August 02, 2004
Public letter to the 9/11 Commission chairman from FBI whistleblower.
Via
Common Dreams is an extraordinary
Public Letter to 9/11 Commission Chairman from FBI Whistleblower, from a very brave woman named Sibel Edmonds. full of some amazing revelations, ending with some very strong charges against the commission itself.
I would have sworn that nothing this administration did would shock me, but I was wrong. It's a long letter, full of detailed charges, mostly regarding the operations of the FBI's translation office, the first step in the process of all intelligence. And all apparently very well documented and witnessed. A must-read, I'd say.
I know for a fact that problems regarding intelligence translation cannot be brushed off as minor problems among many significant problems. Translation units are the frontline in gathering, translating, and disseminating intelligence. A warning in advance of the next terrorist attack may, and probably will, come in the form of a message or document in foreign language that will have to be translated. That message may be given to the translation unit headed and supervised by someone like Mike Feghali, who slows down, even stops, translations for the purpose of receiving budget increases for his department, who has participated in certain criminal activities and security breaches, and who has been engaged in covering up failures and criminal conducts within the department, so it may never be translated in time if ever. That message may go to Kevin Taskesen, or another unqualified translator; so it may never be translated correctly and be acted upon. That message may go to a sympathizer within the language department; so it may never be translated fully, if at all. That message may come to the attention of an agent of a foreign organization who works as a translator in the FBI translation department, who may choose to block it; so it may never get translated. If then an attack occurs, which could have been prevented by acting on information in that message, who will tell family members of the new terrorist attack victims that nothing more could have been done? There will be no excuse that we did not know, because we do know.
Essentially he's saying that not only is the FBI not doing all it can to fight (so-called) terrorism, but that people in it, at very high levels, are apparently blocking any investigations that may threaten certain private financial interests. Pretty amazing. He's accusing the 9/11 Commission of what amounts to a substantial cover-up of some crucial information, and does so in the strongest possible language. I love his conclusion:
Why did your report choose to exclude this information and these serious issues despite the evidence and briefings you received? How can budget increases address and resolve the intentional continuation of ineptitude and incompetence by mid-level bureaucratic management? How can the addition of a new bureaucratic layer, "Intelligence Czar", in its cocoon removed from the action lines, address and resolve this problem? ...
In order to cure a problem, one must have an accurate diagnosis. In order to correctly diagnose a problem, one must consider and take into account all visible symptoms. Your Commission's investigations, hearings, and report have chosen not to consider many visible symptoms. I am emphasizing 'visible', because these symptoms have been long recognized by experts from the intelligence community and have been written about in the press. I am emphasizing 'visible' because the few specific symptoms I provided you with in this letter have been confirmed and publicly acknowledged. During its many hearings your commission chose not to ask the questions necessary to unveil the true symptoms of our failed intelligence system. Your Commission intentionally bypassed these severe symptoms, and chose not to include them in its five hundred and sixty seven-page report. Now, without a complete list of our failures pre 9/11, without a comprehensive examination of true symptoms that exist in our intelligence system, without assigning any accountability what so ever, and therefore, without a sound and reliable diagnosis, your commission is attempting to divert attention from the real problems, and to prescribe a cure through hasty and costly measures. It is like attempting to put a gold-lined expensive porcelain cap over a deeply decayed tooth with a rotten root, without first treating the root, and without first cleaning/shaving the infected tooth.
I love the tooth analogy. That's also exactly what I want to say that Kerry will somehow make things better, because that's exactly what it is. No matter how well-meaning he may be, no matter how much he may want to "do the right thing", the system itself is utterly and throughly corrupt, and no one and nothing can change that. The longer we delay in addressing this central fact, the worse it will get. Period.
And we can't just HOPE it will get better somehow, not while America is pumping out unfathomable quantities of weapons of every possible description, including nuclear, chemical and biological WMDs, all using the latest 21st century technology, just as fast as it possibly can. 24/7. All of which Kerry proposes increasing: "no retreat, no surrender."
Addendum: there is a long
analysis of her story and claims in the
Asia Times, including more background, snippets from interviews with her, her attempts to file suit against the government for dismissing her and her claims, and on the vicious attempts by the feds to silence her, which include persecuting and harassing members of her family.
