As important as the Downing Street Minutes and continued pressure on the mainstream media are to revealing the truth to the nation, there is another critically important story that requires our attention and our action - and the clock is ticking away on this one. We have only until the end of July to make a difference and perhaps turn the course of history. Of course, I'm referring to Sibel Edmonds and, after my conversations with her, I felt I should make an effort before time runs out and her witness to significant governmental chicanery is suppressed by the government forever.
On May 14, Edmonds published "Gagged, But Not Dead" which can still be read on her website where she updates the reader on the status of her case and the subsequent gag order placed not only on her but also on members of Congress forbidding even discussing matters relating to her case!
Many of you may still be nauseous after being lectured to by the likes of criminals such as G. Gordon Liddy and Chuck Coleson in the wake of Mark Felt outing himself as "Deep Throat." These ex-convicts, along with former Nixonians like Pat Buchanan, ranted repeatedly that Felt should have followed the "proper channels of authority" if he had had a problem with the Watergate scandal rather than sneaking off to the Washington Post.
Sibel Edmonds is the perfect example of why Felt did the right thing when he leaked to the Post: those "proper channels of authority" in the Nixon administration were corrupt. Those "proper channels" were active co-conspirators themselves.
However, the Nixon administration's activities were simple child's play compared to the practiced corruption that rules the Bush II administration - and whistleblowers like Edmonds, Colleen Rowley and others now know that. Hopefully for them and all of us, there's still time to correct the dismaying non-results their adherence to following "proper channels" have produced.
Edmonds testified for more than three hours behind closed doors to the 9/11 Commission about, assumedly, her concerns over breeches of security from within the FBI, specifically those of fellow linguist Melek Can Dickerson, wife of USAF Major Douglas Dickerson. There were also concerns of the FBI withholding valuable information from field agents specializing in terrorism investigations by unit supervisor Mike Feghali. The usual reasoning behind this practice is that the information also contains references to "certain countries" or "lucrative or political connections with this country [U.S.]"In other words, if exposing a targeted terrorist cell's illegal activities would prove embarrassing to either the "interests" of the United States or one of our allies, then the matter is tucked away.
These and other concerns raised by Edmonds have been confirmed by the FBI - as stated openly by Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley - and they were also supported by documentation and corroborating witnesses. Yet, after more than three hours of testimony before the Commission, Sibel Edmonds is barely a footnote in the official 9/11 report. Edmonds submitted an open letter to the Commission co-chairman, Thomas Kean, concerning the previously mentioned and other omissions regarding the information she provided them. She noted how these omissions are an ominous reflection on the final report, which in turn raises questions of bias and inaccuracy on the report as a whole.
Edmonds diligently pursued all the proper channels. She notified the FBI, the Inspector General at the Department of Defense, members of the Senate, and former White House Council Alberto Gonzales of her documented allegations only to be subsequently gagged by former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Why? In the interests of "protecting certain diplomatic relations and to protect certain United States foreign business relations."
How does suppressing information that people within our own intelligence agencies have continued connections with organizations currently targeted by FBI investigations do anything to help strengthen our national security? Exactly what are these high level officials so afraid of coming out?
Unfortunately, the unprecedented actions of the zealot-turned-Attorney General will keep all those secrets locked away - unless we raise enough noise to change that.
