Still Trying to Silence Sibel

[G_j]

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P1861

Still Trying to Silence Sibel

Sibel Edmonds, the heroic FBI contract translator - turned - whistle blower, despite the Department of Justice dropping their attempted application of the "state secrets privilege" to silence her last week, is now up against the same tactic with a different name.

According to John Files at the New York Times:

"The government has told a federal appeals court that a suit by an F.B.I. translator who was fired after accusing the bureau of ineptitude should not be allowed to proceed because it would cause 'significant damage to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.'

Lawyers for the government said in a brief filed with the court on Thursday that the suit could not continue without disclosing privileged and classified information."

This apparently means, "If we let her tell you what she knows, we might be in trouble."
Sibel Edmonds' Website
My interview of her (mp3)

Posted by: Scott Horton on Feb 26, 05 | 8:56 pm
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SIGN THE PETITION:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=104&topic_id=3185553&mesg_id=3185553
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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022605Y.shtml

Justice Dept. Opposes Bid to Revive Case against F.B.I.
By John Files
The New York Times

Saturday 26 February 2005

Washington - The government has told a federal appeals court that a suit by an F.B.I. translator who was fired after accusing the bureau of ineptitude should not be allowed to proceed because it would cause "significant damage to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

Lawyers for the government said in a brief filed with the court on Thursday that the suit could not continue without disclosing privileged and classified information.

The translator, Sibel Edmonds, was a contract linguist for the bureau for about six months, translating material in Azerbaijani, Farsi and Turkish. Ms. Edmonds was dismissed in 2002 after complaining repeatedly that bureau linguists had produced slipshod and incomplete translations of important terrorism intelligence before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Ms. Edmonds also accused a fellow Turkish linguist in the Washington field office of blocking the translation of material involving acquaintances who had come under suspicion and said the bureau had allowed diplomatic sensitivities with other nations to affect the translation of important intelligence.

..more..

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background:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=104&topic_id=3176078&mesg_id=3176078
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[G_j]

1. kick

:bounce:

[WLKjr]

2. kick

[KingoftheJungle]

3. Great news that turned to shit

why was I naive enough to think that her case would actually be heard?

[clem_c_rock]

4. So if everyone says it's ridiculous that it was a MIHOP

Please explain why they want to bury this woman so badly. In many interviews she definitely hints at this.

[mogster]

5. OK, that's it!

I really need to know what this MIHOP-thing is now, can you tell me please? :-)

*feeling clueless*

[seemslikeadream]

6. Made It Happen On Purpose

September 11
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=125


Former Top German Spy Says U.S. Wrong About September 11
A top German spook refutes the official version of what happened on Sept. 11, questioning why hasn’t Congress called for a special inquiry to investigate what really occurred on that terrible day.

Exclusive to American Free Press

By Christopher Bollyn

The German newspaper, Der Tagesspiegel, recently interviewed Andreas von Bülow, the former head of the parliamentary commission that oversees the German secret services, about the terror attacks of Sept. 11.

Von Bülow, who was interviewed by AFP in early December, said the provocative Tagesspiegel interview, published on Jan. 13, was the first time the German press had asked him about the problems surrounding the attacks.

“The planning of the attacks was technically and organizationally a master achievement—to hijack four huge airplanes within a few minutes and within one hour, to drive them into their targets, with complicated flight maneuvers,” said von Bülow in the Tagesspiegel interview. “This is unthinkable, without years of support from state intelligence services.”

This led the interviewer to call von Bülow “a conspiracy theorist.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s the ridicule from those who prefer to follow the official, politically correct line,” von Bülow responded. “Even investigative journalists are fed propaganda and disinformation. Anyone who doubts the official line is called crazy.”

>snip<

Von Bülow, who controlled the budgets of German intelligence from 1969 to 1994, cannot understand why Congress has not opened a formal investigation into the attacks and the failure of American intelligence agencies to prevent them.

>snip<

“With the help of the horrifying attacks, the Western mass democracies are being subjected to brainwashing. The enemy image of anti-communism doesn’t work anymore; it is to be replaced by peoples of Islamic belief. They are accused of having given birth to suicidal terrorism.”

>snip<

The huge raw material reserves of the former Soviet Union, as well as the pipeline routes, are now at the disposal of the United States and Britain.
The fact that the events of Sept. 11 “fit perfectly in the concept of the armaments industry, the intelligence agencies, the whole military-industrial-academic complex,” von Bülow says, is “conspicuous.”

“What has gone on, and goes on, in the name of intelligence services, are true crimes,” von Bülow said. He is the author of Im Namen des Staates, a book which documents some of the criminal activities of the CIA and the German intelligence services.”


http://indymedia.nl/nl/2002/09/6559.shtml




:hi: mogster

[mogster]

8. And the LIHOP is...?

Sorry if I seem slow ;-)

And I did check that forum for a bit. Thanks, BTW. I'd forgot about that - might make an interesting read.

[seemslikeadream]

9. Let It Happen On Purpose

There is a lot of information there, don't miss the paulthompson posts

[mogster]

10. Will do

And on topic:

This is a very dangerous and undemocratic statement, when you think about the nature of her information:

> should not be allowed to proceed because it would cause 'significant damage to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.'

She's a brave woman and citizen taking a stand. Luckily, more and more people do that, or so it seems from here :-)

[seemslikeadream]

11. AN Interview with Sibel Edmonds July 1 04

Antiwar.com - Sunnyvale,CA,USA
...
<http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=2917

An Interview with Sibel Edmonds
FBI Whistleblower Talks to Antiwar.com

by Christopher Deliso
balkanalysis.com

Sibel Edmonds began working for the FBI shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, translating top-secret documents pertaining to suspected terrorists. She was fired in the spring of 2002 after reporting her concerns about sabotage, intimidation, corruption and incompetence to superiors. She first gained wide public attention in October of that year when she appeared on 60 Minutes on CBS and charged that the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon had been infiltrated by Turkish individuals suspected of ties to terrorism. On October 18, 2002, at the request of FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General Ashcroft imposed a gag order on Ms. Edmonds, citing possible damage to diplomatic relations or national security. Edmonds is a key witness in a pending class-action suit filed by 9/11 families against the government. The following interview, conducted this past weekend for almost three hours by telephone, reveals sordid new details about U.S. intelligence practices.





Just a couple snippets from the three page interview:

<snip>
CD: You have expressed a desire for "one brave senator" to take up your cause. But what can they actually do, if the DOJ and judges rule in favor of classification?

SE: You know what they can do? Any senator or congressman can tell the press everything I have to say.

CD: Really? Doesn't that violate whatever the restrictions are the DOJ is putting on you?

SE: I'm authorized under law to testify in secret, in a secure room before a congressman. But if that congressman believes that national security overrides secrecy, he can put my testimony out there. That's what happened with Daniel Ellsberg. Senator Gravel poured out everything he had said before the congress because it was in the interests of the country. These people like John Ashcroft are actually endangering our national security by destroying civil liberties with such things as the Patriot Act. They are just cowards. They lack guts.

<snip>
CD: If your full testimony is heard by the public, who or what agencies are going to be in the biggest trouble?

SE: Well, as for agencies I guess the DOJ, FBI, State Department. But in a way these agencies get some kind of immunity when you charge them like this … I hate to see how a lot of agents get stigmatized in this. Most of the field agents I met in the FBI were good, honest and hardworking individuals. They were trying to do their best, but up against this ingrown bureaucracy – this is where you have the problem, as will as with certain elected officials.

CD: What are they so afraid of?

SE: They're afraid of information, of the truth coming out, and accountability – the whole accountability issue that will arise. But it's not as complicated as it might seem. If they were to allow the whole picture to emerge, it would just boil down to a whole lot of money and illegal activities.

CD: Hmm, well I know you can't name names, but can you tell me if any specific officials will suffer if your testimony comes out?

SE: Yes. Certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison.
more..
http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=2917


"Heroin, Al Qaeda and the Florida Flight School"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1294206

DOJ Asked FBI Translator To Change Pre 9-11 Intercepts
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=442067&mesg_id=442067

Explosive new Sibel Edmonds interview
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1555133&mesg_id=1555133

State Dept. Quashed 9/11 Links To Global Drug Trade
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=610235&mesg_id=610235

[elehhhhna]

13. "SE: Yes. Certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison."

ELECTED officials. Hmmm.

[mogster]

14. (...) can you tell me if any specific officials will suffer (...)?

"SE: Yes. Certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison."

So much for 'significant damage to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.'

The amazing thing is that they get away with this by the media. It's like somebody turned a switch on 911, and made their critical sense vaporize èn masse.

There's something called circumstancial evidence. It is--by far--time to stop the nonsense and demand some answers. Doesn't journalists want to live in open societies too? Do they not see their own importance as opinion formers and information carriers?
Where's the work pride?

Now a FBI-employee is hushed by an administration that outed a CIA-agent, both cases show clear signs of partisanship and plain dishonesty. Big deal?
'Stand back, people! Don't worry, mam. It's not a coup, it's a standard C'dE-procedure. No reason to worry.'

I'll never understand the reluctance to investigate and expose the very factor that may jeopardize your professional future.
Not in a million years.

OK. Rant over :D

on edit: Didn't see your post, elehhhhna. You beat me to it :-)

[mogster]

12. Ah, updates

Yes, I remember reading that interview. It's something about his tone, and of course the information itself, that speaks volumes. And also the fact that he's German - this should be a warning to everyone. The Germans know fascism.

Remember the character called German Guy, that predicted an attack in Houston on 27th of December? I wonder what that was.
I'm using my tin foil hat as a fruit bowl, and not much prone to conspiracy theories. But the sheer effort behind that gush of information, and the feel of it all gave a clear impression that he knew what he was talking about. I've read my share of internet documents/posts and this was different.
*eating one apple*

My bookmarked links doesn't work anymore, but I know a lot of people took backup of that info.

Any way one twists or turn it: That character did post a lot of what now seems like bullshit, to say the least, so why not investigate a bit? I'm curious, anyway.

[cascadiance]

7. Hmm... Just thinking about it, I wonder if the newer strategy is...

Lifting the gag order on *her* so that she can say what she wants about it without her saying "they told me I can't talk about the details under penalty of prison time" which the state secrets act held over her, but yet they can talk the courts into blocking her lawsuit in the same fashion that this act prevented her from being heard in a court of law where something could actually be done about it.

This way perhaps the government thinks that she can say anything she wants and they can discredit her as a looney and say that "We're not stopping her from saying anything", in hopes that her story will die down and not keep begging for legal attention.

It's up to us to keep reminding everyone, despite what the corporate media might try to distort here, of the past history of the gag order being used against her, retroactively pulled, and now the courts are being blocked with similar wording that the gag order, which makes no sense. This all smells like Karl Rove, and as more folks come to understand the Rovian crap they've been given, we should be clear that it smells like his hand is in this as well.

Also note that both concerned Democrats (Leahy) and Republicans (Grassley) have been supporting her effort to be heard too. It is a bipartisan effort amongst people that can be trusted over the cabal that's in power.

[G_j]

15. not even here

This case does not even get that much attention here.
The MSM gives it no importance. If it the hand of Rove, it would appear he is winning another battle.
While "Gannongate" is signifigant, where is the interest in this case that threatens to reveal some nasty information about 9-11.

[understandinglife]

16. Have you considered writing something for...

....Raw Story, Truthout, Brad Blog, ????, summarizing the background information and urging folk focus?

I routinely search of Sibel to see what, if anything, is developing. It is an important matter, that is for sure.

Peace.


BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION;24/7

[cascadiance]

17. All of this is pure speculation on my part....

I have another day job, and my Dad's being very sick in the hospital also keeps me very busy too... Feel free to forward my speculations to Raw Story if you like.

I do check for stories on Sibel Edmonds routinely too. I do think that there is something that needs to be heard there that is being covered up. We just have to make sure that they don't box her in to a corner and try to pigeonhole her as a nutcase. It is critical that no smears are allowed to stick on her. So far she's been doing a pretty good job of not doing anything that would distract others from the meat of her case, which wingnuts typically try to focus on to deflect from the efforts of someone like her.

[G_j]

18. alas

I don't think I'm a good enough writer to summarize the story for these places. I have written LTTEs however, and am working on anothter right now.

peace

[G_j]

19. "Turkish press yesterday"

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=6990


Turkish press yesterday
Monday, February 28, 2005

Turkish newspapers yesterday featured injustice faced by a translator who had once worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a translator of Turkish and other Middle Eastern languages, the emergence of new movements on the left and the rise in the number of juvenile delinquencies.


'Deep state' silences Sibel:

Hürriyet claimed that the United States dealt another blow to Sibel Edmonds, a contract translator who worked for the FBI from Sept. 2001 to March 2003, but then fired her after she alerted authorities about purported security and management problems in the bureau's language branch.

Hürriyet said the U.S. Justice Department ruled at first that Sibel's claims concerning the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were not investigated properly and the paper added that the department blocked the judicial process now on the grounds that the case file could harm national security and the foreign politics.

Sibel, who was hired as a translator of Turkish and other Middle Eastern languages at the FBI's language division, had previously made claims that the FBI possessed some information prior to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon which could have proved helpful in preventing the terrorist strikes and characterized the remarks of U.S. President George W. Bush's then advisor Condoleezza Rice, who said the state did not get any information prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, as ugly lies.

[cthrumatrix]

20. but bush just said "he wants transpanrency and truth"...WTF is it?