sibel tidbits

i'm going to have a light posting day today - my little brother is visiting till tomorrow.

Let me quickly point to a couple of things that readers have sent in (and keep em coming. thnx)

Firstly, new commentor and fellow-sibelologist, Mike made the following point:

"One issue you haven’t touched upon is, are the people in the American Turkish Council and AIPAC to whom Feith, Perle and Grossman are presumably passing U.S. classified info (including nuclear secrets) Turkish and Israeli intelligence operatives, or are they independent operators.

Sibel has often said that what she ran across as a translator was not old fashioned, state on state espionage, but something more nefarious. She seems to imply that organizations like American Turkish Council are intermediaries in the espionage game. In other words, secrets hypothetically are passed from the Pentagon to the ATC, for which cold cash would be paid. In turn the ATC hypothetically passes the secret on to the Turkish government.

But Edmonds has claimed classified information is being sold to “the highest bidder”. She told Scott Horton in the January, 05 interview that “they [semi-legit organizations] don't care who that 'highest bidder' is. It may be some fanatic, from certain countries we consider evil, or it may be some other country we consider Communist. It doesn't matter. If the highest bidder is coming up with the money, they provide it.” (This type of intelligence-gathering for sale on the black market is not unprecedented. This is one of the activities engaged in by BCCI)

So what it appears the whistleblower is saying is that these secrets are not necessarily going to Turkey and Israel. Which means one of two things:

- State and DoD officials are passing on secrets to ATC and AIPAC, knowing full well they could end up in the hands of American enemies like al-Qaeda.

-State and DoD officials assume the secrets they pass to “semi-legit” organizations are being sent to friendly countries like Israel and Turkey, but the intermediaries are untrustworthy wheeler dealers who are turning around and selling to whomever offers the most cash.

As much as I dislike Feith and Perle, I have to think the second scenario is more likely. Sibel has accused DOD and State officials of treason, but by treason she specifically told Horton it meant passing on secrets to “quasi-allies”."

all good points - although people like Feith and Perle can not be exonerated even IF they believe that their espionage and treason are for some greater good. similarly, even IF their motives are somehow noble, their processes are so lax that the result is the same - the secrets and the contraband ends up in the hands of bad people.

Mike also points to this pdf which (apparently - i havent read it) suggests that Douglas Dickerson is in Japan. Mike adds "If IT IS our guy, it would show that he has been moved from weapons procurement to logistics, presumably where he can do less damage."

Separately, Mike says:

"In one of your previous posts you said that it was unlikely the CIA and FBI were working together, but I found an interesting tidbit published by National Journal in 2000:

"Barely three weeks after the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of American embassies ...Attorney General Janet Reno received a classified briefing by senior officials in the FBI's International Counterterrorism Operations Center...

Reno was insistent that the CIA be fully apprised of the FBI's findings, according to sources present at the classified briefing on the 5th floor of the FBI's headquarters...You have to make sure, Reno repeated, that the CIA knows about this. ...What Reno didn't realize was that her No. 2 official for counterterrorism was in fact a CIA agent, and that over in Langley, Va., the CIA's No. 2 official for counterterrorism was an FBI agent. The two rival outfits had already swallowed their pride, ingested the message of agency cooperation that had been tossed at them for years by Congress, and allowed previously hostile agents into their midst."

It seems quite possible FBI and CIA were cooperating on the nuclear black market through Turkey. And the interesting point is that Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative, should not have been conducting espionage on U.S. soil. Or at least that is what I think the rule is..."

hmmm - more good points. does anyone know the answer to whether Plame can spy on domestic turf? does that come under FISA? does anyone know if the CIA and FBI can work together?

The reason this is important (as i mentioned in the post refered to above) is that both the CIA and the FBI were spying on Grossman, Perle and Feith - were these separate investigations? government corruption and WMD proliferation?

"As i mentioned above, sibel "used some odd phrasiology" when describing that she was 'aware' of BJ when she was at the FBI. How did she become aware of BJ? a) were the cia and fbi working together (ie. did Sibel learn this info 'on background')? or 2) did she overhear people in the ATC et al discussing BJ ?

if it's the latter, which appears most likely, then she presumably overheard some people inside the ATC cabal discussing the fact that BJ was spying on Feith, Perle and Grossman (although the Plame frenzy in the OVP didnt take place for at least another 12 months). This probably means that Feith, Perle and Grossman were also aware that they were being spied on by BJ, which means that someone told them. i wonder who that was?"

thickening plots.

also, i got an email from someone who writes BlogBox at DemocraticUnderground which is a weekly wrap of the blogosphere (apparently - i've never heard of it) - the new edition will include a comment on my Sibel story - you can see it here. I never hang out at DU, but they get squillions of traffic, so hopefully more people will see the story and start connecting the dots.

again - thanks to everyone writing in. keep em coming.