Guest Blogged by Luke Ryland
Last week, more than thirty 'good government' groups including the ACLU, POGO, CREW, Liberty Coalition, and September 11th Advocates called on Henry Waxman's Committee "to hold public hearings into the case of FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, and the erroneous use of the State Secrets Privilege to shut down all court proceedings in her case."
Sibel Edmonds says: "Thanks to Brad and Bradblog readers. Exactly twelve months ago, Bradblog helped launch this petition and we had a great response. Fifteen thousand people signed the petition and we have delivered it to Congress. Now we'd like to ask for your help again."
We've had solid indications that Waxman is ready and willing to hold public, open hearings into Sibel's case. We need to give Waxman a final push and get him to commit to a date, in May or June, and that's where you come in. We want you to call the offices of Congressmen Henry Waxman, John Conyers, Patrick Leahy, and Charles Grassley and demand, beg, and implore them to publicly announce that they will have hearings.
Sibel has already told her story in classified briefings to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, Henry Waxman's staff, and the 911 Commission, and her case has been investigated by the Department of Justice Inspector General. All of them have verified Sibel's claims. As Republican Senator Charles Grassley said (YouTube) on 60 Minutes in 2002: "Absolutely, 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." ...
Veteran FBI counterintelligence agent John Cole says he "talked to people who had read her file, who had read the investigative report, and they were telling me a totally different story" than FBI officials. "They were telling me that Sibel Edmonds was 100 percent accurate, that management knew that she was correct."
And then there's Daniel Ellsberg: "Now, Sibel is a person who has been checked out a good deal by some of the senators she's talked to - Senator Leahy, Senator Grassley, Republican - they have always said, repeatedly, that she's extremely credible. The FBI agents we've talked to have, in every respect that was raised, have confirmed her story - that she's a very credible witness. Representative Waxman, to whose staff she's spoken has said the same. So she is very credible. That's a fact."
So we have a bizarre and dangerous situation where people in every corner of the US government know according to Edmonds, that "certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the United States and its interests and its national security" and nothing is done about it. If you don't think that is the way things should be, then please call Waxman and Conyers and demand open hearings.
We already know some of the people that Sibel is talking about. Sibel points to an article by Phil Giraldi which "sums up the case very well... this one nails it 100%." Giraldi's article names prominent neoconservatives linked to Turkey, with Richard Perle and Douglas Feith figuring prominently. Also mentioned are Marc Grossman, Eric Edelman, Paul Wolfowitz, and Stephen Solarz.
Daniel Ellsberg has discussed Sibel's claim that "suitcases of cash have been delivered to the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, at his home, near Chicago..."
If you aren't happy that guys like Perle, Feith, and Hastert are walking the streets today, please call Congress and demand open hearings.
In Kill The Messenger, a new movie about Sibel's case, she says: "Put out those tapes. Put out those wiretaps. Put out those documents. Put out the truth. The truth is going to hurt them. The truth is going to set me free."
If you'd like to help set Sibel free, please call Congress.
Sibel Edmonds is the most gagged person in American history (for details, please see ACLU's "Timeline of Secrecy"). The government has repeatedly invoked the State Secrets Privilege in her case - not for reasons of national security, but to cover up criminal activity. Of course, if they can get away with that in Sibel's case, they have a blank check to do it again and again. If you don't think that's a good idea, please call congress.
There are a bunch of reasons why you might want hearings into Sibel's case - to help make the country safer, to put Perle, Hastert, & Feith in jail, to rewrite the 911 Commission report, to help Sibel, to expose the phony War on Terrorism, to expose the phony War on Drugs, and a number of other possible reasons. Whatever your particular motivation, please call Congressmen Henry Waxman and John Conyers and demand public hearings into Sibel's case.
Contact Information
Congressman Henry Waxman (contact page)
(Those calling Waxman's office should ask for Michelle Ash & David Rapallo.)
In Washington, D.C.
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-3976 (phone)
(202) 225-4099 (fax)
In Los Angeles
8436 West Third Street, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 651-1040 (phone)
(818) 878-7400 (phone)
(310) 652-3095 (phone)
(323) 655-0502 (fax)
House Government Reform Committee (contact page)
By Mail or Phone:
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5051
Please also contact Congressman John Conyers, asking him to support hearings by Chairman Waxman.
(Those calling Conyers' office should ask for Elliot Mintzberg.)
Email: John.Conyers@mail.house.gov
Washington, DC
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax