Another victim in L'affaire Sibel Edmonds

[lukery]

There's a good article in Congressional Quarterly by Jeff Stein called "National Security Whistle Blowers: The ‘Undead’?'

The article looks at the treatment of Sibel Edmonds, Mike German, Daniel Ellsberg and Gary Bernsten and others who have reported amazing vulnerabilities in the US homeland security, and ended up on the trash heap.

The article quotes John Cole, "a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent whose 18-year career took a nosedive when he came to the rescue of Sibel Edmonds," validating Sibel's claims and getting trashed for helping her.

From the Jeff Stein article:

Take John M. Cole, a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent whose 18-year career took a nosedive when he came to the rescue of Sibel Edmonds.

Edmonds is the former FBI language specialist who surfaced in June 2002 with a strange tale of how she had been fired by the Bureau after telling supervisors that a foreign intelligence ring had penetrated the translators’ unit where she worked, among other sensitive issues.

Now why would they do that?

You can’t find out much, because then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft invoked a “state secrets privilege” to stop her suit against the FBI for wrongful dismissal.

A gag order prevents her from adding details to another of her sensational charges, that government eavesdroppers had intercepted the Sept. 11 hijackers plans.

Edmonds, born in Iran of Turkish origins, also claims she discovered unsavory links between U.S. defense and intelligence officials, weapons makers, Israel, and Ankara.


“I thought that I could be of some assistance to her,” Cole says in “Kill the Messenger,” a new documentary film about her case, “because I knew she was doing the right thing. I knew because she was right.”

Cole tells how he had “talked to people who had read her file, who had read the investigative report, and they were telling me a totally different story” than FBI officials, who had only perfunctorily investigated her allegations.

“They were telling me that Sibel Edmonds was a 100 percent accurate, that management knew that she was correct.”

But they buried it.

In 2004, after months of harassment by superiors for his defense of Edmonds, Cole resigned.

A year later, the Justice Department’s Inspector General concluded: “the evidence clearly corroborated Edmonds’ allegations.”

John Cole comes across as a lovely guy in the movie. Another victim in L'affaire Sibel Edmonds.

[bdrube]

1. Whistleblowers never fare well in government.

I've investigated a few whistleblower cases myself in my
government service.  The powers that be cannot by law fire you
for whistleblowing, but they can make your working life so
unpleasant that you fire yourself.

That's why so few people do it.

[lukery]

2. national security whistleblowers

are exempt from the usual whistleblower protection.

there will be a push in the near future to introduce better legislation - stay tuned.

[Fridays Child]

3. Is that documentary available in the U.S.?

[lukery]

4. not yet

not yet - we should have some more news later in the week.

keep an eye on my blog about the movie sibeledmonds.blogspot.com

[Fridays Child]

6. Thanks. I've bookmarked it.

:thumbsup:

[robertpaulsen]

24. Thanks. I'm looking forward to buying the DVD!

Looks very, very good.

[mmonk]

5. Thanks lukery as always.

I'm really interested in the progress of the documentary.

[lukery]

7. US reporters are seeing the movie

Jeff Klein in the article in the OP quotes a scene in the movie, so it appears that some US journos are seeing it.

ftr, the reviews from france are here
http://sibeledmonds.blogspot.com/2006/10/kill-messenger-reviews.html

[mmonk]

15. Yes, thanks.

I want to see it in a theatre here one day.

[lukery]

17. media movement

my point is that if the movie is being shown to journos, hopefully we can interpret that as the early stages of a publicity campaign, which might indicate that a release will soon be forthcoming.

fingers x'd

[mmonk]

25. My fingers are indeed crossed.

[Selatius]

8. You can't keep secrets buried forever

The last resort they have is to put a hit out on Sibel to shut her up forever, but one has to wonder if that will stop the truth at all or simply delay it for several decades.

[Mabus]

9. If they were to do something like that

it would raise red flags to too many people. If she's alive but gagged, she's less dangerous.

[bleever]

10. K&R.

Brave people.

[lovuian]

11. Sibel Edmonds will comeback and haunt Aschcroft and Bush

and the whole FBI and Congress who kept her silent

[lukery]

12. dont forget 911 commission

they've heard her story too.

[StateSecrets]

13. Thank You

Great post; thank you.

John Cole also reported to DOJ-IG & Congress in 2001-2002.

[lukery]

16. sibel's case or his own?

did cole report on sibel's case or his own?

actually, they're probably largely the same case - i guess i mean, did he do it independently?

[StateSecrets]

18. Combined Cases

He reported on both cases; they are connected.

[ftr23532]

14. kick! n/t

:kick:

[wildbilln864]

19. double ...

kick!

[leveymg]

20. Why isn't Cole's "100% accurate" comment ever reported?

I don't think I've ever seen this before. His endorsement seems quite compelling. Is there an article or link where that appears, or is it only quoted in the film?

[lukery]

21. it's crazy

i've seen the film, and this is actually a compelling moment - but it kinda passed me by. our friend (with many names) highlighted the comment. i've followed the story so closely that i know that certain things are true - i missed the importance of the fact that someone else validated the story.

john cole is quoted in the vanity fair article, and as statesecrets says, he also went to congress/doj regarding the same case.

when you see the two of them in the movie together, it's obvious that they both know the same stuff.

[leveymg]

22. The fact that he corroborates the facts makes this case MUCH stronger.

Any chance we might get Cole to come forward and write something? That might break the logjam in media coverage - new news.

[elehhhhna]

23. K&R