(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
As noted in this post on DU, Sibel Edmonds recently testified in the case of Rep. Jean Schmidt (yes that Jean Schmidt) V. 2nd District Democratic U.S. Congressional candidate David Krikorian.
Edmonds testimony is long, and the linked post on BradBlog has five videotape segments to watch. I’ve only watched the first three so far, but wanted to post this information on Whistleblower Edmonds’ testimony which names names and alleges some very disturbing things regarding some Congress members, their staff members, and other government employees:
UPDATE: I forgot to mention Edmonds’ testimony regarding the “outing” of Brewster Jennings–Valerie Plame Wilson’s CIA cover agency, enabling her group to investigate the existence of/extent of WMD in the ME. Edmonds’ alleged that a government official warned the Turkish government and/or Turkish/foreign “operatives” that BJ was a CIA cover agency.
UPDATE 2: Via Edmonds’ website “In Congress We Trust–Not”:
Vanity Fair printed the story only after they made certain they were on sure footing in the face of any possible libel by lining up more than five credible sources, and after triple pit bull style fact-checking. They were vindicated; Hastert did not dare go after them, nor did he ever issue any true denial. Moreover, further vindication occurred only a month ago. On April 10, 2009, The Hill reported that the Former Speaker of the House was contracted to lobby for Turkey. The Justice Department record on this deal indicates that Hastert will now be “principally involved” on a $35,000-a-month contract providing representation for Turkish interests. That seems to be the current arrangement for those serving foreign interests while on the job in congress – to be paid at a later date, collecting on their IOU’s when they secure their positions with ‘the foreign lobby.’
Wow–$35,000 a month! Selling out your fellow citizens and the best interests of your nation to foreign governtments/ interest groups certainly does pay well.
more below:
…The deposition included criminal allegations against specifically named members of Congress. Among those named by Edmonds as part of a broad criminal conspiracy: Reps. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bob Livingston (R-LA), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), Tom Lantos (D-CA), as well as an unnamed, still-serving Congresswoman (D) said to have been secretly videotaped, for blackmail purposes, during a lesbian affair…
High-ranking officials from the Bush Administration named in her testimony, as part of the criminal conspiracy on behalf of agents of the Government of Turkey, include Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Marc Grossman, and others.
…During the deposition — which we are still going through ourselves — Edmonds discusses covert “activities” by Turkish entities “that would involve trying to obtain very sensitive, classified, highly classified U.S. intelligence information, weapons technology information, classified Congressional records…recruiting key U.S. individuals with access to highly sensitive information, blackmailing, bribery.”
Edmonds testimony discusses a widespread effort by foreign governments and independent foreign “operatives” in bribing and, if that didn’t work, compromising and then blackmailing vulnerable individuals in government. As a Turkish language translator, her work and knowledge mainly concerned the Turkish government, but who knows how widespread this practice is and how many officials have been compromised by such determined governments/ individuals?
Tape I is introductory, listing names of Turkish organizations and groups that participated in these activities. Edmonds names Dennis Hastert as one Congress Member that she alleges was successfully bribed. He now works as a lobbyist for Turkish interests. Tapes II and III get into more details.
Edmonds related that as part of her FBI training she was told that foreign governments and independent operatives (who are looking to steal weapons technology and sensitive data and sell it to the highest bidder, etc) will work at “hooking” government officials-that is by finding their vulnerabilities for purposes of blackmailing them. She went on to say that the Pentagon would send the FBI a list of individuals who had access to sensitive information and included on those lists those individuals’ vulnerabilities: Sexual, financial, how much money they owed, etc. She said that a “high level” State Department worker passed this information regarding those individuals and their vulnerabilities along to their foreign contacts. These contacts then used this information to compromise those individuals, in order to get their votes on Bills, and their influence in favor of the briber/blackmailer’s agenda.
I know there is a lot going on with Health Care Reform, and with the passing of Senator Kennedy. Yet, what Edmonds discusses is a rot at the core of Congress, government agencies, and members of Administrations. The Obama Administration didn’t invoke the “State Secrets Privilege” to prevent Ms. Edmonds from testifying, as did the Bush Administration, but it also didn’t choose to be present at the DC deposition.
One would think the Administration that was going to clean things up in DC would take a little interest in a case that could be very explosive. Yet, oddly, it’s all going under the radar-of the Administration, the Congress (probably with good reason there), and the media. Maybe the Administration hopes to step back and let us “yell louder”-the only problem is: Who will we yell at? How do we know who is or isn’t “compromised” or “bribed”, not only by US corporations, but by foreign governments and foreign “operatives”?
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worth a look, IMHO, but probably not before trying to get a good night’s sleep. Which is what I’ll try to do soon. Will check back later.
long enough for her to be able to testify somewhere.
fit into the “narrative” of the country right now.
You know, the Corporate Media “narrative”.
It will be ignored. It won’t even go down the Memory Hole because it will not be allowed to register on the national Brain to begin with.
I think I’ll move to Kali Yuga! Might be the easiest move I’ve ever made. We’re surrounded.
this is critical stuff and no amount of pleading to our “leaders” is going to change the fundamentals–so let’s start with a meta-narrative of our own and see if others don’t pick it up.
banned me three times for bringing up such tin foil hat topics.
Anyway for those inclined and financially secure Ecquador might be a good place.
http://www.brianoleary.info/
The only significant revelation here is what Edmonds knows about Turkish involvement. Though through the years foreign participation has included quite the long list of (not so) surprising states. Because our politicians are well known to be so weak, greedy and eminently corruptible.
There’s a reason Dems can’t manage to do anything despite supermajorities in House and Senate plus the Presidency, you know. There’s a reason the Corporate Party still runs things even though they represent only the dregs of the dregs of the public demographic anymore. The real danger in Edmonds’ knowledge is that it might open the door on the machinery of bribery, blackmail and general corruption going on right there in D.C. every day. You know… the prostitution and child sex rings, cash changing hands, favors, information trades, etc., etc., etc.
I think Ms. Edmonds’ story is very important and should be getting out there, generally. People need to be aware. I admire the courage of Ms. Edmonds — she’s had quite a lonely battle with it all!
Our “system” needs to be cracked period, if we’re to survive as a viable nation.
…I heard that the whole charade was aimed at Brewster-Jennings more than Valerie Plame (she was just the convenient goat so Cheney could cover by pretending to go after Joe). Pertaining peripherally to what Joe did when he blew the whole yellowcake scam wide open, as (I heard) they intended to funnel nukes through Turkey into Iraq through Kurdistan to make good on their WMD assertions. BJ (or, more accurately, what it had morphed into) stood directly in their way.
But they got their war anyway, it’s still going, they’re making shitloads of money, so it didn’t really matter in the end.