Sibel Edmonds Tells All

Or some. I have been pretty critical of Sibel in the past, largely because she has been used by some of the 9-11 Troofers who claim she's the whistleblower that everybody asks them for.

A couple of months ago, the BradBlog stated that Sibel was prepared to risk jail to tell what she knew, in violation of several gag orders that have been placed on her by the courts. I was pretty suspicious, but after a long conversation and numerous emails with Brad Friedman I decided to hold any further fire while they tried to get a US media outlet to handle the story.

They were apparently unable to get a US paper or major network to tackle the story, but the Times of London has published a piece today on Sibel's allegations. It seems potentially blockbuster:

Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.

Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.

The name of the official – who has held a series of top government posts – is known to The Sunday Times. He strongly denies the claims.

However, Edmonds said: “He was aiding foreign operatives against US interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives.”

Friedman posts today:

While that "well-known senior" State Department official is not named by the paper, Australia's Luke Ryland, perhaps the world's foremost expert concerning the Sibel Edmonds story, has told The BRAD BLOG that the official, unnamed by the Times, is Marc Grossman.

Grossman was the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey ('94-'97), the Asst. Sec. of State for European Affairs ('97-'00) and served under Colin Powell and Richard Armitage at the State Department from 2001 to 2005 as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He's currently employed as the Vice Chairman of the D.C. and China-based consulting firm, The Cohen Group, founded by the former Republican Defense Secretary for Bill Clinton, William S. Cohen.

Getting to the topic of this blog, 9-11 Conspiracies, the Sunday Times piece notes:

The Turks, she says, often acted as a conduit for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, because they were less likely to attract suspicion. Venues such as the American Turkish Council in Washington were used to drop off the cash, which was picked up by the official.

Edmonds said: “I heard at least three transactions like this over a period of 2½ years. There are almost certainly more.”

The Pakistani operation was led by General Mahmoud Ahmad, then the ISI chief.

Intercepted communications showed Ahmad and his colleagues stationed in Washington were in constant contact with attachés in the Turkish embassy.

Intelligence analysts say that members of the ISI were close to Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. Indeed, Ahmad was accused of sanctioning a $100,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, immediately before the attacks.

It's tempting to groan over part about the $100,000 wire transfer; no doubt the kooks will now claim that the Times of London "proved" the payment when of course all they have done is note that an accusation was made. But I hope that some reporters will now be encouraged to go after that story and either prove it or debunk it once and for all. It makes no sense that anybody would be wiring a large sum of money to Mohamed Atta immediately before the attacks; indeed the 9-11 Commission reports Atta was wiring small sums of money out of the US in the last few days before the attacks.

And:

Following 9/11, a number of the foreign operatives were taken in for questioning by the FBI on suspicion that they knew about or somehow aided the attacks.

Edmonds said the State Department official once again proved useful. “A primary target would call the official and point to names on the list and say, ‘We need to get them out of the US because we can’t afford for them to spill the beans’,” she said. “The official said that he would ‘take care of it’.”

The four suspects on the list were released from interrogation and extradited.

A little vague there, but again, let's have it investigated.

Update: Long discussion of the article here without a lot of conspiracy theorizing.