Unless the Dept. of Justice re-invokes their twice-invoked “state secrets privilege” claim in order to once again gag former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, her attorneys have notified the department by hand-delivered, sworn letter of declaration [PDF] this week, that she intends to give a deposition, open to the media [Updated: see bottom of article for details], in response to a subpoena this Saturday in Washington D.C..
Edmonds has confirmed her intentions to answer any questions asked of her during the sworn proceedings, fully and publicly, during conversations with The BRAD BLOG this week. She notes that her agreement with her former employer, the FBI — who fired her illegally after she filed whistleblower allegations about corruption and foreign infiltration in the linguistics department — includes certain non-disclosure requirements. However, those requirements do not preclude her answering to a legally issued court subpoena.
The subpoena and request for sworn deposition is part of a case now pending before the Ohio Elections Commission in which Ohio’s Republican U.S. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-2nd District) has filed a complaint against her 2008 independent challenger, David Krikorian who Schmidt has charged distributed false statements about her during last year’s campaign.
The resulting testimony, if it indeed occurs this weekend, could be far more explosive than either Schmidt or Krikorian might have ever guessed…
‘Blood Money’
Schmidt has alleged that Krikorian — who has announced plans to run against Schmidt again, as a Democrat, in 2010 — libeled her when he alleged in campaign materials that she had taken “blood money” as campaign donations from Turkish interest groups. Schmidt is co-chairwoman of the Congressional Turkish Caucus, according to Politico’s coverage of the case, and has received more than $10,000 from the Turkish Coalition USA PAC, “making it one of her top campaign contributors”, since taking office in 2005. She recently took a trip to Turkey sponsored by the Turkish Coalition of America, valued at more than $10,000.
At immediate issue in the initial Schmidt v. Krikorian tussle, is the century-long debate over whether the extermination of some 1.5 million ethnic Armenians during WWI will be declared a “genocide” by the American government. The issue is a highly contentious one that has cut across party lines in Congress, and has ensnared dozens of U.S. Congressmembers and highly-ranked officials in a lobbyist-funded, politically-charged battle.
The same Turkish lobby has also, according to information gleaned from Edmonds and others, based on her first-hand knowledge as an FBI case translator, helped to ensnare many of those same officials in a broad infiltration scheme of the U.S. Government and sensitive military facilities, by operatives from the U.S., Turkey, Pakistan and elsewhere, including alleged bribery of then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Some of the charges against Hastert were detailed in a remarkable 2005 Vanity Fair exposé. Additional allegations, concerning the the proliferation of nuclear secrets to the black-market in Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, Libya, Iran and beyond, as detailed in an explosive front-page series by London’s Sunday Times last year.
These are among the issues which Edmonds — whose classified allegations were found to have been “credible”, “serious” and “warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI,” according to their Inspector General in 2002 — will be asked about on Saturday if the deposition moves forward without being quashed by the DoJ.
Krikorian’s campaign has released a statement [PDF], detailing several of the potentially explosive points about which they intend to ask Edmonds to testify in an “open to the media deposition”…
1. The Government of Turkey had illegally infiltrated and influenced various U.S. government institutions and officials, including the Department of State, the Department of Defense and individual members of the United States Congress
2. The Government of Turkey had engaged in practices and policies that were inimical to American interests and had in fact resulted in both the direct and indirect loss of American lives
3. Turkish American cultural and business groups conduct operations with direct and indirect support from the Government of Turkey
“Jean Schmidt and the Turkish Legal Defense Fund have been attempting to squash my right to political free speech by abusing the OEC (Ohio Election Commission) process by filing frivolous complaints against me for their own political gain,” Krikorian alleges in his statement.
He also notes that “Schmidt has previously been convicted by the OEC for having a reckless disregard for truth.” During her run for Congress, the OEC found, in a 7 to 0 vote, that Schmidt had lied about having a received an undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati and she was issued a letter of reprimand for the “false statements”.
The Backstory…
Edmonds agreement, via affidavit, to give testimony on the points mentioned by Krikorian above, under oath, and in public, would be a first. Much of her previous sworn testimony, to Congress and to the 9/11 Commission, has been entirely classified, leaving those of us in the media with an interest in her case to piece together the puzzle of what has made her, in the words of the ACLU, “the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America”.
On Tuesday, Congressional Quarterly’s intelligence reporter Jeff Stein filed a report on Edmonds’ upcoming “test” of the Department of Justice in the Schmidt v. Krikorian case. However, it’s fallen largely to the independent media in the U.S. and the foreign mainstream media to dig into the details of Edmonds’ allegations, described by one former CIA analyst early last year as “treason at the highest levels of the United State government.”
In October of 2007 — after she had exhausted all other options, having been shut down by both Congress and the Supreme Court due to the Bush Administration’s twice-imposed gag order — The BRAD BLOG broke the exclusive news of her promise to break the gag in order to relate the entire story to any U.S. mainstream broadcast media outlet willing to allow her to do so. Despite that story itself having made news in papers across the globe, nobody in the U.S. mainstream broadcast media took her up on her offer.
In November that year, legendary “Pentagon Papers” whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg guest blogged at The BRAD BLOG, describing Edmonds’ case as “far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers”. Still, the U.S. media ignored her.
Even CBS’ 60 Minutes — who ran a story on her in 2002 (which re-ran twice thereafter), when she couldn’t speak at all about her case — chose not to tell her story once she had promised to tell all. That, even though Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), when asked about her credibility in their original piece said, “Absolutely, she’s credible…And the reason I feel she’s very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story.”
2005’s detailed exposé in Vanity Fair by investigative British investigative journalist David Rose, detailed extraordinary allegations that then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and bribes from Turkish interests tied into the drug-trade. Edmonds was said to have been the translator for FBI wiretaps in that case. Few in the media bothered to advance the story at all, even years later when, as Edmonds had years earlier predicted, the retired Hastert became a highly-paid lobbyist for Turkey.
And, as recently as last month, during our own recent interview with Edmonds while we were guest hosting the Mike Malloy Show (audio here, partial transcript here), she dropped details described as a “bombshell”, about the U.S. having retained “intimate relations” with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda through Turkish proxies right up until September 11, 2001. That interview has made news across the globe over the last several days (e.g. the Times of India coverage is here), yet it made nary a peep in the U.S. corporate mainstream.
Many other top U.S. officials are indicated to have been involved in the dark and sordid influence peddling, infiltration and treason as highlighted by a “Rogues Gallery” of photographs posted by Edmonds in 2007 without comment. Among the photos posted, in addition to Hastert’s: current and former Congressmembers Roy Blunt (R-MO), Dan Burton (R-IN), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Bob Livingston (R-LA) and Stephen Solarz (D-NY); current and former State and Defense Dept. officials including Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Eric Edelman, Marc Grossman (specifically targeted by the landmark Sunday Times exposé), Brent Scowcroft and Larry Franklin; and photographs of a host of registered and non-registered Turkish lobbyists and agents.
Edmonds told The BRAD BLOG this afternoon that, though the DoJ has yet to timely answer her hand-delivered request for the revocation of the prior-issued “states secrets” privilege orders, she expects they may still intercede to quash her testimony before Saturday morning, when she’s currently scheduled to give her deposition at 10:30am in Washington D.C..
More details are available from Edmonds herself, on her planned deposition in Schmidt v. Krikorian at her blog, 123 Real Change…
UPDATE 8/6/09: Just heard from Edmonds who, in turn, has just heard from attorneys working on the case that they have been informed that Ohio Election Commission (OEC) regulations disallow media from attending depositions. So, despite Krikorian’s press release yesterday stating that her testimony would be “open to the media” (presuming it’s not blocked by the DoJ) it will not in fact be open to them now.
However, Edmonds tells us that Krikorian’s team will have their own videographer there to record it, and that tape is allowed to be released immediately after the proceeding. As well, court transcript should be available within 24 to 48 hours after the deposition.
Moreover, immediately following the deposition, attorneys from both sides will be able to speak to the media and answer any questions about it outside of the deposition room. If any media bother to cover it, that is.
(National Whistleblower Center’s update on this matter is now posted here.)
Edmonds still believes it’s likely that a last minute intervention by the DoJ, to block all or part of her testimony, will occur. As founder of the National Security Whistleblower’s Coalition (NSWBC) she relates that she’s seen a number of cases in which official whistleblower testimony is blocked at the last minute by DoJ attorneys who arrive with court orders just minutes beforehand, leaving no time for the opposition to challenge the ruling.
UPDATE 8/7/09: FBI has now attempted to block Edmonds’ testimony. Exclusive details now here…
Though we’d planned to be on the road this Saturday, we’ll do our best to stay in touch as things move forward if at all possible.
Now can everybody say “quash”…
There is no way America can hear
what Sibel(Goddess of Truth)Edmonds has to say …it would make Watergate look like a prank and Clinton’s blow jobs no more than “heavy petting”.
This women should have 24/7 protection and if anything happens to her it will rest on the conscience of every American ,living or dead.
This atheist prays for your safety. Imagine if all American born citizens had your determination to ” support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic“.
{Ed Note: Comment deleted. Spam. – BF}
When I first read this, I got a heart palpatation, that’s my internal body’s warning system telling me, that this is very serious stuff. I sincerely hope nothing goes wrong.
In my opinion this is what a REAL FBI AGENT who raised their hand and took the oath should be doing. There is no higher integrity.
If the DOJ intercedes, it’s proof our government is completely saturated with corruption through and through. If they don’t intercede, it should be a historic world headline, and no expense spared to track down the moles, rats and treasonous scum.
Sibel has been making these alleagations for years now. Exactly how much interest have they so far generated?
The problem is not that it’s not newsworthy or IMO not even that corporate media will stonewall it. People just don’t have the stomach for anything that could infer our government is corrupt. The ‘Conspiracy theorist’ tag no doubt thrown on all questioners by the Talking heads.
Ive read and appreciated Sibel’s daring for years. The info has been out there if people are really interested in seeing it. That damn librul media!
Sibel Edmonds is a real American that really cares about this country. How can any gag order against her be considered legitimate? She’s exposing the crimes of our mafia government.
Sibel Edmonds should immediately tell everything she knows on the internet. No jury would *ever* convict this patriot for doing what is right.
Let us hope they don’t interfere with violence.
Maybe she has a stash of videos scattered around, to be released should she be “silenced”.
God Speed Mrs. Edmonds!
Sibel…PLEASE DON’T FLY TO THIS EVENT!!!
Could you link to this ‘gag order’ please?
Don’t get “Michael Connelled”.
“Ohio’s Republican U.S. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-2nd District) has filed a complaint against her 2008”
Isn’t Jean Schmidt the one who won that “election” where the machines went down due to “moisture” (moisture inside a building only at that building and only during the crucial end counting)?
Jean “Moisture” Schmidt
Then it happened: the “humidity†crisis. For pure drama, it could not have occurred at a more dramatic point in the vote tabulation. Of Clermont County’s 191 precincts, 100 had been counted. Then the Board of Elections announced that excessive humidity had caused ballots to swell, making them difficult to count. As a result, there would be a delay in the count. At this point, the election was dead even statistically, at 50% for each candidate. The 91 precincts in Clermont represented about 12% of the remaining vote. When the crisis was resolved, the 50-50% tie changed into a 52% to 48% victory for Schmidt.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00186.htm
A delay in the count…indoor moisture…indoor raincloud…at a crucial time at the end of the “counting”…and the machines came back up with a win for Jean Schmidt! Yippie!!!!
Too many disappointments, in terms of this administration actually making needed change and going after the criminal cabal behind dur chimpfurher, for me to get too excited yet.
But I will give Sibel a lot of credit for taking a strong stand in support of our democracy.
And kudos for Brad to be posting this – hey, ya even got a link from JEFF RENSE (rense.com).
I don’t know, Brad, you break some good stuff here, espeically over chimpy’s stolen elections, but do you think you have ever got a link from rense before?
He posts a lot of that disrespectfully refers to Obama as “barky”, including all the larry sinclair stuff.
With all thats gong on, you’d think the American people would rise up and kick the bums out but, no, we keep electing the same crooks, election after election, after election, after election…
Sibel Edmonds is a disinformation agent working for the Persians. This has been proven. In her capacity as a translator after 9-11, she buried information that would have incriminated them in 9-11, and sought to deflect attention elsewhere by slandering memebers of the US government and intelligence agencies. Only morons like the author and the idiots who patronize this site would believe otherwise.
{Ed Note: “Dirk” your post comes very close to violating our few rules for posting comments here, in that it is pure disinformation. There is no such information, “proven” or otherwise to my knowledge of anything you wrote above. Since I don’t know if it’s “knowing” disinfo on your part, or you’re just gullible and/or a disinfo troll, I’ll leave it stand with this warning, that should you post such comments here again, without evidence to back up your claim, the post will be removed and you will be banned from posting here entirely. Thank you. – BF}
I found a disturbing video to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCWNe0pBTI
I can’t believe the Ftard-ness and irony of this spin. it exists it other places as well.
http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/002221.html
Scum of the earth. ( no offense to the band )
I always wondered what happened.
13 MILLION the LAPD paid to victims.
VICTIMS
We were right.
They were wrong.
Digger needs to have a mental examination.
and http://www.youtube.com/user/ALIPAC1
should be sued.
Dirk Diggler, Fuck your personal attack shit.
Dear 99 and BF, don’t get confused the word “digger” and “diggler” are two different things, unless it’s the same person spinning shit
if it is the same person, then we now know more about our enemy.
{Ed Note: Comment deleted. No, you’re not going to be banned, Phil. But you know our rules for commenting here, so you know better than to make personal attacks on other commenters. Please don’t. Post deleted. If you’re able to confine your posts to just one or two in a row, instead of multiples upon multiples, it’ll likely be appreciated by many readers here as well. Thanks. -BF}
Want me to start using proxies? Good luck banning me.
I bet it’s the same people that compromised my last box. but they are going to have a hard time doing that again.
And by the way why would a Persian whistle blow about nukes? Wouldn’t they keep their mouth shut instead?
{Ed Note: Comment partially deleted. No, personal attacks on other commenters, Phil. Please do not do so. Thanks. -BF}
{Ed Note: Comment deleted. No, personal attacks on other commenters, Phil. Please do not do so. Thanks. -BF}
Thanks Brad for all your hard work on this issue. It is a refreshing change from what we see on the mainstream corporate controlled media.
Unless you change the way the security on your blog operates the best you’ll ever do is moderate me. But the thing is, I’m not the enemy. I ain’t using proxies, I been trying to follow the rules you set out. I have no REASON to crack my way in.
I won’t.
But I am tired of this shit. All the freaking test propaganda coming from corporate sources, wanna challenge them you better have a big list of proxies. And a lot of time to make accounts balanced with a lot of email accounts. It’s no wonder people are so fucking confused.
I know I am going to get moderated / banned.
I accept that.
And I will apologize right now.
But this has to be said.
SOMEBODY HAS TO SAY IT.
I’m sorry.
Goodbye
ummmmmmm… yeah, phil. Right… it had to be said. Thanks for, well, you know, saying it.
The choice of an endless stream of disjointed, incoherent posts is an, well, “interesting” way to say it.
but, ummmmmmmmmmmmmm… if that is your contribution…
Only 1 crazy troll in this thread, digger… I’d have to say this is pretty good, especially considering that major nutcase Web like rense is linking to this post.
Enjoy whatever you are going to do instead of bloggin’ here when you are banned (or whatever), phil – thanks for, ummmmmmmmm… “takin’ one for the team”.
Well, that’s not really what happened…. but, well, you know, that’s how stuff, like, goes, you know, sometimes.
Hey phil, that’s a great new name for a band! “The Moderated Banned” Get it? Ahh, you won’t be banned, phil. You’re just having a bad day.
Sibel, I hope this deposition goes through. That would be awesome.
Dirk “Memphis Mom” Diggler. “Stumbled” upon the blog…by accident!
Here’s how you know it’s astroturfing: they never come back. They’re “one time comments”.
One-time commenters who “stumbled” upon this blog….and never “stumbled” upon it again. One-time “stumblers”. Or, Brad would call them: “STUBMLE-STERS”.
The Times of India article is being blocked. You can go to the teaser by paging through the U.S. articles. It gas a picture of BinLaden. The link hangs up then drops a blank page…..as so many censored articles are prone to do. Foreign countries seem to have better free speech rights than we do.
Stumble along now…
Everytime the government steps in to hide evidence of treachery or wrongdoing it feeds conspiracy theories and then wonders why people believe such things. You would think by now that they would have their act together enough to allow some semblance of the truth to be publicized regardless of where it leads to.
I also tried the Times of India link. The text of the article is not there – just the various links to other stories etc. – the standard template stuff, no article body.
The times of India link is working fine for me (using Firefox). It shows a brief article outlining Sibel’s claims that Bin Laden and the Taliban had ‘close ties’ to the US until 9/11.
I followed the link, and was able to read the Times of India story.
Which are the “agencies” to which the Times of India attributes the story, I wonder?
It would be terrific to see Sibel Edmonds finally be able to tell all she knows.
As an Armenian American, the Edmonds case and its connections to Turkey and the pro-Israel lobby are of particular interest.
I wrote an article (“Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish Lobbies”) that covered the connection between the Edmonds case and other spy scandals.
It is a few years old but still relevant. If you can’t click on the following link, please just copy and paste it into your address bar:
http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/com11260502p.htm
On a somewhat related subject, you may also wish to visit http://www.NoPlaceForDenial.com and look at the News Archive and History of Lobbying (by certain – not all – Jewish organizations, in league with Turkey) against Armenian Americans. The cast of characters partially overlaps that of the Edmonds case.
Would you please link to the “gag order” now? It’s a public document, right? Why not link the various “gag orders” since she’s the “most gagged woman in America?” Post them here.
@ Robert Brown:
I agree. When going against the FBI or CIA, you don’t want to fly. The planes have a way of crashing with whistleblowers on board. You should also stay away from ropes because whistleblowers seem to hang themselves a lot too. Oh, and stay away from elevator shafts and balconies.
Thank you Sibel!
From David’s Link/article
“Sibel’s Bombshell
Christopher Deliso of Balkanalysis.com recently asked Sibel Edmonds whether “the Turkish and Israeli [Franklin/AIPAC] investigations had some overlap.â€
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.â€
It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that together the three spy cases could become the biggest scandal in U.S. history.
”
WOW
Carlitos –
I’m working on an update to this story right now, so can’t go do your Googling for you. But are you suggesting that the Bush Admin did not actually invoke the State Secrets privilege on her? And that she was not, in turn, gagged??
Try Googling just about any MSM source on her, view the 60 Minutes episode, read the Vanity Fair article, check ACLU’s case on her behalf, etc.
Whether the orders themselves are actually public, I don’t recall. Given that she (and her attorneys!) were disallowed from even being in the courtroom when the DoJ argued for their state secrets claim, I suspect the bulk of the specifics of that claim (if any of it at all) is absolutely not public. There are, however, many well-sourced references to it.
quote “Sibel Edmonds is a disinformation agent working for the Persians. This has been proven.”
This is one thing right there that pissed me off, I might have sounded like I don’t like Persians, which isn’t true. The seeds of doubt (“it’s proven”) are planted in people’s minds, as long as that crap exists.
Then in true Sheriff of Nottingham style, Sibel is suddenly turned into the oath breaker. The ultimate way of crushing dissent. With it’s spelling errors and all, the one paragraph wastes hours of my time.
quote “In her capacity as a translator after 9-11, she buried information that would have incriminated them in 9-11, and sought to deflect attention elsewhere by slandering memebers of the US government and intelligence agencies.”
And I disagree, Diggler did attack everyone here calling us idiots and morons..
While I am wrong to break the rules for commenting here, comments like that are what keep the testbeds of propaganda (for lack of a better term) alive. They allow corporate media to rephrase their headline so it less important than American Idol. They allow the uninitiated visitor to keep a flame of doubt in the back of their mind.
The reality is American Idol could be vaporized one day by the gag orders and attacks on Sibel.
And that pisses me off.
My dilemma here is, this blog is one of the only places discussing these kind of issues. At the same time, I am so burned out from this psyop crap that I can’t deal with it. They are so adept at spending 30 seconds with such loaded paragraphs which take me hours to march around through my head.
Ultimately, we all “need to know” if there were nuke secrets passed to foreign countries. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. I don’t particularly care about the details OF the “nuke secret” (as I don’t have a “need to know” that) but we all have a “need to know” about the details of the actions, and the interdiction of the people involved. But instead of that, we are all left with a big red question mark.
So yeah, I blew my stack today. I got sucked in.
This is why I wish I could just go live on a nice tropical island somewhere. And be an ostrich with my head in the sand. Problem is with these rats moles and traitors running around, there may come a day when everything but my head in the sand is vaporized (to steal back a term from Condie Rice) because they were allowed to continue.
The more I give my opinion, the worse it makes me look. I get how that works, it’s more of the Sheriff of Nottingham setup. It gives them an excuse to say, “look dissent.” “Look threats” And paint a target.
Up above I showed you a video.
The video was stolen from someone else and re-edited with title screens.
at TRT 00;27
Did you happen to notice it said,
“This propaganda
footage was shot
and edited by blogger
Brad Friedman
of Los Angeles”
?
I noticed it, and I was quite confused at first, trying to figure it out.
(for those who don’t have a flash player or can’t access youtube…
http://sacxtra.com/image/propaganda.jpg
That’s how they roll. And when you call em out on it they turn YOU into the bad guy.
Hopefully your starting to understand MY frustration.
@another joe
You are mistaken about Rense website. The Brad Blog is regularly featured on it, for one thing, and indeed it is the only reason I ever read this blog, which I enjoy when I am led here all the same. Rense is an excellent nexus site and second to none.
As for articles which refer to Obama as “Barky”, something I myself usually do, so what? Rense is a balanced site, carrying both sides to many issues. It does not only feature things selected for agreeing with a preconcieved opinion. Rense features articles sometimes which are directly opposed to most of their readers’ views, but they do so in a spirit of honesty and balance, and they correct any errors they discover in their reporting, for example hoaxes are featured from time to time, but as soon as the HOAX is outed, Rense is the first place you will find that reported.
Lastly, it seems you are yourself severely limited by your own puny ideology and actually consider “Barky” to be something. Any serious reader of alternative news sites, like Rense, should long since be alert to the utter meaninglessness of which candidate even won the last election. You should forget the internet, and go back to TV, if you still think that US elections matter, that you actually get leaders on offer when there are elections and that if you actually got one, it would be able to do anything but business as usual, and as defined by the usual suspects.
Toddle off now and leave; open information sources, logical deduction and critical thinking are not for you. You evidently only want your preconcieved notions fed back to you in news, so go on and stick to television and the rest of the lamestream media.
Rabbit: You are allowed to speak freely here, within just a few very reasonable rules, but you do not get to tell people to leave… no matter what. Can we all get clear on that point?
This is Brad’s blog. He gets to tell people to leave at whim, though he mostly doesn’t. I have to tell some people they’re outta here, within certain parameters, betimes, but, other than that, we expect people to be able to disagree and express themselves without personal attacks and this bullshit suggesting someone is not welcome here.
I’m not going to lose my Zen tonight, but I must warn you guys, I’ve developed a way to send deadly current to your keyboards, so… be warned….
9/11 Truth
[ed note: Comment deleted. Personal attack and knowing disinformation. –99]
Hey, rabbit, which side of the rense/alex jones war are you on?
It isn’t possible to be on both, one a rabid hater of jewish people, the other with a jewish family spewing bile about arabs.
You must choose!
Yes, that is what I am suggesting. Feel free to post the relevant gag order and prove me wrong.
carlitos in Australia we have a term for people like you ,it not dickhead ,its not a-hole ,its not moron ,its not shit for brains , its “don’t worry dear it will be OK” .So here are some links dear enjoy and get enlightened.
Ex-FBI translator plans appeal to Supreme Court
By Chris Strohm cstrohm@govexec.com May 9, 2005
An FBI contract employee who was fired after alleging national security breaches within the bureau’s translation service plans to appeal to the Supreme Court to lift a gag order that she has been under for almost three years.
Sibel Edmonds lost her latest court battle on Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court’s ruling that dismissed her lawsuit against the Justice Department. Edmonds alleges there were security breaches, mismanagement and possible espionage within the FBI’s translation service in late 2001 and early 2002. She says the information she knows would lead to criminal prosecutions if aggressively pursued.
“We are going to the Supreme Court, that’s for sure,” Edmonds said Monday.
Edmonds, who worked under contract in the FBI’s Washington field office, sued the Justice Department after being fired in 2002. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed her lawsuit last summer after former Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the state secrets privilege, which allows the government to withhold information to safeguard national security.
District Judge Reggie Walton said information about Edmonds’ case would cause serious damage to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States if publicly disclosed.
The Justice Department’s inspector general issued a summary report in January concluding that the FBI failed to properly investigate charges made by Edmonds. The report also concluded that the FBI fired Edmonds mainly for bringing forth the accusations.
The appeals court heard Edmonds’ case last month, but closed its proceedings to the public, despite motions to open the courtroom filed by several news media organizations.
Edmonds said her lawyers were questioned for only 10 minutes before being instructed by the judge to leave the courtroom. Lawyers for the government remained inside the room. About 20 minutes later, Edmonds said she and her lawyers were informed that the hearing was over. Edmonds and her legal team are seeking a transcript of the proceedings.
“We don’t know what the government argued,” Edmonds said.
During the hearing, Chief Judge Douglas Ginsberg asked if Edmonds’ complaint could be resolved through an administrative hearing within the FBI. The next day, government lawyers told the court that the state secrets privilege did not give Edmonds the ability to pursue an administrative hearing, arguing that the case cannot be litigated without reference to privileged information.
The appeals court did not provide any comment with its ruling last week. Instead, the court said it sided with reasons given by the lower court.
Although Edmonds is running out of legal options, she is still pursuing her case by other means. She said she has a petition signed by more than 10,000 people asking Congress to hold public hearings on her situation. She plans to submit the petition next month.
Additionally, Edmonds has spearheaded the formation of a national security whistleblower’s coalition that will seek legislation to enable national security whistleblowers to sue government managers who retaliate against them or block investigations.
If Congress does not take action, Edmonds said, the coalition will run newspaper ads publicizing the names of individual managers who are alleged to have committed wrongdoing, along with their positions and salaries.
In related news, the Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed a hearing scheduled for this Wednesday on the FBI’s translation program. A committee spokesman said the hearing was postponed due to a business meeting on asbestos issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/121704Hogue.shtml
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/08/06/fbi-whistleblower-sibel-edmonds-subpoenaed-set-to-39break39-gag-order-unless-doj-intercedes/
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-sibeledmonds_17edi.ART.State.Edition1.45b446a.html
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/News.php/2009/08/06/fbi-whistleblower-sibel-edmonds-subpoena
http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-05-18/news/this-made-ashcroft-gag/1
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/jan/28/00012/
http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp01292008.html
http://www.breakfornews.com/Sibel-Edmonds.htm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00177.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/04/6832
http://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/31/fmr_fbi_translator_white_house_had
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-4118-the-strange-case-of-sibel-edmonds.html
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4916
http://nationalexpositor.com/News/585.html
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2007/02/bush-administrations-abuse-fisa-warrants-linked-sibel-edmonds-case
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0610/S00451.htm
http://alaskafreepress.com/news/668
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/FBILinguist.htm
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_070313_what_if_the_fbi_hire.htm
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml
http://www.nhne.org/news/NewsArticlesArchive/tabid/400/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4288/Why-Is-Sibel-Edmondss-Story-Being-Covered-Up.aspx
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Found+in+translation:+FBI+whistleblower+Sibel+Edmonds+spills+her…-a0174008934
http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-04-19/news/the-silencing-of-sibel-edmonds/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19225.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/exclusive-daniel-ellsberg_b_74022.html
ABC
http://abc.com
Search for Sibel Edmonds
one relevant hit
pg 4 of 4
less than an 87 word tweet styled journalism.
is that journalism?
note: I could describe throwing a beer can against the wall in more than 87 words.
CBS
http://cbs.com
Search for Sibel Edmonds
3 hits
All 2004
no followup
NBC
http://nbc.com
Search for Sibel Edmonds
0 hits
(Crap Extreme TV)
FOX
http://fox.com
No Search engine
0 hits
okay…
FOX NEWS
http://foxnews.com
Search for Sibel Edmonds
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?q=Sibel+Edmonds
11 pages of hits
No chronological order (time weapons again), no current headline.
Refined search for Sibel Edmonds 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?q=Sibel+Edmonds+2009
No chronological order (time weapons again), no current headlines, more than half the hit’s completely irrelevant.
PBS
Search for Sibel Edmonds
Your search for “Sibel Edmonds” returned about 17 results, 2 hits irrelevant (ad’s)
Only 6 results are accessible from this search, all Bill Moyers pieces. 3 Sub’s by Rick Karr, 2 stragglers, Majority of Public Comments/Feedback support Sibel’s Cause mostly.
First two hits were Advertisements.
For the Corporate media I would grade an F-
For the confused PBS is not PUBLIC anything, they are corporate, just like the rest. They call themselves Non Profit though. IF they were public, I could run my show on their channel. hint: I can’t.
There is only one PUBLIC and that’s PUBLIC ACCESS.
Maybe Ham radio and CB would be the other “public”
Anyway, just trying to tack onto MICK’s work, since I wasn’t banned yet.
ps: I will try to behave.
I know how Brad and everyone else hates my multiple posts. But …
http://searchjustice.usdoj.gov/search?q=Sibel+Edmonds&btnG.x=0&btnG.y=0&btnG=Search&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=iso-8859-1&oe=UTF-8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection
99 is a liar – “disinformation”?
You are the spreader of disinformation here and everyone knows it – but continue to pretend you are a little blog-queen.
Folks see what you are – a dishonest person with highly vindictive tendencies.
Nothing I posted was disinfomation, but you are just here to censor and inflate your own ego.
[ed note: No, Joe, I am not a liar. You posted defamatory stuff about someone that was patently untrue… made up out of whole cloth, evidently just to be nasty. I’m not going to fight with you. We’ve asked you to read the really simple-to-remember rules for commenting here a bunch of times, and you don’t seem to want to voluntarily abide by them. So your comments will be moderated until you stop ignoring them. –99]
fingers crossed…
Due to the fact that I am very busy trying to find a job in this horrible Greater Depression economy that we are moving into despite all the recent propaganda that things are “turning around”, this may be a one time comment, but I am not a troll. With that said, as a fromer cop and vet, I can honestly tell you virtually 100% of all classified documents are not, I repeat are not to protect any of you and your families or society, but rather only to protect the corrupt system from the public ever knowing the truth and thus demanding justice! Therefore, I encourage all police and military/intelligence personnel who know the Truth to come forward and sing like a canary and publicly name names, dates, detailed info of the treason committed and where it was committed, etc.! Quit obeying unjust, immoral, and even illegal orders to keep the treason and war crimes covered up! Quit covering for these treasonous devils! Leak everything you can that tells the truth about what is really going on and who really controls everything and why. Tell everyone you know, no matter what you have signed or sworn to to keep your mouth shut. Reclaim your humanity as a human being with integrity and say I am no longer morally or legally bound by any such agreements to cover up the treasonous crimes anymore, period! Then it is up to us to vigorously protect them at all costs and prepare arrest warrants for the traitors and their subsequent public trials with NO “State’s Secrets” coverup being accepted whatsoever, period!
Comment 54: nice work, Phil.
COMMENT #43 [Permalink]
… Mr. Mister said on 8/6/2009 @ 4:42 pm PT…
@ Robert Brown:
I agree. When going against the FBI or CIA, you don’t want to fly. The planes have a way of crashing with whistleblowers on board. You should also stay away from ropes because whistleblowers seem to hang themselves a lot too. Oh, and stay away from elevator shafts and balconies.
Thank you Sibel!
LOL!!!!!!!!! I’ve said that many times!
My patented phrase is: “Future headline: (insert name) found hanging in their mother’s shed and/or in small plane crash”.
Why not account for all angles?
That’s a “skeleton” headline for the “liberal media”. They just insert the name.
The shed thingy, is referring to the DC Madam, who was found hanging in her mother’s shed…..not long after she was on a talk show and said she’d never kill herself, and if she was found dead of “suicide”, someone did it.
And then there was some column in some major magazine rushed out saying the columnist thought she was suicidal. (going by memory) With no supporting evidence.
Look: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1736687,00.html
that’s the TIME mag column rushed out immediately, the infomercial/testimonial by a major mag getting the propaganda out.
In her own words, the DC Madam says: “I am not planning to commit suicide”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSl_bLi3EjM
So….hmmmmmm…………
Let us recap!!!!
TIME magazine says she committed suicide (or deeply implied like Bush did with Sadaam-9/11 link)….
OR……..
THE DC MADAM HERSELF SAID NO!!!!!!!!
Let me think about that.
The DC Madam said the DC Madam wasn’t going to commit suicide (one in the same person).
TIME said otherwise.
Let me think about that one for a minute and I’ll get back to you……….
That’s like ME saying I don’t believe ME…if a magazine said so!!!!!!!!
I hope Sibel is not planning on flying anytime soon.
Question for all you legal scholars out there: HOW COULD A GAG ORDER EVER BE LEGAL UNDER THE CONSTITUTION?
Left and rights of passage, black and whites of youth.
Who can face the knowledge that the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete absolute.
Anthrax Intimidation.
JFK RFK MLK Malcolm.
Gung-ho Chickenhawks.
Israel-first dual-nationals.
InfoWars on a PrisonPlanet?
A very RawStory on PressTV.
Whistle-Blower leaks multiply.
Beware the divide and conquer.
Both parties are corrupt to the core.
Honesty compassion conscience guts.
Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil?
Elite Ruling Class Greed or “public servants”?
Independents agree on more than we disagree.
AIPAC 9/11 Bankers Extortion Blackmail Bribery.
Wall Street Bailout Bill: Bush McCain Obama et al.
Poodles, Puppets, Sham debates, & Scam elections.
Does the Government & Propaganda Media lie to you?
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Chronic lying as career path, intellectual prostitution for paycheck.
DNC & RNC have both sold out the country in order to enrich themselves.
Future of a Nation that can not trust the Government & Propaganda Media?
Realignment of American Politics:
Anderson Baldwin Carter Choate Clemente Gonzalez Gravel Kaptur Kucinich McKinney Nader Paul Perot Sheehan
Way to go Dirk Diggler quote form above….
“Sibel Edmonds is a disinformation agent working for the Persians.
Way NOT TO GO –> Ed Note: “Dirk” your post comes very close to violating our few rules for posting comments here, in that it is pure disinformation. BF}
This editor is a fool and possibly a shill for the Zionist pigs………I have always been suspect of SE mostly because is her stories were of substance she’d be DEAD BY NOW…..she’s an agent with her own agenda and I should be able to say so here or anywhere else without assholes like BF censoring me for ……BAN ME ASSHOLE