FBI Vet Calls For 'Special Counsel' Investigation, Prosecutions in Sibel Edmonds Case

[BradBlog]

Source: BRAD BLOG; Peter B. Collins Show



FBI Veteran Calls For Special Counsel Investigation, Accountability, Prosecutions in Sibel Edmonds Case
Details panic inside the Bureau, executive effort to 'keep this whole thing quiet' when matter first came to light in 2002
Further confirms FBI translator/whistleblower's allegations, credibility...

An 18-year Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Manager for the FBI has called for a Special Counsel to be appointed to investigate the allegations of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. John M. Cole, who now works as an intelligence contractor for the Air Force, made his comments during an audio interview released late last week with radio journalist Peter B. Collins.

He also offered a detailed insiders look at the panicked concerns among high-level officials inside the Bureau as Edmonds disturbing allegations began coming to light back in 2002, before they would be quashed for seven long years by the Bush Administration's unprecedented use of the so-called "State Secrets Privilege" to gag her.

"Everybody at headquarters level at the bureau knew that what she was saying was extremely accurate. ... They were trying to figure out ways of keeping this whole thing quiet, because they didn't want Sibel to come out," Cole said.

The FBI executive went on to further underscore his corroboration of key elements of Edmonds' allegations as "one hundred percent right on the money, on the mark," including the Bureau's long counterintelligence investigation into Turkish espionage/infiltration in the U.S. government; details on the importance of the first-hand intelligence collected by FBI translators like Edmonds; and a call for long-overdue "Special Counsel" investigation.

"You know, it really irritates me that people are getting away with murder, in some cases. They should not be allowed to get away with that. There needs to be accountability. And that's what I'd love to see."...

FULL STORY, COMPLETE AUDIO INTERVIEW, EXTENDED TEXT EXCERPTS:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7449

Also recently related...
VIDEO: ABC's Diane Sawyer on Sibel Edmonds, FBI Whistleblower, First Amendment 'Heroine'

I thought you might appreciate a quick look at this short video if you've never seen it before. Diane Sawyer narrates the story of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds as she was awarded the 2006 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award.

Included in Sawyer's backgrounder package are testimonials on Edmonds' courage in coming forward with her allegations from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Paul Newman and others...

VIDEO: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7448

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7449

[BradBlog]

1. Please rec this one up guys!

A former exec calling for a Special Counsel is no small thing!

[Raineyb]

40. Sorry too late to rec but here's a belated kick. n/t

[malaise]

2. K & R

This should be huge!

[BradBlog]

8. "Should be", but...

...Can't even seem to get more than a handful of recs here so far

I agree. "Should be" indeed! In fact, "is", whether anybody wants to pay attention, demand accountability here or not.

[sabrina 1]

37. Sorry, Brad just saw this now. Too late to rec, but would if I could.

Slowly but surely, what she has revealed really cannot be ignored forever.... one more person, and hopefully there will others ....

K&wish I could rec.

[StateSecrets]

3. K&R

Thank you BradBlog. Let's hope other agents follow his lead...They are solid people, but intimidated.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

26. Hill Ave.

http://www.whistleblowers.org/index.php?option=com_cont...

[Bushknew]

4. K&R

[JohnyCanuck]

5. K & R

[AntiFascist]

6. K&R n/t

[bertman]

7. This guy is obviously an Iranian mole trying to make the FBI look bad.

Rec.

[jbnhm]

9. It would be great to see and investigation but I think too many insiders have too

much to lose, especially since it's likely to threaten some exposure of the Israel lobby as well.

[Wilms]

10. .

[BradBlog]

12. Dog got your tongue Wilmsers? :-)

[AuntPatsy]

11. /

[mirrera]

13. Kick... I never saw that Dianne Sawyer Clip. I knew Newman was a good guy!

[ShortnFiery]

14. K & R

[G_j]

15. on the money... K&R

[mmonk]

16. Morning kick.

I was without my computer yesterday afternoon into the evening.

[NoFederales]

17. K&R

NoFederales

[leveymg]

18. KNR - Didn't know that Diane Sawyer did a piece on Sibel

Some follow-through would be nice. ABC and CBS need to work on their swing. NBC never got into the game, AFAK.

[mmonk]

19. That was when they had not yet got the memo

not to cover it any further IMO.

[midnight]

20. K&R.

[Vattel]

21. Why was there panic inside the FBI in 2002?

Her allegations of espionage at that time were all directed at a single coworker. The IG report says that her allegations against her coworker had a factual basis, but did not conclude that the coworker was guilty (or not guilty) of espionage. That report also said that the FBI hadn't done a good job investigating Edmonds' allegations. The FBI did look bad, I guess, insofar as they were exposed to have been sloppy in their security measures, possibly allowing themselves to be infiltrated. All this came to light, of course, but no heads rolled except for the heads of Edwards and Cole, who had blown their respective whistles.

Odd that Cole claims 100% accuracy on Edmonds' part (except for the allegations he cannot confirm or disconfirm). We already know that she wasn't accurate in some of her specific claims about Senator Schakowsky (no townhouse in DC, no funeral of her mother in 1998). The IG report said that some of her other allegations were not true. (Maybe that report is only accurate insofar as it confirms what Edmonds said.) It would be nice if Cole were to tell us which of Edmonds' more shocking allegations he can confirm. It would also have been nice to know whether he was speaking literally when he said people were getting away with murder. A follow-up question there would have been nice, but I guess it was time to break to a commercial.

Please forgive me for being skeptical. I realize it's more fun to believe in a huge government espionage ring, selling state secrets, even nuclear weapons secrets, to Turkey, Pakistan, etc. I know, you just want it to be investigated by a disinterested third party. For all I know the more serious charges have already been investigated to some extent. We know that two members of the Judiciary committee made inquiries. The FBI's investigation of Grossman apparently did occur; is it obvious that further investigation is warranted? It's hard to know whether there should be major investigation without seeing some of the relevant classified information.

[AntiFascist]

31. Quoting from an interview with Larisa Alexandrovna....

regarding the allegations against Hastert:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

"In fact, the evidence was such that the FBI took this to the DOJ and an investigation was being assembled when the new administration came into office and Ashcroft, the then new Attorney General shut it down. Clearly shutting down an FBI/DOJ investigation instead of allowing it to move forward would also support the allegations against Hastert, but he is not alone in these allegations by any measure."

If the Bush Administration wanted this investigation shut down, and gagging Sibel Edmonds is clearly an indication, then the FBI may have been placed in a situation where pursuing justice against treason would have meant taking on the Bush Admin in the wake of 9-11. Notice that the money given to Hastert is called "Al Qaeda money" with possible connections to Richard Perle and Doug Feith in addition to Grossman. This implicates high-level neocons at a time when war was about to be waged in the Middle East.

[Vattel]

34. Thanks for the information

If Ashcroft shut down the investigation of Hastert, then Holder would know that and should reopen the investigation if there is sufficient evidence to justify doing so. I hope Holder is doing his job here. It is frustrating not to know what went on with the investigations of Hastert and Grossman and others. It may be that those investigations were handled properly and it may be that they were squashed for obvious political reasons. Nothing stops DOJ from reopening the investigations if the latter is the case. I can't imagine what motive Holder would have for not reopening them if the evidence warranted doing so.

edited for clarity

[AntiFascist]

35. Sibel also said this in an interview...

http://www.democracynow.org/2005/8/10/did_speaker_haste...

“I have been giving all the details to the appropriate channels. And they have been confirmed. And what I have said all along is the fact that as far as the 9/11 is concerned, September 11 is concerned, these departments -- and when I say “these departments,” the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense -- have intentionally blocked the investigations of real -- the real criminals in this country.…

Most of al Qaeda’s funding is… through narcotics. And have you heard anything to this date, anything about these issues which we have had information since 1997? And as I would again emphasize, we are talking about countries. And they are blocking this information, and also the fact that certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the United States and its interests and its national security, be it the Department of State or certain elected officials.

The CIA is often trying to cover up rogue or other involvement in the Drug Trade, and they have always denied that the Iran-Contra scandal involved drug smuggling. If you look deeply behind the Lockerbie bombing, you may discover how far they are willing to go...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975399...

[thread-bear]

36. accuracy

You mentioned Turkey and Pakistan, etc. Who were the etc?

[eomer]

22. K&R

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

23. 9/11

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

24. .

[tuckessee]

25. I didn't know the FBI had veternarians.

Or do you actually mean a former or retired FBI agent?

[BuyingThyme]

27. kcik

[Trillo]

28. Is this in the TV media yet?

I unplugged from that matrix after the digital conversion, so really don't know.

It needs to start getting talked about on the nightly news.

[BuyingThyme]

29. Just hardly.

Both the Dems and Pukes are deep in this one, so their media lackeys won't touch it.

[Trillo]

30. Okay, thanks.

It seems to be passing the "smoke" stage of where there's smoke, there's probably fire.

It's sad the most common news communication source for most folks has been taken over by Goebbels, Inc.

[librechik]

32. kick

[JuniperLea]

33. Perhaps we should start a good old fashioned DU phone call brigade...

To be sure this hits the mainstream news HARD!!

Now, where is that list of numbers? Anyone? Anyone?

I'm at lunch... we're burning daylight!

Is this the current list?

Phone Numbers:
CNN-
(404) 827 – 1500
Comment line: (404) 827 - 0234
(From grasswire
CNN NEWS CHIEF Eason Jordan. 404.827.5111. fax: [phone]. [e-mail]
CNN NEWS DIRECTOR Kim Bondy. 404 827 1500. fax. [phone]
CNN NEWSROOM 404.827.1500 . 404.827.1500. [e-mail]
Call Anderson Cooper at 1-866-NY-AC360


MSNBC
- Phone: [phone]

CBS
-Phone: [phone]

ABC-
ABC NEW YORK NEWSROOM: [phone] [e-mail] Newsroom Fax Machine 212.456.5150

Peter Salinger (THE MAN IN CHARGE OF ELECTION COVERAGE) Director, Special Events & Sports 212.456.5105 [e-mail]

Cristi Landes, Manager, Programming 212.456.5107 [e-mail]

Wayne Fisk Director, Programming 212.456.5327 [e-mail]

Jeff Fitzgerald Executive Director, Operations 212.456.5554 [e-mail]

Heidi Oringer Executive Director, Entertainment 212.456.5541 [e-mail]

Jon Newman News Coverage 212.456.5100 [e-mail]

Joyce Alcantara Assignment Manager 212.456.5106 [e-mail]

Jim Kane Deputy D.C. Bureau Chief 212.222. 6604 [e-mail]

Andrew Kalb Executive Director, Programming 05.567.2269 [e-mail]

Robert Garcia Executive Director, News & Sports 212.456.5103 [e-mail]



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[JackRiddler]

38. Kick, recommend, and let's have an investigation.

No need for speculation or remote assessments of Edmonds. Just open the files, already!


"A plea for civility & factual argument in the Sibel Edmonds matter":
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[defendandprotect]

39. k i c k

[PatSeg]

41. K&R

Sorry, I missed this earlier.