You can help Sibel Edmonds & your country, today.

Let Sibel Edmonds Speak is a campaign we've been running for the last week asking people to demand that Henry Waxman hold hearings into former FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds' case and the State Secrets Privilege.

We've had a lot of support here as people learn more about Sibel's case, and I ask that you help turn that energy into hearings by calling Waxman and Conyers today, Monday, and Tuesday and we'll be asking Waxman to go on the record midweek and state that he will have hearings.
Congressman Waxman: ph: (202) 225-3976, fax: (202) 225-4099
Congressman Conyers: (202) 225-5126, fax (202) 225-0072
(Capitol switchboard number - 800-828-0498)

Over at campaign headquarters, I have a new post called "Sibel Edmonds: The most ungagged person in American History (and I helped!)" where we're asking you to go on the record and leave a comment saying that you made a call or sent a fax, and perhaps share any feedback that you received.

Downstairs, I'll discuss a few things that you might not know about Sibel's case...

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First, here's the video of the speech:


The official transcript is here. A snippet:

"We must be vigilant & fight back, for our freedom is under assault – not from terrorists – for they only attack us, not our freedom, and they can never prevail. No, the attacks on our freedom are from within, from our very own government; and unless we recognize these attacks for what they are, and stand up, and speak out – no shout out – against those despots in government who are attempting to silence the brave few who are warning us; then we are doomed to wake up one sad morning and wonder when and where our freedom died."

I wrote a post yesterday that some of you may have missed which attempts to document a very simple component of Sibel's story that should outrage everyone, and it doesn't require any familiarity with Sibel's case to comprehend. Sibel's boss was actively involved in espionage to protect the targets of the FBI's investigations. This is documented and acknowledged by the FBI and the Department of Justice etc. He got promoted, and now, five years later, he is in charge of the entire desk of 300 Arabic speaking translators. He was apparently being bribed and/or blackmailed 5 years ago into protecting targets of FBI investigations, and I can only presume that he is still being bribed/blackmailed by the same people - he certainly is compromised and a security risk. His promotion seems to suggest that all of the people above him are also compromised. That should scare the living daylights out of you and ought to be sufficient to get even your right-wing uncle in fly-over country to call Waxman and demand hearings.
Perhaps you could send him the post and ask him to make a call or two (hint, hint) and you won't even have to discuss the merits of firing gay Arabic linguists under Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

What else? Well, there's the fact that "Turkish (criminal) groups had been installing doctoral students at U.S. research institutions in order to (steal) information about black market nuclear weapons." These criminal groups were bribing people at the State Department to ensure that these 'students' got placed at the nuclear labs. Being criminal groups, they then sold their loot to the highest bidders, including America's state-based and terrorist enemies.

What else? Sibel is aware of an April 2001 FBI briefing that indicated that:

1) Osama bin Laden was planning a major terrorist attack in the United States targeting four or five major cities; 2) the attack was going to involve airplanes; 3) some of the individuals in charge of carrying out this attack were already in place in the United States; 4) the attack was going to be carried out soon, in a few months. The agents who received this information reported it to their superior, Special Agent in Charge of Counterterrorism Thomas Frields at the FBI Washington Field Office... No action was taken by the special agent in charge, and after 9/11 the agents and the translators were told to "keep quiet" regarding this issue.

Incidentally, this event didn't make it into the 911 Commission's section on "missed opportunities."

What else? Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Marc Grossman and Dennis Hastert (and others) will all go to prison for a long time, presuming that the standard penalty for treason isn't implemented.

What else? To clarify, a lot of the writing I have done about Sibel's case has, for simplicity, assumed that the American Turkish Council is the only organization involved. There are a number of other Turkey-related organizations - Phil Giraldi mentions some of them in his article. More importantly, Sibel says (and Giraldi hints at this as well) that AIPAC and the ATC are both (equal?) fronts for the same criminal network that her case involves.

What else? In case you missed my "Sibel Edmonds, Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings" post from last week, Valerie Plame's Brewster Jennings was investigating the ATC for years, which appears to support the claims that the ATC was involved in WMD proliferation. It isn't known whether Brewster Jennings was also investigating AIPAC

What else? In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, I wrote a post last week called "What the heck is Sibel Edmonds' Case about? And why should I care?"

What else? Because Sibel was a translator, there is documented evidence for all of her claims. 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."

What else? Sibel and I will be interviewed Monday night at 7eastern on Peter B Collins. Listen live or it'll be available at WhiteRoseSociety at some point soon. If it's a good interview, I'll try to transcribe it quickly, but time is going to be short in the next day or two (and it probably won't be great - I've only ever done 3 interviews in my life, all of them I the last 2 weeks - so I'm a total amateur)

What else? I think that's about it for now. Except, you know, begging that you call and demand hearings on Monday and Tuesday.

If I had to 'order' our priorities in terms of who to contact first etc, I'd say (I'd prefer calls and faxes rather than emails):
1. Waxman's DC office:
(202) 225-3976 (phone)
(202) 225-4099 (fax)
Michelle Ash (Michelle.Ash@mail.house.gov)
David Rapallo (David.Rapallo@mail.house.gov)

2. Waxman's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
(202) 225-5051 (phone)
email

3. John Conyers' DC office:
(202) 225-5126 (phone)
(202) 225-0072 (Fax)
email: John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

What else? Don't forget to tell us how you get along, and register that you helped ungag Sibel at "Sibel Edmonds: The most ungagged person in American History (and I helped!)"