which has been widely regarded as "anti-Semitic, anti-American, conspiratorial agitprop."

Mehmet Celebi is also a key figure in the Sibel Edmonds case - he is heavily involved in the narcotics trade in the US and the corruption and bribery of high-level US officials.

According to Celebi's bio:

He has been serving as the President of the Turkish-American Cultural Alliance (TACA) since 2000, and as Member of the Board/Vice-President of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), a Washington, D.C. based umbrella organization representing 57 organizations.

The Chicago-based Turkish-American Cultural Alliance (TACA) and the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA) both figure prominently in Sibel Edmonds' case. Both are reported to be front groups for criminal activity involving illegal weapons sales, narcotics trafficking, and the bribery and corruption of high level US officials.

[...]

Why is Hillary Clinton involved with such a character? The claims against him are well documented, and extend back to her husband's presidency, including steps in place to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate Celebi and the bribery of Hastert's and others.

[...]

Has Hillary forgotten all this? Or is she too for sale to the highest bidder? We are all well aware of George Bush's fund-raising giants, the Rangers and Pioneers, which resulted in many a scandal and prosecution including Ken Lay, Jack Abramoff and Brent Wilkes - yet here is Hillary Clinton engaging in the exact same behaviour, taking large sums of money from corrupt interests, and appointing these people to positions of political power. How can we even hope that a Clinton presidency will be an improvement over the last 8 years?

The right-wing blogs are already beginning to pick up this story of Celebi and Clinton - Debbie Schlussel, National Review Online, Gateway Pundit - focusing solely on Celebi's involvement with the movie "Valley of the Wolves." The Right-Wing-Noise-Machine will no doubt go into overdrive if Hillary wins the nomination to be the next president. This information needs to be made public immediately.

[...]

The FBI's Chicago Field Office has investigative files relating to Mehmet Celebi's involvement in the trafficking of narcotics as well as the corruption of high-level US officials. We need to recruit some prominent 'good government' groups, of any political persuasion, to file a FOIA request with the FBI's Chicago Field Office (CFO) for all information relating to Mehmet Celebi and this criminal activity. I expect that the CFO will deny and stonewall, but as we saw with the recent UK Times article, false denials can lead to other frustrated whistleblowers coming forward with documents and other evidence which can prove the case. Please contact me if you can prepare, file, and follow-up the FOIA request.

keep it comin', luke...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

"Sibel Edmonds must be heard"

phil geraldi in the huffpo...

Sibel Edmonds is the FBI translator turned whistleblower who decided to go public late in 2002 and has been seeking to tell her story about high level corruption in the United States government involving Turkey and Israel. What makes her story particularly compelling is that the corruption relates to the theft and sale of United States defense secrets, most particularly nuclear technology. Sibel obtained her information while translating Turkish language telephone intercepts directed against several Turkish lobbying groups who had contact with senior officials in the Bush Administration, both at the Pentagon and in the State Department. Many of the officials involved are apparently the same neoconservatives who cooked the books to enable the rush to war against Iraq and who are continuing to urge more wars in the Middle East, most notably against Iran and Syria. Several of them are close allies of leading Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

To stop Sibel from telling her story, then Attorney General John Ashcroft subjected her to a state secrets privilege gag order after her appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes in October 2002 that not only forbade her providing details of her employment with FBI but also made the ban retroactive so that anything relating to her case would be considered a state secret. Edmonds had been discouraged by her experience with CBS as her most important points wound up on the cutting room floor. Then came the gag order, which she has observed while working assiduously to get bits and pieces of her story out in various ways. In October 2007 she decided to tell all without regard for the consequences, stating that she would provide details of her allegations to any American media outlet that would let her collaborate in the final edit so that her message would not be lost. There were no takers. Last month, The Sunday Times of London decided to pick up her story and has now produced a long feature article called "For Sale: the West's Deadliest Nuclear Secrets" plus two follow-ups. The story was picked up and replayed all over the world, but not by the mainstream media in the United States.

Why should Sibel be heard? Mostly because her story, if true, involves corruption at the highest levels of government coupled with the sale of secrets vital to the security of the United States.

goddam it... will a major u.s. news outlet PLEASE give her a forum...? PLEASE...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Sibel Edmonds: "I have one message for the US media: If they think this is over, it's not over."

luke ryland interviews sibel...

Luke Ryland: Why has the US failed on this story so dramatically for 6 years?

Sibel Edmonds: [...] With the US media, it appears as though if there is no clear partisan angle, then there's no story. As you know, this case is spread over two administrations, and that appears to make it difficult for the reporters to cover the story. Even within one news organization you might have one journalist who wants to use the story to indict Clinton, and another who wants to use the story to bash Bush, and in the end neither of them write about the story because it doesn't fit their partisanship, their 'narrative', so they just drop it altogether.

I had such high hopes for the alternative press, and they do a lot of good work, but partisanship repeatedly gets in the way there too, on both sides.

[...]

The other major problem in the US is the focus on symptoms, rather than root causes.

[...]

I have one message for the US media: If they think this is over, it's not over. Much more will come out. They won't be able to ignore it any longer, and so I hope they get over any reluctance they might have.

sibel articulates my own view of the alternative press and the so-called "liberal," "progressive" blogosphere in both of her accusations, partisanship AND looking at symptoms rather than causes...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Sibel Edmonds claims now tied to Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings

for the third sunday, beginning on january 6 (previous articles here and here), the uk london sunday times continues to not only scoop every u.s. news outlet on the sibel edmonds story, but also to hurl a gale-force wind at the bush house of cards...

AN investigation into the illicit sale of American nuclear secrets was compromised by a senior official in the State Department, a former FBI employee has claimed.

The official is said to have tipped off a foreign contact about a bogus CIA company used to investigate the sale of nuclear secrets.

The firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates, was a front for Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent. Her public outing two years later in 2003 by White House officials became a cause célèbre.

The claims that a State Department official blew the investigation into a nuclear smuggling ring have been made by Sibel Edmonds, 38, a former Turkish language translator in the FBI’s Washington field office.

Edmonds had been employed to translate hundreds of hours of intercepted recordings made during a six-year FBI inquiry into the nuclear smuggling ring.

She has previously told The Sunday Times she heard evidence that foreign intelligence agents had enlisted US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.

Her latest claims relate to a number of intercepted recordings believed to have been made between the summer and autumn of 2001. At that time, foreign agents were actively attempting to acquire the West’s nuclear secrets and technology.

luke ryland, who has been on top of the sibel story for nearly two years, offers this disturbing update on apparent bush administration reaction to the recent media attention...

Significantly, since the Times began this series three weeks ago, the White House has quietly moved to legalize the sale of nuclear technology to Turkey in an apparent attempt to 'Exonerate Neocon Criminals' who have been illegally selling this technology for a decade. Congress has 90 days to block this legislation, otherwise it becomes law. If Turkey wants and deserves nuclear technology, this decision should be made openly and transparently, not the result of stealth decisions made by this administration to hide crimes of senior US officials.

We need public open hearings to determine which officials have been supplying the nuclear black market before this becomes law.

it's more than astounding that our complicit u.s. news media continue to stonewall this story when it's creating tidal waves of reaction everwhere outside the u.s... 'course, look at how long they were able to delay reporting the downing street memo...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Volunteers needed to give traitor Marc Grossman hell when he testifies before Congress tomorrow

things are definitely heating up... this is the third post from luke yet this evening...

This is an action alert for those in the DC area. Please try to recruit friends to attend.

Marc Grossman will be attending a congressional committee hearing on Wednesday January 23 (tomorrow) at 10am, at Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Grossman will be appearing in front of the National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the Oversight Committee on an unrelated matter.

Marc Grossman is a traitor.

We want volunteers to go to the hearing and give Grossman hell,

We want you to hand out flyers and two recent articles to the various Congressmen, their staff, and attendant media. [Flyer here - PDF]

We want you to take video cameras and capture the whole thing.

Marc Grossman – Traitor

UK Times, January 6, 2008:

For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets

A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets.

Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard evidence that one
well-known senior official [MARC GROSSMAN] in the US State Department was
being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to
black market buyers, including Pakistan.

[…]

“He was aiding foreign operatives against US interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives.”

American Conservative Magazine, January 2008

Found in Translation. FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her secrets

Marc Grossman was recorded by FBI

• tipping off criminal suspects regarding CIA’s WMD cover company Brewster Jennings in 2001
• planting criminals in US Nuclear labs to steal secrets
• picking up $15,000 cash bribe
• setting free four 9/11 suspects without interrogation

DEMAND OPEN PUBLIC HEARINGS NOW

Marc Grossman is a traitor and needs to be held to account.

Contact Henry Waxman: 2157 Rayburn House Office Building, (202) 225-5051

Grossman will be at National Security & Foreign Affairs Hearing Room
Jan 23, 10am, 2154, Rayburn House Office Building.

With the absence of true media...
time for Citizen Journalism

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Sibel Edmonds: FBI cover-up

the hits just keep on comin'...

luke offers up another explosive story from the uk london sunday times about sibel edmonds...

THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.

The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network.

Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.

She says the FBI was investigating a Turkish and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file.

Edmonds believes the crucial file is being deliberately covered up by the FBI because its contents are explosive. She accuses the agency of an “outright lie”.

“I can tell you that that file and the operations it refers to did exist from 1996 to February 2002. The file refers to the counterintelligence programme that the Department of Justice has declared to be a state secret to protect sensitive diplomatic relations,” she said.

The freedom of information request had not been initiated by Edmonds. It was made quite separately by an American human rights group called the Liberty Coalition, acting on a tip-off it received from an anonymous correspondent.

The letter says: “You may wish to request pertinent audio tapes and documents under FOIA from the Department of Justice, FBI-HQ and the FBI Washington field office.”

It then makes a series of allegations about the contents of the file – many of which corroborate the information that Edmonds later made public.

cripes... when is this going to blow down the goddam house of cards...? soon...? please...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The London Sunday Times picks up on Sibel Edmonds

hot damn... this is GREAT news...! i bet luke is dancing a jig... i started to say that it's amazing that the lead establishment newspaper in the uk is the one to pick up on this when NOT A SINGLE MAJOR NEWS OUTLET IN THE U.S. has done so, but, sadly, i guess it's not really so amazing at all, now is it...?

A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets.

Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.

She approached The Sunday Times last month after reading about an Al-Qaeda terrorist who had revealed his role in training some of the 9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey.

Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.

Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.

The name of the official – who has held a series of top government posts – is known to The Sunday Times. He strongly denies the claims.

However, Edmonds said: “He was aiding foreign operatives against US interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives.”

She claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence against senior Pentagon officials – including household names – who were aiding foreign agents.

“If you made public all the information that the FBI have on this case, you will see very high-level people going through criminal trials,” she said.

luke has a recommended-list diary up on kos expanding on this story, and he doesn't hesitate to name the "well-known senior official"...

[H]e is Marc Grossman, former #3 at the State Department, former ambassador to Turkey, and current Vice President at The Cohen Group, the lobbying company run by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

the times has a characteristically comprehensive, well-written, and quite lengthy article... you need to go read it all...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Let the truth be told... Luke has more on Sibel Edmonds...

here, here, or here...



she's absolutely right... it's our fight too...!

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Turkey says that the U.S. is assisting in Turkish raids on northern Iraq

well, well, well... let's see if THIS grows any legs...

Turkey's air strikes against Kurdish rebels in Iraq on Sunday were approved by the United States in advance, the Turkish military has said.

The country's top general, Yasar Buyukanit, said the US opened northern Iraqi airspace for the operation.

Jets targeted the Kurdish rebel PKK in areas near the border. The Turkish media said up to 50 planes were used.

Iraqi officials said the bombs hit 10 villages, leaving one woman dead, while the PKK reported seven deaths.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, told the BBC that his government had told the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad that the air strikes were "unacceptable".

can't you just hear gates squawking, "we TOLD 'em to keep their damn mouths SHUT..."

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

A Sibel Edmonds backgrounder

the amount of work done by luke ryland on the sibel edmonds case is truly amazing... he's taken it up as his principal blogging effort and has begun to make strong inroads at some of the bigger blogs... his post yesterday about sibel and daniel ellsberg was on the recommended diary list of daily kos all day (see my post from yesterday), no small accomplishment for that site... among the questions raised in the comments was "so what the hell is this sibel edmonds thing all about anyway...?" ever responsive, luke put together an excellent backgrounder which is now up at kos, the democratic underground, and let sibel edmonds speak... here's a transcript luke posted back in may 2006 from an article in the april 24, 2006, edition of the american conservative magazine...

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.

luke concludes his post with this...

Those 'same people' - at least on the American side - according to Giraldi [Phillip Giraldi, the author of The American Conservative article referenced above], appear to be Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Marc Grossman, Eric Edelman, and Stephen Solarz. It appears that we can also add William Cohen and Joseph Ralston - and Dennis Hastert - to that roster, and I'm sure there are a few more that haven't yet been publicly identified.

If what Sibel says is true, and her claims are all backed by documents and wiretaps, and also backed up by other agents who have filed similar complaints, and are ready and willing to testify. All of these people should be in jail. For a long, long time.

Congress must hold hearings to get to the bottom of these crimes. If you agree, please call Congress, today, and demand public, open hearings.

**************

You know what to do

EMAIL: 60m@cbsnews.com
PHONE: (212) 975-3247

ABC email contacts
http://abcnews.go.com/...

MSNBC & NBC Contacts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

BBC America contact page
http://www.bbcamerica.com/...

help us help ourselves... let's raise some hell...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Fear tactics are keeping Sibel Edmonds gagged

the brad blog and luke ryland have been doing incredible yeoman's work in coaxing a government-intimidated domestic media into allowing sibel edmonds to tell her story... it's an AMERICAN story, about AMERICAN corruption, that should be covered by AMERICAN media, but, so far, no takers, although offers from foreign media as well as u.s. alternative media have flooded in... sibel, quite understandably, is seeking a one-time, credible, NATIONAL platform to air her explosive charges so, if she is subsequently hustled off to a cia black site, it will have to be done in full public view rather than seen through the filter of the ever-"questionable" lens of the blogosphere and alternative media...

today, on the brad blog, daniel ellsberg offers his perspective on sibel's situation...

Ellsberg says there's a reason that the Government, and both political parties, would rather not deal with something as explosive as Sibel's charges. Much like his own case, when the Republican Nixon administration fought against publication of the Pentagon Papers even though they were bound to embarrass the Democratic Johnson administration far more than Nixon's.

"It involves our allies in various places in the Middle East. It involves our allies in Turkey and in Afghanistan and involves people in our Congress and our State Department," he says.

Yes, Israel and the extremely powerful AIPAC lobby which supports both parties, is said to be involved as well.

"There's no way that the President and Vice-President can escape culpability in this case," Ellsberg charges. "If they claim they don't know about it, then they are culpable in not knowing about it, and that's impeachable right there."

i say, let's get this party started...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Luke Ryland interviewed by Scott Horton on Sibel Edmonds

luke's busy keeping sibel front and center... still no takers for her "tell-all" on the domestic front... personally, i think she just needs to get it all out, maybe on youtube...



(see earlier post here for more background info...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

The biggest story around: Sibel's ready to talk

luke comes back from a couple of months away and, next thing you know, we have this...

Former FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has promised to tell us everything she knows about treason at the highest level of the US government - with one proviso:

"Here's my promise to the American Public: If anyone of the major networks --- ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX --- promise to air the entire segment, without editing, I promise to tell them everything that I know."

Edmonds, "the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America," has been trying to expose criminal activity, treason, at the highest levels of the US Government - Congress, Pentagon and State Dept - since she became aware of the crimes in 2001 and 2002.

Edmonds has exhausted every conceivable channel in the courts, Congress, and elsewhere, and is now willing to risk criminal charges to ensure that the American people learn how their government really 'works.'

BradBlog has the exclusive.

by all means, go visit brad and get the full scoop... for easy reference, here's a bulleted list of what sibel's prepared to talk about when she gets her platform, again thanks to brad...

9/11 Related:

• Information omitted and covered-up regarding documented and confirmed case of a long-term FBI Informant & Asset who provided the FBI with specific information and warnings in April & June 2001 regarding 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Information omitted & covered up regarding documented information in the procession of the FBI in July 2001 regarding blue prints and building composite information of Sky Scrapers being sent to certain groups in the Middle East by certain Middle-Eastern suspects in the State of Nevada.
• Information omitted & covered up regarding arrangements made between the State Department and certain countries to deport certain Middle-Eastern and Central Asian detainees from jails in New Jersey & New York off the record and without having them interrogated in November 2001. (Documents related to these suspects were forged at the FBI).
• Information omitted & covered up regarding nuclear related information illegally obtained by certain foreign entities and US persons (government officials) from several US labs being sold to a certain Middle-Eastern group in the United States in 1998-2000. The operation involved individuals with Diplomatic cover, foreign Ph.D. students, and US employees.
• Information omitted & covered up regarding money laundering & narcotics operations, some of which involved entities from the Middle East and the Balkans, in several US cities.
• Information omitted & covered up regarding certain Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)-related activities linked to the 9/11 attacks between August & October 2001.
• Certain terrorist related Counterintelligence/FISA information & investigations were prevented from being transferred to counterterrorism & criminal division by the Department of State and the Pentagon; "preserving sensitive diplomatic relations" and "protecting certain US foreign business relations (mainly involving weapons procurement)" were cited as reasons.
• Intentional mistranslation & blocking of foreign language intelligence of FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

Penetration of FBI, Department of State and Department of Defense:

• Melek Can Dickerson: FBI; formerly employed by the American Turkish Council (ATC) and American Turkish Association (ATA).
• Major Douglas Dickerson: Air Force, DIA; formerly worked with the American Turkish Council (ATC), had on going relationship with International Advisors Inc (IAI) principles who worked as lobbying arms for certain foreign nations and foreign non-state entities (some of whom were engaged in illegal activities in the United States and against US interests and national Security.)
• Cases reported by John M. Cole, Veteran FBI Counterintelligence Operations Manager, to the DOJ-IG & Congress involving Hadiya Roberts (ISI-Pakistan), and several other individuals.
• Documented cases under FBI counterintelligence surveillance between 1997 and 2002, involving US government officials from the Department of State, DOD, and certain elected officials who were recipients of regular payments made by state and non-state foreign entities, some involved in criminal operations against US interests & national security. These cases were prevented from being transferred to actionable criminal and/or counterterrorism divisions/investigations.
• A reported case of penetration of FBI New York Field Office by an Iranian rouge agent.

Corruption & illegal activities involving US persons:

• Illegal payments to several elected officials in Congress; on going (1997-2002).
• Joint illegal activities between certain foreign agents (state & non-state) and US lobbying firms, government officials (Pentagon and the Department of State) and several elected officials. These activities include obtaining and passing highly classified and sensitive DOD documents & bribery and/or coercion of US individuals.
• Nuclear black market related activities carried out by certain foreign groups/lobbying firms/businesses/individuals & US persons (former & current US government employees and officials).

FBI: incompetence:
(Refer to DOJ-IG report confirming all & more)

• Hiring unqualified translators based on nepotism & cronyism, some of these translators did not even pass elementary English proficiency tests; some were granted Top Secret Clearance despite their highly questionable background.
• Language specialists charging the United States government for hours not worked and/or services not rendered (Fraudulent invoices, etc.)
• ...much more; please refer to the DOJ-IG Report

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Turkey, Iraq, Kurdistan, the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and the U.S.

gee, why wait for a war with iran...? if you're looking for a tinderbox to ignite, here's one handed to you on a silver platter...

juan cole...

The Bush administration made a diplomatic 'full court press' with Turkish leaders to dissuade them from attacking the Kurdish Workers Party [PKK] guerrillas hiding out in Iraq after the killing of 17 Turkish troops and the capture of 8 others by the PKK on Sunday. Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Tayyip Erdogan is alleged to have told US Secretary of State Condi Rice that the only way for the US to forestall a Turkish invasion is for its military to arrest the PKK leaders in Iraq themselves and to turn them over to Ankara.

Under all this American pressure, The PKK is said to be offering a conditional ceasefire with Ankara. The 'conditional' part doesn't seem very promising to me.

the "conditional" part evidently didn't seem very promising to turkey either...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on Tuesday rejected the ceasefire offered by the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), saying there's no "ceasefire" with terror.

Babacan made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari after their talks over the crisis on the two countries' borders caused by the PKK rebels.

Babacan said a ceasefire should be reached between two countries or two armies but not with a terror group, which apparently indicates the PKK.

But the Turkish top diplomat pledged Turkey's respect to Iraq's integrity, saying the diplomatic means are still the emphasis of the solutions for the crisis.

On his part, Zebari pledged his Turkish counterpart again that Iraqi government will actively help Turkey to remove the threat posed by the PKK.

anybody got a match...?

[UPDATE]

so, now it's not only explosive, it's explosive²...

[O]ut of the public eye, a chillingly similar battle has been under way on the Iraqi border with Iran. Kurdish guerrillas ambush and kill Iranian forces and retreat to their hide-outs in Iraq. The Americans offer Iran little sympathy. Tehran even says Washington aids the Iranian guerrillas, a charge the United States denies. True or not, that conflict, like the Turkish one, has explosive potential.

hey, i bet darth's got a match...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

More Iraq thoughts (and one on Iran too)

[BUMPED]

the only way anything is going to change in iraq is getting bush and his criminal compadres OUT of office... bush has dug us in so far, has served up so much kool-aid to the faithful, and painted himself into such a tight corner, there's just no way he will let us leave... any draw-down will be purely cosmetic political salve...

i also don't believe that it's bush's intention to "hand it over to his successor" to "clean up the mess..." i think it's his intention to make SURE the next president - assuming there IS a next president and bush doesn't remain in office after suspending the elections and declaring martial law in the face of a "national emergency" - will find it impossible to extricate the u.s. without creating an even bigger mess, something that igniting a conflagration with iran could certainly do... actually, a full-blown conflict with iran could serve a dual purpose... besides making an incredible mess exponentially bigger, it could also serve as the basis for declaring that national emergency...

[UPDATE]

but, hey...! it doesn't HAVE to be iran that serves as the flashpoint...

from juan cole...

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (a Kurd) warned Monday that 140,000 Turkish troops were massed at the border with Iraq. Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurdistan of giving safe harbor to PKK terrorists who are blowing up soldiers and others in Turkey's eastern Anatolia. The Turkish government and military have threatened to engage in hot pursuit and to make border incursions if necessary to deal with the PKK threat. Last Sunday, thousands of Turks demonstrated in Ankara against the PKK, Iraqi Kurdistan and the United States, which they blame for allowing Iraq to become a terrorist base against Turkey.

[UPDATE II]

i finally found the article i was looking for earlier that backs up my comment above about iran possibly being the flashpoint...

The U.S. navy has sent a third aircraft carrier to its Fifth Fleet area of operations, which includes Gulf waters close to Iran, the navy said on Tuesday.

"Enterprise (aircraft carrier) provides navy power to counter the assertive, disruptive and coercive behaviour of some countries, as well as support our soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan," a U.S. Navy statement said.

[UPDATE III]

the pentagon 'splains it all for us...

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman denied that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to up the number of carriers to three, and said the deployment of the Enterprise was part of a "routine swap."

"Has the department made a decision for 3.0 carriers in the Gulf? No. They haven't," Whitman said. "What Secretary Gates has said is still the current guidance with respect to the level of effort in the Centcom area of responsibility."

yeah... ok... whatever...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments

Turkey (as long as we're talking about oil and secretive maneuvering)

besides doing an on-going bang-up job on the sibel edmonds story, luke at wot is it good 4 has been doing yeoman's work digging out and posting all the little-known garbage that is going on between the u.s. and turkey... here's from a post he put up today quoting mizgin's analysis of the turkey-kurdistan conflict...

It's not in the interests of the US to see a stable Turkey in the region, just as it may not be in the interests of the US to see a stable Iraq. As long as the Washington and Ankara regimes collaborate in the maintenance of a low-intensity conflict in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan, their Deep Staters will continue to maintain control of the region and its highly coveted energy resources, as well as to turn a few billion bucks through Deep State corporations . . . like Lockheed Martin.

this fits right in with my belief that the bush administration has worked diligently to foster global and regional conflict, violence, chaos, endless war, and death as a means to accomplish their agenda of accruing unfettered power and maintain access to unlimited rivers of cash... both of those are ever so much easier when fear and chaos reign...

note: googling lockheed martin produces this, their corporate slogan: Lockheed Martin - We never forget who we're working for... if THAT isn't a hoot, i don't know what is...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet

[Permalink] 0 comments