Antiwar.com Blog

Former FBI contract linguist-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and investigative reporter James Bamford discuss the Department of Justice’s abuse of the “State’s Secrets Privilege” to keep Edmonds from telling all she knows about high-level corruption in the Turkish Lobby, the State and Defense Departments and the Congress, a new petition by over 30 organizations demanding hearings into her case and a new FBI whistle-blower, who’s letter the the Department of Justice’s Inspector General [.pdf] reveals that all those wiretaps Edmonds was transcribing were illegal – begun on warrants under the much easier to satisfy-Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in cases of public corruption.

MP3 here. (30:44)

For background, listen to my February 28, 2007 interview with Sibel Edmonds expert Luke Ryland here.

Sibel Edmonds began working for the FBI shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Until the spring of 2002 she worked in the FBI’s Washington field office translating top-secret documents pertaining to suspected terrorists. She first gained wide public attention in October of that year when she appeared on ’60 Minutes’ on CBS and charged that the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon had been infiltrated by agents of a Turkish intelligence officer suspected of ties to terrorism. She also accused members of the FBI’s translation services of sabotage, intimidation, corruption and incompetence. On October 18, 2002, at the request of FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General Ashcroft imposed a gag order on Ms. Edmonds, citing possible damage to diplomatic relations or national security.

James Bamford is the author of The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America’s Most Secret Agency. Published in 1982, it was the first book ever written about the National Security Agency and it became an immediate bestseller. He spent nearly a decade as the Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings where he won a number of journalism awards for his coverage national security issues. In 1997, as the media profession began turning away from international news coverage and focusing almost exclusively on Monica Lewinsky and other domestic political scandals, Bamford left ABC to work on Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. Initially published in April 2001 to rave reviews, it also became a national bestseller. His book A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies remains one of the best resources on how the Cheney/Neocon cabal lied this country to war in Iraq. Bamford’s articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including cover stories for the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine.

James Marcinkowski, a former CIA officer and classmate of Valerie Plame discusses the conviction of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the necessity of Congress stepping up to investigate the OVP/OSP crew, Plame’s “non-official cover,” status, Brewster-Jennings and Accociates, etc.

MP3 here. (18:02)

James Marcinkowski is a former CIA case officer and former administrative staff attorney in the Oakland County Michigan Prosecutor’s Office.

Michael Klare, defense correspondent for the Nation, discusses his TomDispatch article “Bush’s Future Iran War Speech, Three Charges in the Case for War.”

MP3 here. (15:53)

Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies (a joint appointment at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), and Director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS), a position he has held since 1985. Before assuming his present post, he served as Director of the Program on Militarism and Disarmament at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. (1977-84).

Michael Klare serves on the board of directors of the Arms Control Association, the National Council of the Federation of American Scientists, and the advisory board of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch; he is also a member of the Committee on International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

As long as you get your ignorant flock to back unlimited Israeli aggression (and unlimited American aid to cover the costs), you can say whatever you want. Like how you hope the U.S. will be nuked after Israel provokes a war with Russia.

They hate the Iranians more than we do:

A majority of people from around the world hold predominantly negative views of Israel, Iran, and the United States, according to a survey [.pdf] of more than 28,000 respondents in 27 countries. …

For Iran, the strongest negative opinions were found in Europe, particularly in France (86 percent), Italy (84 percent), Germany (78 percent), Portugal (77 percent), and Britain (76 percent). Three out of four Canadians and Australians also expressed mainly negative opinions about Iran, which Washington and other Western powers have accused of pursuing nuclear weapons. In the U.S., 63 percent of respondents gave a negative assessment, a remarkably sharp drop from the 81 percent who expressed a negative opinion in a similar BBC poll take in late 2005.

Read the rest.

Regarding Putin, NPR ran an anti-Putin story today in which it was stated:

“Parliament is now dominated by a pro-Putin majority that speeds through Kremlin-issued legislation, often too quickly for deputies even to read new bills.”

I don’t know why this is so objectionable. Substitute Congress for “Parliament,” pro-Bush for “pro-Putin,” and Bush administration-issued for “Kremlin-issued” and you have a perfect picture of the U.S. government under Republican rule. Although I realize that the Democrats are no better, thank God for the “regime change” we had in November. And no, I am no fan of Putin (or any world leader), but at least he didn’t send 150,000 Russian troops to Iraq.