Covering Up the Coverage: The American Media's Failure to Report on the Sibel Edmonds Case

In an Exclusive BRAD BLOG Op-Ed, the Legendary 'Pentagon Papers' Whistleblower Calls on the Media to Perform Their First Amendment Obligations, on Congressional Leaders to Perform Their Oversight Duty, and for Insider Sources to Come Forward to the American Public...

For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation. But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the U.S. Congress and the courts.

For the last two weeks -- one could say, for years -- the major American media have been guilty of ignoring entirely the allegations of the courageous and highly credible source Sibel Edmonds, quoted in the London Times on January 6, 2008 in a front-page story that was front-page news in much of the rest of the world but was not reported in a single American newspaper or network. It is up to readers to demand that this culpable silent treatment end.

Just as important, there must be pressure by the public on Congressional committee chairpersons, in particular Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Patrick Leahy. Both have been sitting for years on classified, sworn testimony by Edmonds -- as she revealed in the Times' new story on Sunday -- along with documentation, in their possession, confirming parts of her account. Pressure must be brought for them to hold public hearings to investigate her accusations of widespread criminal activities, over several administrations, that endanger national security. They should call for open testimony under oath by Edmonds -- as she has urged for five years -- and by other FBI officials she has named to them, as cited anonymously in the first Times' story.

And this is the time for those who have so far creditably leaked to the Times of London to come forward, accepting personal risks, to offer their testimony -- and new documents -- both to the Congress and to the American press. I would say to them: Don't do what I did and waste months of precious time trying to get Congressional committees to act as they should in the absence of journalistic pressure. Do your best to inform the American public directly, first, through the major American media.

But perhaps today the alternative media and the international press are a necessary precursor even to that. It shouldn't be true, but if it is, it's a measure of how far the New York Times and Washington Post have fallen from their responsibilities to the public, to their profession and to American democracy, since I gave them the Pentagon Papers in 1971. They printed them then. Would they today?

It's impossible to believe that they -- or Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal -- could not have acquired documents and testimony that Murdoch's London paper reports on today. Now the challenge to them is to end their silence on that reporting and do their job.

Otherwise, like the now-Democratic-controlled committees, they are complicit in cover-up. That's not what these institutions should be doing. It's not that "the cover-up is always worse than the crime": that favorite media mantra is itself a cover story. The criminal cover-up by the FBI revealed by Edmonds and the Times' documents is, as often the case, to conceal extremely serious crimes endangering our Wall security, and to protect the official perpetrators. But if "freedom of the press is mainly for the people who own presses," it is time for those owners to stop using that freedom to help conceal official wrongdoing. And the people who own computers should be using them to light a fire under the owners of presses and television networks.

In support of the official cover-up, various American journalists in the last weeks have reportedly received calls from "intelligence sources" hinting that "what Sibel Edmonds stumbled onto" is not a rogue operation by American officials and Congressmen working to their own advantage -- as believed by Edmonds and some other former or active FBI officials -- but a sensitive covert operation authorized at high levels. If there is any truth to that, we clearly have another prize candidate -- giving us, as blowback, the Pakistani Bomb and nuclear sales -- in the category of "worst covert operation in U.S. history," rivaling such contenders as the Bay of Pigs, Iran-Contra, and the secret CIA torture camps abroad.

In the first two of those, the American press gullibly responded to official warnings of "sensitivity" and sat on information they should have reported (as did the New York Times, for a year, on the illegal NSA surveillance program). If the Washington Post had heeded such warnings and demands with respect to the covert torture camps, they would have missed a well-earned Pulitzer Prize and the camps would still be torturing.

Many, if not most, covert operations deserve to be disclosed by a free press. They are often covert not only because they are illegal but because they are wildly ill-conceived and reckless. "Sensitive" and "covert" are often synonyms for "half-assed," "idiotic," and "dangerous to national security," as well as "criminal." All of these would apply to the pattern of activities revealed by Edmonds if it were truly presidentially authorized, as is being whispered. Such activities persist, covertly, to the point of national disaster because the press neglects what our First Amendment was precisely intended to protect and encourage it to do: expose wrongdoing by officials.

Originally published at The BRAD BLOG...

Daniel Ellsberg is a former American military analyst who sparked a national uproar in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of government decision-making during the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers.

A short video compilation (appx. 1.5 minutes) of a number of previous public comments made by Ellsberg, in support of Sibel Edmonds, has now been posted here by Edmonds expert Luke Ryland.

Comments

[MrMurder]

Mr. Ellsberg,
Thanks for your service and the stand you took in trying to end Viet Nam.

You constantly could see intelligence that showed we were not winning, or had policy that would not have seen a positive aim met in terms of political consequence.

My greatest example is Long Bien Bridge, south of Hanoi, which went untouched so the DMZ could be directly supplied. I'm of suspicion to think it was left intact for fear of ruining the body count, the narrative tool of that day for claiming victory until the news cast.

In my opinion the Al Qaaqa explosive depot matched that comparison. Something left unsecured so as to facilitate continuation instead of resolve.

Have you seen similar comparisons?

What of the surge numbers and the basis numbers for arguing this thing isn't going to be won politically when accompanied by war?

Finally, it appears the Sunni/Shiia item ignites along these same lines. Can you compare that to the Salvadoran Solution, since John Negroponte was such a key early leader for establishing ground policy?


My family has several members who fought in theater, and one who died outside of that, monitoring underseas traffic in Tonkin, which itself was a dangerous item and few people realize how close certain persons came to arguing or establishing justification for nuclear options as an exit strategy.

Something we'll perhaps soon see with Iran.

[gingershot]

Dennis Hastert, Marc Grossman, Doug Feith, Richard Perle, and other major figures of the Neocon pantheon are all implicated in the Turkish and Israeli connections to this fascinating story. Check out this link providing the necessary background and context for an overview of Edmond's jawdropping expose

http://www.video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1991080575212848283

[Justtellthetruth]

One of the People pictured without captions on Sibel Edmond's website is Larry Franklin. While He was still working for Douglas Feith, (who is also pictured there)He was stung by the FBI (assisted by the CIA as well as I understand it) for giving classified Intel on Iran to 2 top officials at AIPAC and the Israeli embassy, with the intent that they might use it to help foment war between Iran and the US.

Franklin was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for espionage against the US, and the 2 AIPAC officials are still awaiting trial, (their lawyers are endlessly pushing it off) and are also charged with espionage against the US.

Perhaps these two cases are somehow intermingled. It might even be the case that the FBI simply is waiting for trial of this case before they allow the rest of it to come out.

ANY THOUGHTS?

[mrJJ]

FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her secrets.

January 28, 2008 Issue

Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will. The former FBI translator turned whistleblower tells a chilling story of corruption at Washington"s highest levels"sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage. She may be a first-rate fabulist, but Edmonds"s account is full of dates, places, and names. And if she is to be believed, a treasonous plot to embed moles in American military and nuclear installations and pass sensitive intelligence to Israeli, Pakistani, and Turkish sources was facilitated by figures in the upper echelons of the State and Defense Departments. Her charges could be easily confirmed or dismissed if classified government documents were made available to investigators.

But Congress has refused to act, and the Justice Department has shrouded Edmonds"s case in the state-secrets privilege, a rarely used measure so sweeping that it precludes even a closed hearing attended only by officials with top-secret security clearances. According to the Department of Justice, such an investigation "could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the foreign policy and national security of the United States."

http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_01_28/article1.html

[EyeballKid]

Write to Leahy and Waxman. Pressure them, shame them into abandoning their joint efforts to ensure a cover-up. They MUST allow Edmonds to testify before "someone" gets to Edmonds and silences her forever.

At present, nothing could be better for those who are were involved in the treasonous selling of nuclear materials than to have Edmonds off the planet. Then people like Leahy and Waxman and the rest of Congress can simply let her alarms and previous testimony slip down the memory hole.

If there is anything that destroys our faith in "democratic" institutions, it's the complacency of a Congress when they refuse to exercise their Constitutional responsibilities. There can be no hope that our country can be restored when a Congress conspires to cover up crimes and treason.

[davidly]

Even if every American news outlet pasted "The Case of Sibel Edmonds" front and center, it wouldn't amount to anything unless it were accompanied with the same journalistic outrage seen at its absence of coverage. Anything short of this would just lend it the popular conspiracy label.

[buckbuck11]

Amy Goodman has been on the Sibel Edmunds story for years. The Bushies have gone all out with intimidation and bullying tactics to silence this story. I think politicians are right to be afraid of these people who will stop at nothing to silence their opponents. A long trail of ruined lives and a few dead bodies can give one pause before deciding to defy these thugs.

[RnR]

OK. I've read some of the information Sibel Edmonds has released.

My question to congress and the cadaver of the press is: if you do not disclose publicly the charges brought, the evidence, the players (and hold them absolutely accountable) why the hell should we believe that you were not complicit in 9/11? Because of your track record?

Fair question.

[drblack]

The media is about spreading fear and tricking the frightened into giving up Freedom and Personal power...they also make money doing this.

[GnitenGoodLk]

Wow

We knew we were being sold out by the Bush Admin, but had no idea had badly & how far this went. I guess big business & neo-cons will get what they worked for, destruction of our government, and possibly a WWIII stand-off.

If they can't have it all, no one will.

[physicaltherapist]

You are absolutely right, sir. Our Congress and the American media are a travesty. How disgusting that they do not investigate and report respectively what this nuclear exchange was all about. No government official can honestly be concerned about national security until they personally address this particular horrific story.

[Purple Girl]

I just scrolled down the comments- anyone notice we all get it and have. Yet for some reason these concerted thought are not reflected in the Primaries?
sounds like most of US have been paying attention- we can't be the only ones who can see clearly with our hindsight.
40 YEARS!!!
We've known this crap has been going on, 40 yrs we've been fighting it and refighting it. Makes me think we are not at all in disagreement- we are just told we are. And then we are conveniently pushed to the back page for a few more decades.
I think there is a larger segment of those not buying the latest models brought to US and marketed to US as our next Great Preidential Redeemer by the Corporate focus Groups.

Go Kucinich- the only marketing flop, by National treasure, giv 'em shit Dennis!!

[Purple Girl]

Something of real value on this post. Getting bored of the Slap & Tickle campaigns.
TAHNK YOU!
We are well aware- some of US have been conscious through this whole operation- tormented by the lack of Public Service of even our 'Free Press'
So let's start taking the beast appart piece by piece. Start with MSNBC for advertising a 'Democratic Debate' but not allowing all the Democratic candidates running- Sounds like false advertising. OUR AGENCY called the FCC regulates them and dispenses licenses- Demand suspension of their licenses. No doubt there are numerous examples of the media outlest attempt to sway public opinion- esp in election years- rigging , tampering, undue influence???
If they are found to have information regarding crimes against the state- US (not the branches who still work for US) and never published it- should be held on compicity for the charges which will be levied against the perpa TRAITORS
Make them Accountable and they will be more Responsible- their livelihood and freedom will depend on it.

[NightOwlCafe]

Thank you Mr. Ellsberg for trying to draw attention to the story of Sibel Edmonds. Wasn't there a gag order or something similar that prevented her from giving interviews following her testimony to Congress? I am not surprised that this story has not been covered at all. Our Government is corrupt and works with/for corporations which is the category our worthlesss media falls into.

[Justtellthetruth]

The New York Times is too busy trying to start a war with Iran by running stories about the non story regarding the small boats, which, if anything, Might indeed endanger the US navy's fishing, but certainly not their personal safety.

With non journalist Neocon hacks like Kristol, Friedman, and Millers writing (and lying propagandist) partner still contributing there, it's clear that they have given up on the truth altogether. Rather, they simply shill for the Neocons, as they now try to sell their agenda to the Democrats, and Hillary, Lieberman, and many others are have already bought it Hook Line and Sinker.

Thanks for working to break this story. It's of the HIGHEST level of importance to the US public, although since almost no one in the US knows that Larry Franklin (who worked for Feith in the OSP and who is apparently up to his neck in this Mess as well), was tried and convicted for espionage against the US and sentenced to 12 years in another equally scandal that NEVER gets written about, it seems like an uphill battle, but certainly one worthy of fighting.