Campaign coffers profit from911'coke&courts-FBI linguist won't deny intelligence

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Mon, 25 Apr 2005 20:43:26 -0700 (PDT)

 

 

 

 

Campaign coffers profit from911'coke & courts-FBI linguist

won't deny intelligence intercepts tied 911 drug money 2 U.S. election

campaigns

 

 

" By justice a king gives a country stability; but one who is greedy

for bribes tears it down. " Proverbs 29:4

 

 

 

 

Campaign coffers profit from 911, coke and courts

 

FBI linguist won't deny intelligence intercepts tied 911 drug money to

U.S. election campaigns

 

by Tom Flocco

 

 

 

Washington -- April 25, 2005 -- TomFlocco.com -- Former FBI contract

translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and her attorneys were

ordered removed from the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse so that

a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals panel could discuss her case in

private with Bush administration lawyers.

 

 

 

Sibel Edmonds was fired for reporting information she uncovered in

the FBI & apos;s translation unit In an exclusive interview on Saturday,

we asked Edmonds if she would deny that laundered drug money linked to

the 911 attacks found its way into recent House, Senate and

Presidential campaign war-chests, according to what she heard in

intelligence intercepts she was asked to translate.

 

 

 

" I will not deny that statement; but I cannot comment further on it, "

she told TomFlocco.com, in a non-denial denial.

 

Edmonds is appealing the Bush administration¡¯s arcane use of " state

secrets privilege, " invoked last year to throw out her U.S. District

Court lawsuit alleging retaliation for telling FBI superiors about

shoddy wiretap translations and allegations that wiretap information

was passed to the target of an FBI investigation. Given our multiple

reports and numerous other interviews, Edmonds heard much more--but

enough to warrant public suppression of criminal evidence by a wholly

Republican appeals court panel?

 

 

 

" Tom, I¡¯m telling you that not a single newspaper covered what

happened to me on Thursday when I went into court, " said the

exasperated translator, adding, " [Judge David] Ginsberg kicked

everyone out, cut off my lawyer¡¯s arguments and told us ¡®we have

questions to ask the government¡¯s attorneys that you cannot hear.¡¯ "

 

 

 

Criminal evidence in Edmonds¡¯ explosive case is apparently getting

too close to Washington officials, since the former contract linguist

also told us she would not deny that " once this issue gets to

be...investigated, you will be seeing certain [American] people that

we know from this country standing trial; and they will be prosecuted

criminally, " revealing the content of the FBI intercepts she heard

indicates that recognizable, very high-profile American citizens are

linked to the 911 attacks.

 

 

 

Edmonds implied that legislators and even lobbyists were benefiting

from laundered narcotics proceeds in an earlier interview with the

Baltimore Sun, " ...this money travels. And you start trying to go to

the root of it and it¡¯s getting into somebody¡¯s political campaign,

and somebody¡¯s lobbying. And people don¡¯t want to be traced back to

this money. "

 

So the Bush administration¡¯s Department of Justice enlisted its

taxpayer-funded lawyers to petition a Republican U.S. Appeals Court to

suppress Sibel Edmonds¡¯ criminal evidence allegations--linked to a

3,000 death mass murder--in the name of " state secrets. "

 

 

 

When we asked how many Americans were named in the intercepts, Edmonds

said " There is direct evidence involving no more than ten American

names that I recognized, " further revealing that " some are heads of

government agencies or politicians--but I don¡¯t want to go any

further than that, " as we listened in stunned silence.

 

When asked in 2002 by CBS 60 Minutes co-host Ed Bradley, " did she seem

credible to you? Did her story seem credible? " Senator Charles

Grassley (R-IA) 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. "

 

 

 

Plaintiff and attorneys asked to leave courtroom

 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said " the court orally

instructed the clerk that the hearing would be open only to the

attorneys involved in the case and Edmonds. "

 

During Thursday¡¯s arguments, the volatility of Edmonds¡¯ charges and

the high officials it may criminally implicate prompted what looked to

be a one-sided hearing, reminiscent of a medieval kangaroo court where

rights and precepts of justice are ignored and the outcome is usually

known beforehand.

 

 

 

All three judges who removed Edmonds and her attorneys are

Republicans: Douglas Ginsburg and David Sentelle, having been

appointed by Ronald Reagan, and Karen LeCraft Henderson who was tapped

in 1990 by President George W. Bush¡¯s father, former President George

H. W. Bush.

 

" Judge Ginsberg said ¡®I am asking the plaintiff and her attorneys to

stand outside;¡¯ then they had government officers standing at the

door to prevent anyone from listening. And after about 25 minutes,

they came out and said ¡®we have finished questioning the government

attorneys and we don¡¯t need you anymore, so you are free to leave,¡¯

" said the crestfallen former translator.

 

 

 

FBI contract linguist Sibel Edmonds " I cannot be present at my own

hearing; and not a single paper was there Thursday to cover the

story--even though all of my allegations were supported by the FBI

Inspector General¡¯s report and my case involves 911 and national

security, " said Edmonds.

 

 

Sibel Edmonds at home

 

 

 

Assistant Director Dale Watson: FBI's Mr. Fix-it?

 

Edmonds told another paper " I took [the allegations] to higher levels

all the way up to [assistant FBI director] Dale Watson and Director

[Robert] Mueller. And, again, I was asked not to take this any further

and just let it be. And if I didn¡¯t do that they would retaliate

against me, " according to the Baltimore Sun.

 

 

 

Despite the court¡¯s unprecedented actions, the Inspector General said

Edmonds¡¯ allegations to her superiors about a co-worker " raised

serious concerns that, if true, could potentially have extremely

damaging consequences for the FBI, " having also concluded that the

Bureau did not adequately investigate the allegations and that Edmonds

was retaliated against for speaking out to protect the United States.

 

 

 

The former FBI translator had already linked laundered illegal

narcotics money and terrorism to recent U.S. political campaigns in an

earlier statement made to the Baltimore paper, " ...you have money

laundering activities, drug related activities, and terrorist support

activities converging at certain points and becoming one....they are

citing ¡®foreign relations¡¯ which is not the case....we are not

talking about only government levels. And I keep underlining

semi-legit organizations and following the money. "

 

 

 

When we pressed Edmonds as to whether she would deny that FBI

Assistant Director Dale Watson had prior knowledge of the 911 attacks,

she quickly said, " no comment, " carefully adhering to her judicial gag

order--and not revealing all she knows.

 

Dale Watson, head of the FBI's counter-terrorism division, during an

address on homeland security on Aug. 26, 2002. (Photo: AP)

 

 

Watson came under scrutiny when we attended one of the 911 Commission

Hearings when Richard Clarke, former Bush Administration National

Coordinator for Counterterrorism for the National Security Council

(NSC), was asked " Who gave the final approval for the bin Laden family

to leave the country without being interviewed? "

 

 

 

Clarke answered that it could have been the " Inter-Agency Crisis

Management Group, but most likely it was the White House Chief of

Staff's office or the State Department. " [according to this writer's

notes / Commission transcripts for March 23 - 24, 2004 are available

at http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/index.htm]

 

When Commissioner Tim Roemer asked " why the Saudis were allowed to

leave the country, who was on the planes, how many, and why the

decision was made, " Clarke said the government " feared for their

lives...some of them were bin Laden family members, and the Saudi

embassy requested their evacuation. "

 

 

 

During testimony Clarke told Roemer " I refused to approve the [saudi]

request. I passed it on to [FBI Asst. Director] Dale Watson and the

flight was approved....I don't think they were ever interviewed in

this country. " Only subpoenaed transcripts and/or video would negate

Clarke's assertion.

 

Dale Watson, who Clarke intimated as the sponsor of the FBI-approved

flights and the decision not to interview bin Laden family members and

other Saudi royals or citizens, was the former FBI Executive Asst. for Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Intelligence.

 

 

 

Interestingly, Watson led controversial investigations of the first

World Trade Center attack, Oklahoma City bombing, East Africa Embassy

bombings, Khobar Towers bombings, USS Cole bombing, the September 11

attacks and the anthrax attacks, before retiring in 2002 to assume a

position with Booz Allen Hamilton.

 

Democrats in Congress have been strangely silent regarding the actions

of the Republican court toward Sibel Edmonds; and she won¡¯t reveal

which politicians and high government agency officials were named in

the intercepts--potentially linked to laundered 911 drug money which

was likely used in U.S. political campaigns.

 

 

 

Uncomplicated drug money laundering

 

" It¡¯s so simple, " Edmonds told TomFlocco.com. " Nobody is looking at

the Department of Defense aspect of the whole 911 cover-up. The FBI is

citing two reasons for my gag order: to protect ¡®sensitive¡¯

diplomatic relations and to protect foreign U.S. business relationships. "

 

 

 

TomFlocco.com broke the story of Sibel Edmonds' first public press

conference on March 24, 2004, when over 50 reporters and 12 news

cameras did not publish the story for days. This, despite Edmonds'

allegations that she was offered a substantial raise and a full-time

job to encourage her not to go public that she had been asked by the

Department of Justice to adjust translations of [terrorist] subject

intercepts that had been received before September 11, 2001 by the FBI

and CIA. Kristen Breitweiser, 911 family member and spokeswoman,

arranged to have Ms. Edmonds address the media in a public press

conference for the first time, right after Director of Central

Intelligence George Tenet testified before the 911 Commission.

 

 

 

In attempting to let the American people how close the 911 cover-up

comes to home, Edmonds told us, " I will say this: the FBI is only a

mouthpiece for the State Department. The State Department is the main

reason for the cover-up. It has to do with foreign business

relationships and who they are...Pakistan, Turkey...espionage in the

State Department...preventing an investigation. "

 

The former FBI translator has implicated everything " from drugs to

money laundering to arms sales. And yes, there are certain

convergences with all these activities and international terrorism, "

adding " they don¡¯t deal with 1 or 5 million dollars, but with

hundreds of millions. "

 

 

 

In an interview with the website Antiwar, Edmonds cryptically

pronounced " ...as for the politicians, what I can say is that when you

start talking about huge amounts of money, certain elected officials

become automatically involved. And there are different kinds of

campaign contributions--legal and illegal, declared and undeclared. "

 

 

 

Espionage and treason?

 

Edmonds has reported information about an FBI translator named Jan

Dickerson whose husband, U.S. Air Force Major David Dickerson,

belonged to a Turkish organization which was an investigative target

of the FBI¡¯s own counter-intelligence unit.

 

Edmonds said Major Dickerson told her husband that " all you have to do

is tell them where your wife works and what she does, and they will

let you in like that...They wanted to sell me for the information I

could provide, basically. "

 

 

 

Jan Dickerson insisted to Edmonds that she be the only one to

translate the FBI¡¯s wiretaps of a Turkish official, according to CBS

60 Minutes, which added that Edmonds revealed that Jan Dickerson told

her, " Why would you want to place your life and your family¡¯s lives

in danger by translating these tapes? "

 

CBS host Ed Bradley said Edmonds found that " Dickerson had left out

information crucial to the FBI¡¯s investigation; information that

Edmonds says would have revealed that the Turkish intelligence officer

had spies working for him inside both the U.S. State Department and

the Department of Defense at the Pentagon. "

 

 

 

After reporting evidence of espionage in December, 2001--right after

the 911 attacks, Edmonds told an FBI special agent who had also

harbored suspicions about the Dickersons and they pursued the issue;

but Bureau heads said they were never notified despite Edmonds¡¯ proof

to the contrary.

 

She said the FBI permitted other targets of the investigation, key

people...foreign nationals based in the U.S....to flee the country

" right up through January and February, 2002--five months after the

911 attacks. "

 

Edmonds has said in the past that " I reported some of the suspects¡¯

names higher up as I came across them in our investigation. And you

know what? Within two weeks, they had all left the country. Just

vanished. "

 

 

 

Given the astonishing allegations, the strange actions of the appeals

court and congressional silence on the current matter, questions can

be raised as to who is on which team.

 

According to Edmonds, only two weeks after the Air Force convened a

formal investigation, Jan and David Dickerson were permitted to leave

the country on September 9, 2002--about a year after September 11.

 

Edmonds also said during the whole month the Dickersons were being

subpoenaed, starting in June, 2002, Jan Dickerson continued to work in

the FBI translations department--with a top-secret security clearance;

and even though the Bureau admitted to a congressional committee that

Jan Dickerson worked for the suspect organization in the past and had

maintained ongoing relationships with at least two individuals under

investigation, according to her interview with Antiwar.

 

 

 

Protecting high government officials

 

Special agent John Roberts, a chief of the FBI¡¯s Internal Affairs

Department told CBS 60 Minutes that " I don¡¯t know of another person

in the FBI who has done the internal investigation that I have and has

seen what I have and that knows what has occurred and what has been

glossed over and what has, frankly, just disappeared, just vaporized,

and no one disciplined for it. "

 

When asked by Bradley whether he had found cases since 911 where

people were involved in misconduct and were not, let alone

reprimanded, but were even promoted, Roberts replied, " Oh, yes.

Absolutely. "

 

 

 

In October, 2002, former Attorney General John Ashcroft asked the

court to dismiss Edmonds¡¯ case on grounds it would compromise

national security; and the FBI declined to discuss the specifics of

her case on grounds that it would harm national security.

 

 

Attorney General John Ashcroft testified that he flew on a private

jet to Milwaukee on the morning of September 11. Earlier reports

indicated that he changed from a commercial jet to a private one due

to reported terrorism " threat assessments " which government officials

refuse to make public simply by redacting the " sources and methods "

used in obtaining the intelligence. Commission members failed to ask

Ashcroft to explain the contents of the threat assessments and why

they influenced his decision to use a private jet.

 

 

 

 

911 insider trading subject to " national security " restrictions?

 

 

 

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