Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI translator who lost her job when she started telling the truth about what was going on inside the FBI, then lost her right to free speech when she kept on telling the truth, still manages to say a great deal that's absolutely true, and somehow does it without violating her State Secrets gag order.In my opinion the fact that she is gagged -- and that some of her pubic testimony has been retroactively classified -- proves beyond doubt that our government is impossibly corrupt. As I see it, if our so-called leaders really wanted to prevent "another 9/11", they would be most anxious to listen carefully to Sibel, and to the other former employees of the so-called National Security agencies who have been enjoined from telling us what they know.
As you may recall, Sibel is regarded as a danger to the security of the country because she asserts that
the FBI's translation service 1) is incompetent and corrupt and 2) received specific warnings about 9/11 before the attacks.You may also remember that Sibel founded and now directs the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. In addition to supporting other truth-tellers formerly employed within our government, she writes the occasional killer op/ed piece. Her work is widely published, and with great respect. Rightly so, in my humble opinion.
I recently posted the YouTube video of the interview she did with the late Ed Bradley of CBS's "60 Minutes", and I urge you to watch it if you have not already done so.
Her most recent piece traces the path by which the USA has become what it is today -- a pawn in a larger game, putty in the hands of moneyed foreigners. I'll quote a few key excerpts from her rather lengthy essay, but I urge you to read the whole thing.
In his farewell address in 1796, George Washington warned that America must be constantly awake against “the insidious wiles of foreign influence…since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.”For more on Sibel Edmonds, corruption in the FBI, warnings that were ignored in advance of 9/11, and much else, I recommend Wot Is It Good 4, where Luke Ryland and his friends have been doing excellent work. As for Sibel herself, she is one of the bravest and most passionate Patriots we could ask for, and it's a pleasure to help her bring her message to The People. I wish I could do more, but I'm only a humble blogger. When I get elected to the Senate you'll see sparks fly; but in the meantime, please visit her site and read her work.
Today, foreign influence, that most baneful foe of our republican government, has its tentacles entrenched in almost all major decision making and policy producing bodies of the U.S. government machine.
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The fact that Saudi Arabia pours large sums into lobbying firms and public relations companies with close ties to congress does not come as a big surprise. The FARA database under the DOJ website lists Qorvis Communications as one of Saudi Arabia’s registered foreign agents. In 2003, for only a six months period, Qorvis received more than $11 million from the Saudi government. Another firm, Loeffler Tuggey Pauerstein Rosenthal LLP, another registered foreign agent, received more than $840,000 for the same six-month period, and the list goes on. Just for this six month period the government of Saudi Arabia paid a total of more than $14 million to 13 lobbying and public relations companies; all registered as foreign agents.
Why do the Saudis spend nearly $20 million per year in lobbying activities in the U.S. via their hired agents? What kind of return on investment are they getting out of the United States Congress?
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Former secretaries and deputy secretaries with open access to the current ones, former congressmen and senators who used to be positioned on strategically valuable committees and know the rules of the congressional game, and millions of dollars available to be spent and channeled and re-channeled to various PACs go a long way toward ensuring results. Money counts. Money is needed to bring in votes. Professional skills and discretion are required to get this money to various final destinations. The registered foreign agents, the lobby groups, are geared for this task. The client is happy in the end; so are the foreign agents and the congressional actors.
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Of course, the sanction and legitimization of far reaching foreign influence and strongholds in the U.S., despite the many dire consequences endured by its citizens, is not limited to the government of Saudi Arabia. Numerous well-documented cases can be cited for others such as Turkey, Pakistan, and Israel, to name a few.
I won’t get into the details and history of my own case, where the government invoked the state secrets privilege to gag my case and the congress in order to ‘protect certain sensitive diplomatic relations.’ The country, the foreign influence, in this case was the Republic of Turkey. The U.S. government did so despite the far reaching consequences of burying the facts involved, and disregarded the interests and security of the nation; all to protect a quasi ally engaged in numerous illegitimate activities within the global terrorist networks, nuclear black-market and narcotics activities; an ally who happens to be another compulsive and loyal buyer of the Military Industrial Complex; an ally who happens to be another savvy player in recruiting top U.S. players as its foreign agents and spending million of dollars per year to the lobbying groups [...]
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It used to be congressional ‘pork projects’ and ‘corporate influence’ that raised eyebrows now and then; here and there. Gone are those days. Today the unrestricted and uncontrollable money game and influence peddling tricks within the major decision-making and policy producing bodies of the U.S. government have reached new heights; yet, no raised eyebrows are registered.
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The other day I received a request to sign on to a petition put forth by a group of 9/11 family members urging the congress to reopen the investigations of 9/11 [...] My heart goes out to them. I do sympathize with them. [...] There are only two ways I can see that can bring about what they have been fighting for and what the majority of us desire to see [...]
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The family members, and their supporters, us, either have to tackle the major cause; the corruption of our government officials via unrestricted and undisciplined ‘revolving doors’ and ‘foreign influence & lobby’ practices, and push for expedient meaningful reforms by the new ambitious congress, and have them prove to us their worth. Or, they may as well give up their long-held integrity, go bid high for one or two former statesmen, hire a few dime a dozen generals, and buy themselves a couple of ex-congressmen turned lobbyists; that will do the job.