John Stanton has a new
article which is being published in a number of places this morning about Sibel Edmonds' case entitled:
Sibel Edmonds Vindicated?
FBI Reveals Investigation Continues
Stanton was able to get an FBI spokesperson on the record saying :
"After the (Inspector General's) initial classified report, the FBI conducted further investigation into Ms. Edmonds' allegations. That investigation is continuing.""
That's great news!
Details downstairs.
From Stanton's article:
On October 10, 2006, FBI spokesman Bill Carter confirmed that matters raised by Sibel Edmonds and shielded form public view by the invocation of the US States Secret privilege were still under internal investigation by the Bureau.
"...The Inspector General's report concluded that the FBI did not adequately investigate allegations Ms. Edmonds made regarding a co-worker. After the OIG's initial classified report, the FBI conducted further investigation into Ms. Edmonds' allegations. That investigation is continuing."
Back in March of 2002, Edmonds was released from the FBI over her discovery of an array of espionage activities. Looking back, and with the benefit of new information from the FBI and elsewhere, it appears that the government of Turkey was spectacularly successfully in compromising FBI, CIA, DEA, DIA and (State Department) operations, and was also able to mount other espionage programs that allowed Turkish interests to obtain assorted military and WMD technology know-how, and garner US and Israeli military support for its bloody internal struggle against its significant and much maligned Kurdish population/opposition.
The Turks: Masters of Espionage
The Turks would not have been successful in staging what may be recorded as one of history's finest intelligence coups had it not been for many sympathetic US military personnel, bureaucrats and politicians who, whatever their egotistical reasons, believed themselves to be acting in the USA's best interests. Certainly, no one can accuse them of not effectively representing their powerful Turkish clients whether in defeating US Congressional action recognizing the Armenian Genocide or ensuring that US corporations close lucrative deals in Turkey.
The sympathizers names are now overly familiar: Douglas Feith, Brent Scowcroft, William Cohen, Richard Perle, Michael Leeden, Bob Livingston, Marc Grossman, Paul Wolfowitz, Eric Edelman, Richard Armitage, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Dennis Hastert, et al.
Stanton goes on to argue that Turkey's famed heroin industry, which supplies 95% of Europe's heroin and 15% of the heroin on US streets, is used to finance the procurement of WMD components, US defense technology and US politicians. As I outlined in this
postearlier in the week, Daniel Ellsberg said that Sibel Edmonds claims that Hastert received "suitcases of cash" delivered to his home, "knowing that a lot of that is drug money."
Stanton then gives some background on Air Force LT. Col. Douglas and Melek Can Dickerson - the people who tried to recruit Sibel into the American Turkish Council espionage ring (background here or here).
(Doug) Dickerson was recently deployed to the Iraqi theater of operations where he heads up logistics matters for an element of the USAF. His handlers in the intelligence community apparently are happy about that and so must be the public affairs personnel who don't want anything to do with him.
In 2002, Dickerson and his spouse Melek Can left the country for Belgium and a quiet post with NATO after Edmonds' exposed them as Turkish operatives or, perhaps, US counterintelligence operatives. Dickerson and his wife's activities remain a mystery. According to various reports, they were once stationed in Ankara, Turkey in the 1990s, and had contact with Douglas Feith and Marc Grossman. Another report indicated that: in 1995, while in Turkey, Dickerson was the subject of investigation for accepting money from foreign agents, whereupon he was abruptly transferred to Germany. In 1999, Major Douglas Dickerson returned to the United States. His wife, Melek Can Dickerson, started to work for American Turkish Council (atc.org) and related Turkish American business groups.
In 2001, Dickerson was apparently given a position in the weapons systems acquisition arena with the Pentagon and US Department of State. Dickerson's areas of responsibility supposedly included Turkey, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. He also had dealings with Edelman, formerly US Ambassador to Turkey, and now with the Pentagon's Policy Organization. Dickerson was also active with ATC and Scowcroft. He and his wife associated with several Turkish and American individuals from the Turkish Embassy and the ATC. Many of these folks were targeted by FBI counterintelligence for criminal activity. But thanks to the Turkish government's penetration of the highest echelons of the US political-military-intelligence-corporate apparatus, the Pentagon and US State Department forced the FBI to back off any criminal investigations that may expose criminal activity, and untidy and covert operations.
According to Sibel, Stanton's claim that the Dickerson were "perhaps, US counterintelligence operatives" has already been debunked. Senators Grassley and Leahy ruled it out after they met with the FBI & DOJ. It has been "100% confirmed that Dickersons' activities were related to the 'target foreign entities' not the US government."
FTR, Stanton continues:
Finally, there's the perplexing case of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. According to dozens of media reports, Valerie Plame was introduced to Joe Wilson by Brent Scowcroft at an ATC function. Shortly thereafter, the pair was invited to a Turkish Embassy function. Quickly after that, Plame's CIA WMD operation (Brewster Jennings) was exposed by then Under Secretary of State, Richard Armitage. Coincidently, Dickerson was in close proximity to Plame & Wilson in the 1999-2002 timeframe and the Pentagon and US State Department. It seems likely that only a Turkish operative located somewhere in the US government/intelligence community would have uncovered that information and disclosed it to the Turks and their US sympathizers. Was it Wilson? Dickerson? Armitage?
I'm not exactly sure what he is saying/alluding to here - or whether he is being coy, or something else - but I've included it here for the record.
And Stanton ends by dangling this:
More fallout is to come from the Edmonds' matter and the word in Washington, DC-Metro is that it will involve some individuals named in this piece.
I can only imagine/hope that he is pulling his punches here - and that he has something up his sleeve that he couldn't quite confirm. He mentioned many names in his article, most of whom we already knew were involved. Let's hope that he has something up his sleeve.
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Sidebar:
Those of you who have been paying attention to this story will know that The Cohen Group (former SecDef William Cohen) is a key player in the American Turkish Council and that Marc Grossman is a Vice Chairman at Cohen. Another Cohen Group Vice Chairman is General Joseph Ralston - Stanton notes that Ralston was appointed by G.W. Bush last month to be the Special Envoy in Turkey in 'dealing' with the Kurds.
Perhaps coincidentally, earlier this month Congress agreed to sell 30 F-16 fighter jets to Turkey worth $3 Billion. Perhaps coincidentally, Ralston is a board member of Lockheed Martin, which makes the F-16 - leading many to wonder why Ralston was chosen, and to wonder about the real nature of his real mission. Turkey has long been criticisedfor using fighter jets and attack helicopters to 'repress' the Kurds.
(Mizgîn at Rastibinihas been doing great work following Joe Ralston's efforts in Turkey)
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if you are interested in the new movie about Sibel's casesee here