An Open Letter to Chris Matthews

Scott Horton of Antiwar.com and The Stress Blog has written an Open Letter to Chris Matthews

Dear Sir,

I am writing you today because I think you and your investigative reporter, David Shuster, are two of the only men on TV news who might have the guts to step up and cover a very important story that is currently suffering from a near-total media blackout.

That blackout is deep enough that it’s likely you haven’t even heard that 2 new FBI whistleblowers have come forward – one named, the other still anonymous – vouching for the veracity of the claims of former FBI contract linguist-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, who is once again pushing – this time backed by more than thirty public interest groups – for public congressional hearings into her case.

One of these new whistleblowers, a 20-year veteran agent named Gilbert Graham, has revealed in a leaked letter [.pdf] to the Justice Department Inspector General’s office that the intercepts she was involved in translating as part of official FBI investigations into high-profile criminal activity in 2001 and 2002 were themselves illegal wiretaps on some very influential people – begun under authority from Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants when they should have been using the old-fashioned 4th Amendment kind.

I think that makes this story an official double-whammy.

Perhaps this lawbreaking by the investigators is part of why the Justice Department has waged such a battle against this courageous woman’s right of free speech and right to seek redress in court by using (abusing) the “States Secrets Privilege” to prevent her from saying what she learned during her part in the investigation.

Many current and former federal police and intelligence officials, Senators and Congressmen, and the Inspector General himself have vouched for Edmonds’s credibility. No one of significance has challenged her facts, only her right to tell us what they are.

Edmonds told me Wednesday, March 7th, in a joint interview with renowned intelligence reporter James Bamford,

“[I]f Congress moves forward and holds this public hearing, I can guarantee you that you are going to be seeing some major criminal indictments here because we are not talking about light-level stuff – we are talking about very serious criminal activities.”

From what I understand, this may be an understatement.

Why not invite her on your show?

I am certain she will be an energetic and informative guest, and there’s no doubt that your TV cameras will like her too.

Her gag order is severe, but she can say enough to set your man Shuster on the path to the story of a lifetime.

This link is to the .pdf file of the unclassified version of Graham’s letter to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General’s office.

Thanks very much for your time.

Best,

Scott Horton

Great work, Scott.