tanabear
Critical Thinker
Sibel Edmonds was hired as an FBI translator after 9/11. The lack of competent translators is clearly mentioned as a problem in Staff Statement #12 from the 9/11 Commission:
"According to a recent report by the Department of Justice Inspector General, “the FBI shortages of linguists have resulted in thousands of hours of audiotapes and pages of written material not being reviewed or translated in a timely manner.” The choice is between foregoing access to potentially relevant conversations and obtaining such conversations that remain untranslated. Despite the recent hire of 653 new linguists, demand exceeds supply. Shortages of translators in languages such as Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and Pashto remain a barrier to the FBI’s understanding of the terrorist threat."
According to The Independent,
"Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three hours in a closed session with the commission's investigators providing information that was circulating within the FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft was just months away and the terrorists were in place...She told The Independent yesterday: "I gave [the commission] details of specific investigation files, the specific dates, specific target information, specific managers in charge of the investigation. I gave them everything so that they could go back and follow up. This is not hearsay. These are things that are documented. These things can be established very easily."
Should her 3 hour plus testimony be made public?
Regarding the reason she was gagged, she stated,
"This gag was invoked not to protect sensitive diplomatic relations but criminal activities involving US officials who were endangering US national security."
This seems to be the case as the London Sunday Times reports,
"She says the FBI was investigating a Turkish and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file."
It is strange that the international press did report this story somewhat, but in the United States it 'fell dead-born from the press.' The American Press is largely interested in reporting sensationalism, celebrity gossip, and the horse-race aspect to American politics. Journalists are strikingly ignorant on a host of issues. If they weren’t, Bush and the neo-cons could have never gotten away with the WMD lie.
Last edited:
