It's frickin' awesome... It's a lot more up to date with what was reported than I'd thought with the recent info reported in the London Times. It doesn't mention specifically things like Marc Grossman being singled out, or the "picture gallery" that Sibel recently released or things like that, but it is pretty informative.
I'd hoped to speak to director Mathieu Verboud, as he was earlier schedulted to attend this showing in Vancouver's DOXA film festival, but he couldn't make it, and there wasn't anyone else from the crew that showed either for it.
I think when you consider:
1. that Scott McClellan is heavily pointing to Bush being personally responsible for the Valerie Plame leak.
2. Valerie Plame's case so closely tied/parallel to Sibel's case.
3. Scott McClellan's visibility translating into congressional committees looking to have him testify.
We NEED to get this film out on DVD or in release this fall before the election, so we can put on the same pressure to get her to testify that McClellan has in fact done on basically the same case! We need to be able to ship it to every one of our congress critters to watch. I'm hoping that is what Verboud was doing which kept him away from this showing!...
On a related note, another show that I saw, which probably not many have seen/noticed here, but could have some things to look into as well is a film called "Shadow of the Holy Book", which is a very interesting film about the dictatorships in Turkmenistan.
http://www.shadowoftheholybook.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKu7eb_-NL4It is a heavy indictment of the corporate world bending over to translate this piece of propaganda in exchange for business ties, which just about all of the companies don't want to talk about.
http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2008/03/04/calik-is-still-there/One businessman of note is SO in bed with these dictators in Turkmenistan is a Turkish businessman named Ahmet Çalık. He is so much tied to them, that even though he's a Turkish citizen, he actually was given positions in their government as a foreign national, for doing business with them!
The film really goes in depth with the filmmakers' attempts to talk to this guy and being rebuffed with a very bunch of slimey responses. I felt while watching this that this guy was so slimey and had ties with both Turkey and Turkmenistan, that perhaps he should be on the suspect list of being amongst the "Turkic Countries" that Sibel points to as being on her list of suspects.
I later googled and found the following article which points to him being part of the business factions that met on getting nuclear technology from the U.S. that mentions Sibel Edmonds as well, that discusses how Bush may be trying to find ways of postfacto justifying giving Turkey nuclear secrets if we can gain approval to give secrets to them now.
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2008/01/turkey-plans-5-gwe-8-billion-nuclear.htmlMonday, January 21, 2008
Turkey plans 5 GWe $10 billion nuclear build
Turkey pledges guarantees for nuclear power purchases
(Updates: 01/23/08 Bush endorses nuclear deal with Turkey, Update 02/08/08 tender release set for 02/21/08, tender delayed 02/21/08. tender deadline set for September 2008) 03/24/08)
Turkey stepped into the nuclear energy spotlight last week with an announcement that it will guarantee electricity purchases for 15 years to attract investment in nuclear power stations it plans to build, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said at a nuclear-energy conference in Istanbul. The guarantee creates a bridge between the government's intent and the private sector's capabilities. It suggests that the provision of a guarantee to purchase the electricity for 15 years sets up the plant as a "merchant" with all of the investor risk assigned to the builders.
...
There were reports that Turkey would become an uranium enrichment center in the region, as a formula to stop Iran from enriching its own uranium. “I am unaware of such a thing,” the U.S. official said.
Those attending the joint meeting last week included Akira Omoto, director of the Nuclear Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Peter B. Lyons, commissioner of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as representatives of international companies such as Enerji Baden, General Electric and AECL. Energy advisor to the president of Turkey, Volkan Ediger, prominent energy security analyst, Faruk Demir, Sabanci Holding Energy Group Chairman Selahattin Hakman, Zorlu Holding Energy Group Chairman Murat Sungur Bursa, CinerGroup energy advisor, Nevzat Sahin, and Çalik Holding CEO Ahmet Çalik.
...
On Jan 6 the Times of London published a potentially explosive report that alleged corrupt U.S. government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets during the past six years. According to the Times, Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, charges Turkish government officials and businessmen often acted as conduits or brokers for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency.
One of Edmonds’s main roles in the FBI was to translate thousands of hours of conversations by Turkish diplomatic and political targets that had been covertly recorded by the agency. The Times reports Edmonds gave evidence to closed sessions of Congress, but that her testimony remains secret.
The article lacks essential elements corroborating her story, such as the tapes of the alleged conversations Edmonds says she translated, and the name of the allegedly corrupt U.S. diplomat. The Times wrote that it received conflicting information from sources said to know about the allegations. There's a enormous amount of material about Edmonds on the Internet, but so far the Times is the only major newspaper willing to carry her story.
More likely if the story does get ink in the U.S, it will be used by congressional critics of the deal. Even if the black market nuclear network is gone, the Times article is not good news for the Bush Administration's efforts to promote nuclear technology exchanges with Turkey.
...
Folks, we should drill down on researching this Ahmet Çalik guy. The filmmakers told me that they felt he was more aligned with the Islamic Party that's currently in power now (rather than the secular Turkish military establishment), though they acknowledged that he's got influence over many parties in Turkish government now.
Just in the last week, he's created some controversy and attempted censure against current Prime Minister Erdogan for his selling off of TV media properties to Çalik's enterprise, which many of the government didn't like:
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=232596&s=&i=&t=Press_Scan...
CENSURE MOTION REJECTED
Turkey`s parliament rejected a censure motion against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in regard to sale of ATV-Sabah to Calik Group. The motion was submitted last week by Republican People`s Party (CHP) to the Parliament Speaker`s Office against Premier Erdogan on grounds of his alleged interference in the tender for sale of ATV-Sabah and abusing his authority on behalf of a group.
...
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/turkey/8939732.asp?gid=231&sz=88743It also helped contribute to some of a financial crisis they are having now too:
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=105827Crisis sweeps $50 billion from Turkish banks
Thursday, May 29, 2008
...
Vakıfbank saw dramatic sales of its stocks after the bank granted $375 million in loans to Çalık Group for the controversial sale of the media group Sabah-atv. The bank's market value declined 53.6 percent to $4.1 billion also impacted by selling by foreigners recently. The other bank that granted loans to Çalık Group, Halkbank, also witnessed a decline. The market value of Halkbank, the state-run bank that sold shares to the public last year, dropped 47.6 percent.
...
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