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

[joebaggadonuts]

Sir Ellsberg,

I honestly thought that when the Pentagon papers were released in the NYT that we had a system of checks and balances which worked, and that with the Pardon of Nixon, we had put this all behind us. What a fool I and perhaps millions like me have been all these years.

Nixon should have been impeached and the truth told to the American public, who would then have perhaps become true citizens rather than couch potatoes and slaves of the extraordinarily wealthy. But no, we let it slide into the dustbin of history.

Now we have a Congress and a Press which fail to do their duty, and a Supreme Court which enables a unitary Executive's every wish. Truly we have lost our way, and our birthrights to democracy.

I am so sorry.

Perhaps you have some suggestion as to how to dismantle this ever more binding yolk of tyranny?

To our shame the foreign press organs now perform the task our national press should do, but who in the US reads it? The Congress is probably threatened with renewed anthrax attacks which is the only reason I can imagine for them NOT engaging in impeachment hearings. As for the US Press, they are engaged in a final turf battle for the last remnants of the great middle which will still sit and watch or read their distorted entertainment/news programs/articles. They don't have the stomach to do something useful for the American citizens, let alone the intelligence to see that it is in their interest.

God help us.

[Novista]

Thank you, sir, fine article!

Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty -- who would know that better than you.

[nihilon x]

I just wanted to comment here and say good article -- these are the kinds of issues that need to be front page news daily.

Its always been like this, and maybe it will stay this way for a long time to come, but in the meantime, keep fighting the good fight.

[Smokr]

Quote: "We need more covert operations, not less! If we would do more covert operations maybe we would have killed Bin Laden before 9/11, or maybe we would have killed Saddam and Arafat and others and maybe, just maybe we would have better control of the out of control Middle East.

But no, to liberals, America is bad and so everything we do is bad and everything is America's fault."

Better control of the Middle East? Since when is The United States of America supposed to CONTROL anywhere? And it IS our leaders' faults. We shouldn't be 'in control' of anywhere but our own country. We are not the world police!
Our founding fathers pleaded that those who come after them avoid 'entangling alliances' and 'remain open to all'.
BUT NOOO! We have to support tiny countries with billions in support when they have their own incomes greater than ours!

[CyberCitizen]

Katharine Graham would spin in her grave, seeing the behavior of the U.S. mainstream media. They have become ostriches, greedy corporatist-owned ones at that.

[baghdadjoe]

I called the entire Colorado delegation to point this incredible story out to them.

Interestingly, most of them had not even HEARD about it. Can you imagine?

CALL YOUR CONGRESSCRITTER, PLEASE. We have to try to get them to respond!

[freespeach]

Great to see you on Huffpost Mr. Ellsberg!
Thank you for your service to our nation all those years ago.....and for your efforts now.

And thanks to the huffy editors for keeping the Edmonds story in the mix with several writers this week.

Pressure on all media outlets and on our elected officials is a great idea.
CNN is like a fortress of bullshit, but the comments section for the Cafferty file is like a secret back door.....sometimes the truth can squeak through.

As for the Democrats in Congress lead by Waxman and Leahy.....more Bush enabling lies bordering on treason.

Just like the impeachment issue, the Congressional Democrats ignore the voice of the people and it's business as usual.

It sure would be great to see Hillary and Obama field some questions on the Edmonds issue out on the campaign trail.

Thanks again Mr. Ellsberg, I look forward to reading more from you at huffpost.

[BushSunkOurShip]

Americans no longer have the guts to fight for their democracy , country ,freedom , rights and have given it up without lifting a finger.....
Americans should take a good look at the Iraqi citizens that are fighting against the most powerful army on earth which has invaded it's country and is now an occupying force.
We sit at a computer and talk about it for 7 years and what has it done for us??
We now have no constitution, freedom, rights , jobs, social programs , military and our economy has been flushed down the tube.
But, the wealthy , oil companies , global corporations and foreign nations thank you from the bottom of their pocket book.....

[biwee]

I am not surprised at all. Since the Kennedy assassination (speak up LBJ, I can not hear you), the truth about many things does not appear......like the murder of Foster, and the weird disconnects on 11 Sept (how would such a big plane make such a small hole in the Pentagon). Right, Rumsfeld??

[Dredd]

The utter cowardice of the MSM to carry this story is a blockbuster of a story in its own right.

But lets not forget the sales of nuclear secrets to terrorists in what seems to be a self fulfilling prophecy to make 24 (TV series) come true and catapult the propaganda and the war mongers into more power.

[desmirl]

Why isn't anyone surprised? We know our government is corrupt. You helped show us how bad it was almost 40 years ago--and it hasn't gotten any better since. But thanks anyway for blowing the whistle on still another national embarassment and showing us, yet again, that the emperor and all who surround him are nekkid as jaybirds.

[BenBochner]

Somebody needs to boil this story down so we can understand what we're supposed to be outraged about. I just finished reading Ellsberg's piece and I'm still not sure what Edmonds is talking about.

I'm certainly prepared to be outraged at what the criminals who are running our government are doing. Just tell me what it is in a concise way.

[Peabodies]

Thank you, Mr. Ellsberg, for your lifelong service for truth and justice, and thank you, Huffington Post for publishing this story, which has shamefully been ignored by the MSM for years. I look forward to reading Sibel Edmonds' revelations in the New York Times and the Washington Post, any day now, right???

[hopeless277]

Seeing that the United States of America is now a criminal enterprise, it is hardly surprising that the crimes would be covered up. We, the people are hostages. Forced to pay taxes that pay for an illegal occupation of a foreign country. Forced to pay taxes that pay for WMD to be used on a civilian population in that country. Forced to pay taxes that support TORTURE! The rule of law has dissappeared from this country. Replaced by a facist dictatorship that controls both political parties and all major corporations. Watch for the nuclear mushroom cloud over Tehran. That's when you'll truly understand what this country has become.

[zizyphus]

Thank you for bringing this topic up- I was wondering what had happened to Sibel. I hope this keeps the spotlight on her, so that she doesn't wind up suicided or a mysterious car wreck or plane crash, like so many other whistleblowers. Check out her website:http://www.justacitizen.com/