Sibel Edmonds: Governments lie outrageously behind closed doors

[lukery]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been posting some highlights from a recent speech by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds.

Today I'm going to riff off the San Diego Union Tribune's reporting on the Duke Cunningham / Thomas Kontogiannis case. The SDUT reported:

"The court hearing will be closed to everyone – the public, the news media, the defense attorneys – save for the judges and a few lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The extreme secrecy is highly unusual. Veteran lawyers could not remember another time when the appeals court held a completely closed hearing."

Well, IANAVL, but I do know that the same thing happened in Sibel's case. In fact, it was even worse in Sibel's case because there was no forewarning at all. Minutes before Sibel's team of ACLU's lawyers presented their case, the public and the media were kicked out of the court, and immediately after Sibel's lawyers presented her case, they were ejected too.

If you have been following my posts these last couple of weeks you will notice some overlap in this youtube video - but today I wanted to focus on the fact that Sibel and her lawyers were literally thrown out of court in the midst of her own court case.

For some background, in the intro/setup, Sibel says:

"I had taken the oath to protect my new country, against all enemies, and this was my chance to serve my country. I assumed the enemy was foreign...

Within a few months, I came across some serious issues. Wrongdoing. Some of those would be considered criminal, within the FBI. Some of those involved security breaches, 911 related cover-ups, and sabotaged intelligence operations. In one case, due to the pressure of the State Dept and Pentagon, the FBI was prevented from criminally investigating certain US officials who were engaged in actions against our national security, having loyalties to other governments."

Here's the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2WeiHK4Os

In this snippet of the video, Sibel also describes how her Date of Birth is classified under States Secrets Privilege, as is her country of birth. The fact that she was fired from the FBI is consider a State Secret. All in the name of protecting us from Teh Terrorists.

In the video, Sibel also describes how her ACLU attorney described in court that Sibel's case has been confirmed by the FBI, and by the Depart of Justice, confirmed by witnesses and documents.

Regarding getting kicked out of court, Sibel says

"We don't know what (the govt) told the judges... As far as we know they could give the most outrageous lies. There was no-one there to challenge them, so they could (lie) and we assume they did!"

Given all that, how much faith do you have in the behind-closed-doors-hearings in the Kontogiannis hearing from yesterday? (For those of you who aren't familiar with the case, see emptywheel, Laura Rozen, Mark Levey, Josh Marshall.)

For some perspective, the SDUT reported:
"It's almost Orwellian double-speak,” said Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “They say, 'We need secrecy, but the reason we need secrecy is also secret, so we can't tell you.' "

Yeah, it's almost Orwellian double-speak.

The fact that they kicked everyone out of the court isn't the only similarity with Sibel's case - as emptywheel noted:

"Now, the problem here, for District Court Larry Burns is that the government didn't say the contents of those hearings were classified until recently. Which is why we're at the Appeals Court in the first place."

As I noted last week:

"In a recent speech, Sibel again emphasized that the reason that she has been gagged is not for reasons of national security, but rather to cover-up criminality, treason, by high level US officials.

As evidence for this claim, Sibel explained that for the three months prior to Ashcroft blanket-gagging her case, the FBI was conducting unclassified briefings for Congress on the case.

In other words, from the beginning, neither Congress, nor the FBI, even considered that this information might be classified, let alone a 'national security' issue."

Kossack jennyjem in a comment to a recent diary of mine summed it up well:

"Let me get this straight

The FBI isn't denying the wrong doing, but they aren't doing anything about it. Congress agrees laws were violated, but they can't talk about it. The courts won't hear the case in the name of 'national security,' although it is evident that the cover-up has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with covering-up criminal activity. Am I really understanding this?

Where is justice? Where are the checks and balances for this outlaw administration? Who upholds the law in America? I would laugh if I didn't feel like vomiting.

You can bet your boots Henry's getting a call from me. This is a national disgrace."

That's about right. If you agree, Let Sibel Edmonds Speak
Call Embarrass Waxman. Demand public open hearings:
DC phone: [phone]
LA phone: [phone]
Capitol switchboard phone: [phone]

(let me know if you want to be added to my email list for new Sibel-related post. Subject: 'Sibel email list.' (If you think you should already be on the list but haven't heard from me, please try again. googlemail ate some of my homework))

[beberocks]

1. Getting a little tired of S. Edmonds' saying "I've got a secret"

Enough is enough. She should leak whatever she knows and just
get out of the country. I know that's probably not an
appealing option to her, but Bush co. is just waiting to help
her have a fatal accident sometime in the future, IMO. She's
already proven to be a liability to them, it is just a matter
of time with that bunch. 

[lukery]

2. oh, that's cute

here's what she has said:
"and people really should be paying attention to this, and looking into it, and this is why Luke Ryland has been doing this incredible job in terms of piecing these elements together, and packaging it, because this information is public! It doesn’t matter if I’m gagged on some issues, there's so much out there and so much that can easily be pieced together that our mainstream media has failed us"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/2/02757/22710

try this
http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-heck-is-sibel-edmonds-case-about.html

and this
http://wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/2007/05/who-wants-to-gag-sibel-edmonds-and-why.html

[lukery]

3. orange version

see here
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/7/62233/36339