Sibel Edmonds Makes Hustler

No scratch 'n' sniff centerfold, but in the "news" part of the magazine. It's written by Brad Friedman, and if I'd realized he was this dishonest, I would never have returned his phone call a few years ago.

For instance:

“Absolutely, she’s credible,” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told CBS’s 60 Minutes when he was asked about her in 2002. “The reason I feel she’s very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story.” Edmonds’s remarkable allegations of bribery, blackmail, infiltration of the U.S. government and the theft of nuclear secrets by foreign allies and enemies alike rocked the Bush Administration. In fact, Bush and company actually prevented Edmonds from telling the American people what she knew—up until now.

But of course what Grassley was talking about back then was not bribery, blackmail, infiltration of the US government and theft of nuclear secrets by foreign allies and enemies alike. It was petty bureaucratic fief-building by a superior who told her to go slow on translating documents so that more people would be hired in her division. But eight years later, Friedman recycles the quote to make it seem like Republicans still believe her increasingly bizarre and unlikely tales.

There's some very weird language in the piece; sounds like the lawyers were heavily involved in the rewriting. Consider this:

Former Congressman Bob Livingston (RLouisiana), who was set to become Speaker prior to Hastert until evidence of a sexual affair was revealed by Larry Flynt, was described in Edmonds’s deposition as having participated in “not very legal activities on behalf of foreign interests” before leaving office in 1999.

What the hell does "not very legal" mean? I presume it doesn't mean "very illegal".