Salon: "We Should Have Had Orange Alert in June/July 2001" (Sibel Edmonds)

[paulthompson]

Note: Much of this story is already in a LBN thread located here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x442067#445213

But since that thread already has over 100 replies and this is more mainstream and different info, I think it deserves a thread of its own.

"We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of 2001"

A former FBI translator told the 9/11 commission that the bureau had detailed information well before Sept. 11, 2001, that terrorists were likely to attack the U.S. with airplanes.

By Eric Boehlert
Salon
March 26, 2004

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/26/translator/index_np.html



A former FBI wiretap translator with top-secret security clearance, who has been called "very credible" by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has told Salon she recently testified to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States that the FBI had detailed information prior to Sept. 11, 2001, that a terrorist attack involving airplanes was being plotted.

Referring to the Homeland Security Department's color-coded warnings instituted in the wake of 9/11, the former translator, Sibel Edmonds, told Salon, "We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of 2001. There was that much information available." Edmonds is offended by the Bush White House claim that it lacked foreknowledge of the kind of attacks made by al-Qaida on 9/11. "Especially after reading National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice where she said, we had no specific information whatsoever of domestic threat or that they might use airplanes. That's an outrageous lie. And documents can prove it's a lie."

(My own comment: I think this below paragraph is particularly important. She is under a gag order, but if you read between the lines in the questions she would ask Mueller, you can see some of what she's being gagged from speaking about.)

Edmonds testified before 9/11 commission staffers in February for more than three hours, providing detailed information about FBI investigations, documents and dates. This week Edmonds attended the commission hearings and plans to return in April when FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to testify. "I'm hoping the commission asks him real questions -- like, in April 2001, did an FBI field office receive legitimate information indicating the use of airplanes for an attack on major cities? And is it true that through an FBI informant, who'd been used for 10 years, did you get information about specific terrorist plans and specific cells in this country? He couldn't say no," she insists.

[paulthompson]

1. More info

For those who don't know much about this whistleblower, here's a picture of Edmonds:



And a link to a 60 Minutes story about her:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/25/60minutes/main526954.shtml

The complete 60 Minutes transcript:

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0311/attachment1.htm

A good recent N.Y. Observer article:

http://www.gailsheehy.com/9_11/9_11_art1_21.html

The Washington Post:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/wpost061902.html

And here are my two 9/11 timeline entries about her, which summarizes what has been known about her allegations in the past but not including what's come out in recent days:

Late September 2001: Sibel Edmonds is hired as a Middle Eastern languages translator for the FBI. As she later tells CBS's 60 Minutes, she immediately encounters a pattern of deliberate failure in her translation department. Her boss says, "Let the documents pile up so we can show it and say that we need more translators and expand the department." She claims that if she wasn't slowing down enough, her supervisor would delete her work. Meanwhile, FBI agents working on the 9/11 investigation would call and ask for urgently needed translations. Senator Charles Grassley (R) says of her charges, "She’s credible and the reason I feel she’s very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story." He points out that the speed of such translation might make the difference between a terrorist bombing succeeding or failing. (CBS, 10/25/02, New York Post, 10/26/02) In January 2002, FBI officials tell government auditors that translator shortages have resulted in "the accumulation of thousands of hours of audio tapes and pages" of untranslated material. (Washington Post, 6/19/02)

March 22, 2002: Translator Sibel Edmonds later claims that she is fired by the FBI on this day after repeatedly raising suspicions about a coworker named Jan Dickerson. When Dickerson was hired in November 2001, she had connections to a Turkish intelligence officer and had worked with a Turkish organization, both of which were being investigated by the FBI's own counter-intelligence unit. Edmonds claims that Dickerson insisted that she alone translate documents relating to the investigation of this organization and official. When Edmonds reviewed Dickerson's translations, she found information that the Turkish officer had spies inside the State Department and Pentagon was not being translated. Dickerson then tried to recruit Edmonds as a spy, and when she refused threatened to kill Edmonds. After her boss and others in the FBI failed to respond to her complaints, she wrote to the Justice Department's inspector general's office in March: "Investigations are being compromised. Incorrect or misleading translations are being sent to agents in the field. Translations are being blocked and circumvented." Edmonds is then fired and she sues the FBI. The FBI eventually concludes Dickerson had left out significant information from her translations. A second FBI whistleblower, John Cole, also claims to know of security lapses in the screening and hiring of FBI translators. (Washington Post, 6/19/02, Cox News, 8/14/02, CBS, 7/13/03) In October 2002, at the request of FBI Director Mueller, Attorney General Ashcroft asks a judge to throw out Edmonds's lawsuit against the Justice Department. He says he is applying the state secrets privilege in order "to protect the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States." (AP, 10/18/02) The supervisor who told her not to make these accusations and also encouraged her to go slow in her translations (see Late September 2001) is later promoted. (CBS, 7/13/03)

[DemMother]

2. also this

I started another post about this and then found the Flocco site.
(don't know anything about the site, but for what it's worth...)

"I appeared once on CBS 60 Minutes but I have been silenced by Mr. Ashcroft, the FBI follows me, and I was threatened with jail in 2002 if I went public," Edmonds told tomflocco.com.

Much, much more at site about this--don't know how I missed the story.

<http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=50&mode=&order=0&thold=0>

[Eye and Monkey]

3. Perhaps an alert in June/July would have precluded an August vacation.

Just another one of those things that had to wait until after a month-long holiday.

[leftchick]

10. I seriously doubt it....

chmpy* does mot miss a day off or a vacation. He has spent less time at the WH than any other president. :grr:

[Minstrel Boy]

4. And a new Gail Sheehy piece in the Observer on the 9/11 widows.

No mention of Edmonds, but much to chew on regarding how the commission is failing them, and in particular Zelikow.


To the Moms, the problems with the 9/11 commission were always apparent. But the disappointing testimony from Mr. Rumsfeld was especially difficult to bear. The Moms had tried to get their most pressing questions to the commission to be asked of Mr. Rumsfeld, but their efforts had foundered at the hands of Philip Zelikow, the commission’s staff director.

Indeed, it was only with the recent publication of Richard Clarke’s memoir of his counterterrorism days in the White House, Against All Enemies, that the Moms found out that Mr. Zelikow—who was supposed to present their questions to Mr. Rumsfeld—was actually one of the select few in the new Bush administration who had been warned, nine months before 9/11, that Osama bin Laden was the No. 1 security threat to the country. They are now calling for Mr. Zelikow’s resignation.

...

They point out that it is Mr. Zelikow who decides which among the many people offering information will be interviewed. Efforts by the families to get the commission to hear from a raft of administration and intelligence-agency whistleblowers have been largely ignored at his behest. And it is Mr. Zelikow who oversees what investigative material the commissioners will be briefed on, and who decides the topics for the hearings. Mr. Zelikow’s statement at the January hearing sounded to the Moms like a whitewash waiting to happen: "This was everybody’s fault and nobody’s fault." The Moms don’t buy it.

...

An unnamed spokesman for the Bush campaign was quoted as saying of Sept. 11, "We own it." That comment particularly disturbed the Four Moms. "They can have it," said Ms. Van Auken. "Can I have my husband back now? "

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1291328

http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/frontpage2.asp

[buycitgo]

5. JESUS HF CHA--RIST!

I've been ignoring this one for awhile.....can't believe it's been out for such a long time

not even half way through the Sheehy article, and I'm about ready to have an aneurism!!!

this is MUCH WORSE than anything I've EVER read about this NAZI FUCKING regime of Stalinist terror!!!!!!!!!!

how's that for mixing metaphors?

the neutron BOMB of government coverup tactics??????

When Ms. Edmonds wouldn't go away or keep still, F.B.I. Director Mueller asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to assert the State Secrets Privilege in the case of Ms. Edmonds versus Department of Justice. Mr. Ashcroft obliged.

The State Secrets Privilege is the neutron bomb of legal tactics. In the rare cases where the government invokes it to withhold evidence or to block discovery in the name of national security, it can effectively terminate the case. According to a 1982 Appeals Court ruling. "Once the court is satisfied that the information poses a reasonable danger to secrets of state, even the most compelling necessity cannot overcome the claim of privilege ."

WTFF is THAT?

new one on me, and I wonder how many times this has been applied, unbeknownst to our simpering little fellow citizens.

The State Secrets Privilege ?????????????????????

[RainDog]

16. Chalmers Johson said

..that making information a state secret, classified, etc. is usually just a way for people within the govt to coverup their own negligence or complicity in a crime.

Seems we've seen this over and over again with the Bush administration, as they've been the most secretive ever, it seems, and also the most willing to lie to America about issues of policy and security.

[Zerex71]

26. The State Secrets Privilege

is basically a way of covering your own ass when you're up to your eyeballs in bulls**t that you and your colleagues created. They invoke it for politically expedient reasons, not for true security reasons such as, "We have armed forces at coordinates X and Y ready to secretly strike". That kind of thing. Basically, you wouldn't even need to read up on it to know what it's really all about, as evidenced by the 9/11 hearings.

The sad thing about these hearings is that they should lead to immediate impeachment/arrest/imprisonment of all the top-level government officials, and I sincerely mean that. But they'll all get off because they are institutionally protected, they are so powerful. Tell me that isn't the hallmark of an undemocratic regime.

[Sliverofhope]

35. kick

State Secrets Privilege

[thebigidea]

6. we should have orange alert EVERY SINGLE day

and live in a state of constant fear!

for more on the facts about ORANGE ALERT and how it can help you get ahead in business:

http://www.terminalproduct.com/orangealert.rm

http://www.terminalproduct.com/orangealert3.rm

[paulthompson]

7. What does Sibel Edmonds know exactly?

Between this article and the Tom Flocco one, we have:

"In April 2001, did an FBI field office receive legitimate information indicating the use of airplanes for an attack on major cities? And is it true that through an FBI informant, who'd been used for 10 years, did you get information about specific terrorist plans and specific cells in this country?"

"My translations of the pre 9-11 intercepts included money laundering, detailed and date specific information enough to alert the American people, and other issues dating back to 1999 which I won't go into right now."

"The Senate Judiciary Committee and the 911 Commission have heard me testify for lengthy periods of time time (3 hours) about very specific plots, dates, airplanes used as weapons, and specific individuals and activities."

"Translators before me had ongoing personal relationships with the subjects or targets of the FBI and DOJ pre 9-11 investigations--linked to intercepts and other intelligence--in June - July - August, just prior to the attacks. I also became aware of a criminal investigation going on since 1998."

Meanwhile, Jamie Gorelick, the only Democratic member of the 9/11 Commission to see Bush's Presidential Daily Briefs, is not allowed to talk in specifics about what she's seen, but yesterday she said that the information in them "would set your hair on fire."

If all of the above is true, and fleshed out when people are finally able to talk freely, how could anybody deny that the Bush administration had more than enough evidence to stop 9/11? Even if they didn't know the exact day or targets, where were the defensive measures of any kind? Where were the warnings to the FAA, to the airlines, to the general public?

Consider also that Edmonds only translated about 100 out of 400 translations that were meant to be discarded before they stopped her.

LIHOP (they Let It Happen On Purpose) at least is getter harder and harder to deny.

[buycitgo]

8. man.......I'm so PISSED I can't stand it

they reFUSED to let them translate messages so they could GET MORE MONEY!!!!!!

and then Ashcroft turned them down the day before it happened!!!

and Gorelick WONT talk about it?

be a MAN, heh, and tell them to ARREST you!

where's your allegiance, you (insert pejorative here)?

Does Clarke know any of this stuff? did he have access to the PDFs?

I'm pretty sure Begala said on Xfire that Bob fricking WOODWARD had more access to the PDFs than the commission does. I know somebody said it.

how can they let this happen?

WHERE is the DANIEL(LE) ELLSBERG of the 21st century?

also, they gave that ahole John Walsh a TV show, and Dennis Miller one on a moment's notice. WHY not one for Kristen Breitweiser?

huh?

they should team her up with Karen Kwiatkowski.....KB on 911, KK on Iraq

time to sooth my fevered brow

[buycitgo]

9. btw, I stumbled across that other SHeehy story tonight, too

thx for posting the other one about Edmonds, as well as the Flocco stuff

do you know anything about that State Secrets Privelege garbage?

I know it's been upheld in the Supreme Court (or they refused to hear the appeal, or something)

goes as far back as some Nixon crap, at least.....got tired of looking

they can just basically say CEASE and DESIST to any investigation they want, looks like

not sure, but it looks to be an executive order; that's the way it seems to be referenced, but I'm getting tired

[calimary]

34. CALL YOUR REPS! TOLL FREE!!

See my sig line for details -

OR, THIS:

(FROM DUer bigtree – 3/2004) Use the responses to strike back at the attacks, here and elsewhere.

MSNBC-Phone: [phone]

Opinions: mailto:[e-mail]

News: mailto:[e-mail]

Letters to the Editor: mailto:[e-mail]

MSNBC on the Internet
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
________________________________________________________________

CNN- (404) 827 – 1500

CNN TV: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv /

CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/dotcom /
_________________________________________________________________

[e-mail]

Readers' Representative Office: http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-comment-readersrep.story

Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
[phone]

The Times Orange County
1375 Sunflower Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1697
[phone]

Los Angeles Times
Valley Edition
20000 Prairie Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311
[phone]
Los Angeles Times
Ventura County Edition
93 S. Chestnut Street
Ventura, CA 93001
[phone]
_________________________________________________________________

New York Times:

To Write The Publisher or President: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#o

Letters to the Editor: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#a

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
E-mail to [e-mail] .

OP-ED/EDITORIAL
For information on Op-Ed submissions, call [phone] or send article to [e-mail]" target="_blank">[e-mail] . To write to the editorial page editor, send to [e-mail] .

NEWS DEPARTMENT
To send comments and suggestions (about news coverage only) or to report errors that call for correction, e-mail [e-mail] or leave a message at 1-888-NYT-NEWS.
The Editors
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

The Newsroom
[e-mail] ; [e-mail]
[e-mail] ; [e-mail]
[e-mail] ; [e-mail]
[e-mail] ; [e-mail]

PUBLIC EDITOR
To reach Daniel Okrent, who represents the readers, e-mail [e-mail] or call [phone].

TO WRITE THE PUBLISHER OR PRESIDENT

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Chairman & Publisher:
[e-mail] .

Janet L. Robinson, President & General Manager:
[e-mail] .
_________________________________________________________________

USA Today:

Letters to the Editor: http://www.usatoday.com/marketing/feedback/feedback-online.aspx?type=1...

USA TODAY / USATODAY.com
7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22108-0605
_________________________________________________________________

Washington Post:

How can I contact Washington Post writers?: http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

How do I submit a letter to the editor?: http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

How do I submit an Op-Ed piece?
http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

How do I contact the Ombudsman?: http://washingtonpost.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/washingtonpost.cfg/php/endu... *&p_li=

The Washington Post
1150 15th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20071
__________________________________________________________________

More:

National Newspapers: http://newslink.org/--news.html

Television by state: http://newslink.org/stattele.html

Radio by State: http://newslink.org/statradi.html

Networks-

Radio: http://newslink.org/netr.html

Television: http://newslink.org/nett.html

(CBS) 60 Minutes:

ADDRESS:
60 Minutes
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

PHONE: [phone]

TRANSCRIPTS: 1-800-777-TEXT

VIDEOTAPES: 1-800-848-3256

CBS “60 Minutes” email info:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml - go to the bottom of the page and click on "feedback" and you're in.

[leftchick]

11. LIHOP for sure...

Hi Paul! Thank you for all of your hard work. Your timeline is a jawdropper everytime I read it! Ms. Edmonds certainly went under the radar for a while. I really hope her appearance in April will be as explosive as Clarke's. I also hope she is watching her back!

[paulthompson]

12. Thanks

I really hope this story breaks too. She sounds like a true patriot who has literally risked her life to get the truth out.

[leftchick]

15. you were also thanked publicly on c-span monday....

there was a National Press Club event with a 9/11 victims' family group. I can't recall the name right now but one of the two coordinaters of the group thanked you for all of your research and mentioned your timeline website in particular! :)

[RainDog]

17. I heard that too

and was so happy for Paul, since he's put so much hard work into following threads and helping us to see the narrative of events.

They gave his web site info, too.

[paulthompson]

37. I didn't know that

Do you have a weblink to more info or anything?

[Widgetsfriend]

19. And FULLY explains the Bush administration's all out attack..

on Richard Clarke. There is absolutely no way to deny that the Bushistas KNEW about the coming attack. And now knowing that they knew, we also know that they allowed it to happen by doing absolutely nothing to stop it. There is no doubt about this and really hasn't been for quite some time. LIHOP. I've been on board for a very long time. What I'm torn between is LIHOP and MIHOP. For me, that's been the tug. Did they let it happen or did they make it happen?

On a cautionary note: Once you allow yourself to understand this basic fact - that the Bushes were complicit in the attacks of September 11, 2001 - it becomes very, very clear that cornering them, as is happening right now, is very dangerous. They are willing to do anything. We should not be surprised by their subsequent actions nor should we be complacent enough to believe that this country is safe as long as they're in power or that any Constitutional issue will get in their way. This is the most dangerous time.

[Layman]

25. But...but...but

Totaly agree with your latter paragragh but it is the first one that puzzles me. If Clarke's testimony implies BFEE complicity then why did he urge action against the Taliban and Afghanistan? His conclusions and remedies don't add up.

[calimary]

33. No. Put THEM on Orange Alert. CALL YOUR REPS!

See my sig line at the bottom for a TOLL FREE way to do it.

And then, do this:

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
301 7th Street, SW
Room 5125
Washington, DC 20407

Washington Office*
Tel: [phone]
Fax It is vital to get these criminals under oath.
: [phone]

email: [e-mail]

And don't forget your reps in Congress:

www.senate.gov

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

DEMAND THAT CONDI COME CLEAN!!! UNDER OATH!!!

[xchrom]

13. it's horrifying the extent

that this admin will go to cover it's failure's re: 9-11.
and what can condi testify that will rehabilitate this?
precedent was set with the clinton's handling of the millenium threat -- they set up groups of people to sift through fbi and cia info and prevented major damage to the u.s
now condi will say either the evidence wasn't in the white house or that clarke mishandeled the info he had. both accusations apparently incorrect.
how do the repuke members of the 9-11 commission sleep at night?

[UpInArms]

14. AssKKKroft was pulled off commercial planes in July 2001

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

Ashcroft Flying High

(CBS) Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

"I don't do threat assessments myself and I rely on those whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community, particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes," Ashcroft said.

Asked if he knew anything about the threat or who might have made it, the attorney general replied, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."

...more...

So why in the hell were they not protecting the public???

This smells so bad that no amount of breeze will clear the stench. :mad:

[Neecy]

21. uh-huh

Asked if he knew anything about the threat or who might have made it, the attorney general replied, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."

Given that the attorney general has authority over the FBI, one would think that he'd receive a few handy details from his own department regarding the 'threat'.

Or maybe Asscroft was also 'out of the loop'. Right.

[SemperEadem]

29. Hey John, just answer me this:

what would Jesus do in the same situation?

[i_c_a_White_Ghost]

18. We were under 'Code Failure'

Orange alert! Bush was too busy setting deals with oil company's with his pal cheney.

[Just Me]

36. LIHOP,...we will NEVER, EVER FORGET!!! *eom*

[Cooley Hurd]

20. Kick

This is a very important story that seems to be getting legs! :fingerscrossed:

[Sliverofhope]

22. kick

[xchrom]

23. kick

[Tiberius]

24. uh oh

The evidence is piling on and on.

[Just Me]

27. LIHOP, LIHOP, repeat after me, LIHOP,...

,...they Let It Happen On Purpose!!! Why? Uh,...PNAC which they knew the American people would NOT support. So, they acted machiavellian and broke constitutional and international law in order to increase both their profit and power. They are arrogant, sicks f*cks who should spend the rest of their lives doing hard time.

[TacticalPeek]

28. Tricky.

"When the Emperor does it, it is not a crime."

[JohnyCanuck]

30. kick

kick

[buycitgo]

31. kick it

this is SO mind-bogglingly infuriating......

[Just Me]

32. Add Lt. Col. Karen's testimony about a neocon coup,...

,...and Clarke's testimony and (who am I missing?),...and the case for LIHOP is building strength.

[JohnyCanuck]

38. IMPORTANT Ask for Sibel Edmonds to testify at 9/11 Commission. !!!!!!!

After I called into the Guy James show today and was able to talk to Guy and his listeners about the Sibel Edmonds story, MurryMom in a post on today's Guy James'show thread in GD says she was told on a phone call to the 911 commission that if she felt someone should testify before the Commission to send them an email with the request


I called the 9-11 Commission yesterday, asking that Sibel Edmonds be called to testify before the Commission in public. The receptionist instructed me to send an e-mail message to the Commission, requesting that they take such testimony. Their e-mail address is:

[e-mail]

If enough DU'ers request public testimony from Sibel Edmonds, they are likely to seek testimony from folks like her exposing Condi's deceptions, false statements, and betrayal of public trust.

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1299028#1299462