XPost: alt.politics.usa.republican, alt.politics.org.fbi, nyc.announce 
 From: rosaphilia@webtv.net 
  
 Former FBI Translator Sibel Edmonds Calls Current 9/11 Investigation 
 Inadequate 
  
 by Jim Hogue 
  
 Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel 
 Friday, May 7, 2004 
  
  
 INTRODUCTION: Sibel Edmonds and Behrooz Sarshar, beginning in December 
 of 2001, began filing reports to their superiors at the FBI. These 
 reports could lead to the collapse of a corrupt power structure that has 
 a stranglehold on the very institutions that are obligated to control 
 it. 
  
 We cannot excuse these institutions, for while they fiddle, they pass 
 death sentences on their own troops, and on the people of Afghanistan 
 and Iraq. On April 30th, Sibel Edmonds was my guest for 50 minutes on 
 WGDR radio. What follows is an edited transcript of the interview. The 
 editing is for the sake of a more readable piece. 
  
 Sibel Edmonds is a former FBI translator. She blew the whistle on the 
 cover-up of intelligence that names some of the culprits who 
 orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. 
 These culprits are protected by the Justice Department, the State 
 Department, the FBI, the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
  
 They are foreign nationals and Americans. Ms. Edmonds is under two gag 
 orders that forbid her to testify in court or mention the names of the 
 people or the countries involved. 
  
 THE INTERVIEW JH: The people who have so far been interviewed on this 
 program have all been authors and researchers, and here we have someone 
 who, for the most part, has first-hand information. Ladies and 
 Gentlemen, your guest is Sibel Edmonds, formerly of the FBI, a 
 translator who joined the FBI shortly after 9/11. 
  
 Ms. Edmonds, what I'll do is invite you to tell us whatever you would 
 like--your stint with the FBI--and what the brouhaha with Ashcroft and 
 company is all about. 
  
 SE: I started working for the Bureau immediately after 9/11 and I was 
 performing translations for several languages: Farsi, Turkish, and 
 Azerbaijani. 
  
  
  And I do have top-secret clearance. And after I started working for the 
 Bureau, most of my translation duties included translations of documents 
 and investigations that actually started way before 9/11. 
  
  And certain documents werebeing sent that needed to be re-translated 
 for various reasons, and of course certain documents had to be 
 translated for the first time due to the backlog. 
  
 During my work there I came across some very significant issues that I 
 started reporting in December of 2001 to the mid-level management within 
 the FBI. 
  
 They said to basically leave it alone, because if they were to get into 
 those issues it would end up being a can of worms. 
  
 And after I didn't see any response from this mid-level bureaucratic 
 management I took it to higher levels all the way up to [assistant 
 director] Dale Watson and Director 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. 
  
 At that point, which would be around February 2002, they came and they 
 confiscated my computer, because, they said, they were suspecting that I 
 was communicating with certain Senate members and taking this issue 
 outside the Bureau. 
  
 And, at that point, I was not. They did not find anything in my computer 
 after they confiscated it. And they asked me to take a polygraph as to 
 the allegations and reports I'd made. I volunteered and I took the 
 polygraph and passed it without a glitch. They have already confirmed 
 this publicly. 
  
 In March 2002 I took this issue to the Senate Judiciary Committee and 
 also I filed it with the Department of Justice Inspector General's 
 office. 
  
 And as per the Senate Judiciary Committee's request the IG started an 
 expedited investigation on these serious issues; and they promised the 
 Senate Judiciary Committee that their report for these investigations 
 would be out by fall 2002 latest. 
  
 And here we are in April 2004 and this report is not being made public, 
 and they are citing "state privilege" and "national security" for not 
 making this report public. 
  
 Three weeks after I went to the Senate Judiciary Committee the Bureau 
 terminated my contract, and they cited "government's convenience." 
  
 I started working with the Senate Judiciary Committee that was 
 investigating this case, and I appeared before the Inspector General's 
 office for their investigation several times, and I also requested 
 documents regarding these reports under the Freedom of Information Act; 
 and they blocked this by citing again the "state secret privilege" and 
 "national security" refusing to make these documents public. 
  
 On October 18th 2002 Attorney General Ashcroft came out personally, in 
 public, asserted this rare "state secret privilege" on everything that 
 had to do with my case. 
 And they cited "diplomatic relations" and certain "foreign relations" 
 that would be "at stake" if I were to take this issue and make it 
 public. And, since then, this has been acting as a gag on my case. 
  
 I testified before the [9/11] commission on February 11th 2004, and as I 
 said, I have been waiting for this report that they [the Attorney 
 General's office] have been blocking for a year and a half from becoming 
 public. 
  
 The information I requested under the Freedom of Information Act has 
 been blocked for two years. And I have been campaigning for the past 
 three months trying to get the Senate Judiciary Committee that has the 
 oversight authority and responsibility to start its own public hearings. 
  
 However, this request is again being blocked. Now they [AG] are citing 
 this upcoming election as reason. And here I am. 
  
 JH: And it is the Attorney General who is blocking your testimony. 
  
 SE: Senator Leahy, on April 8, 2004, sent a very strong letter to 
 Attorney General Ashcroft, citing my case stating that he, Senator 
 Leahy, has been asking questions, and has a lot of issues that have not 
 been addressed, and asking AG Ashcroft to come and provide answers. 
  
 And AG Ashcroft for the past two years has refused. So he [Leahy] is 
 calling for a public hearing. However, Senator Hatch, who is the 
 Republican Chairman of the Senate, has been a road block. And Senator 
 Grassley [a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee] went on 
 the record with New York Observer's Gail Sheehy and said that Senator 
 Hatch is blocking this investigation from taking place and for this 
 public hearing to be held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
  
 JH: So Hatch has the power to keep Leahy and Grassley.... 
  
 SE: Correct. And now it is becoming a partisan issue. However, I keep 
 reminding them that this issue is not a new issue that has come out for 
 this election. This issue has been in the courts for two years and two 
 months now. 
  
 JH: I've watched Hatch perform since the Contra Hearings in the mid 
 1980s, and I can assure you that for Hatch, everything is a partisan 
 issue. You have a tough one. 
  
 [continued in next message] 
  
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