The Heroin Lobby, Part 2

In the Sibel Edmonds case, the American Turkish Council (ATC) was identified as an organization that was under investigation by the FBI for its links as a front for Turkish organized crime. While working as a translator at the FBI, Edmonds encountered material implicating the ATC, and other organizations, in bribing US officials, including members of Congress from both houses and from both parties. The organized crime activities include the trafficking of nuclear secrets and of heroin.

In a post from the The BRAD BLOG we learn the following:

In the article, just filed tonight, Edmonds reveals details overheard on wiretaps she translated during her time at the FBI, just after 9/11. Her disclosures to the Times reveal a maze of nuclear black market espionage involving U.S. Defense and State Department officials, that resulted in the sale and propagation of nuclear secrets to Turkish and Israeli interests. In turn, that information was then sold to Pakistan and used by A.Q. Kahn for development of nuclear weapons. The secrets were subsequently proliferated to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and potentially al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, just weeks prior to September 11th, 2001.

Sibel Edmonds caught, in late 2001 and early 2002, a glimpse of how Turkish organized crime had its tentacles into the highest levels of American government, not just in Congress, but in the Executive Branch, as well -- including having key people in the FBI derail and obstruct investigations in Turkish organized crime activities.

Last fall, Sibel Edmonds offered to defy the US government gags that are on her, preventing her from talking under something called the State Secrets Privilege, supposedly to protect national security. In another post at the The BRAD BLOG, her story was described thus (see the original for extensive links):

She has met with, and told her story to, U.S. senators including Republican Charles Grassley and Democrat Patrick Leahy, both of the Senate Judiciary Committee, both who found her extremely credible. 60 Minutes producers may remember when Grassley told them, "Absolutely, she's credible...And the reason I feel she's very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story."

In fact, the FBI itself has done so. Their Inspector General found her allegations, as described in the unclassified version of his report, to be "credible," "serious," and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI."

As far back as 2002, Grassley and Leahy co-wrote letters on Edmonds' behalf to Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and DoJ Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, calling on all of them to take action in respect to the allegations she's made.

"Certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the United States and its interests and its national security," she said during an August 2005 interview on Democracy Now. That comment followed 60 Minutes' revelation years before alleging that Edmonds had information revealing that a "Turkish intelligence officer" she worked with at the FBI "had spies working for him inside the US State Department and at the Pentagon."

She's briefed many legislative offices --- as well as the 9/11 Commission --- in regard to her claims, and now, she says, she's even prepared to tell the media "the names of every single Congressional office who has received the names of the witnesses" to the crimes she's detailed.

When we spoke last week, Edmonds seemed to reserve most of her frustration for Congressman Henry Waxman's office. Waxman is the Democratic Chairman of the U.S. House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

After briefing members of his security-cleared staff "inside the SCIF" --- a high-security room in the U.S. Capitol, specially created for discussion of highly sensitive information --- Edmonds says she was told on several occasions, prior to the 2006 Election, that her case would be one of the first heard in his committee, once he became Chairman.

"I even gave names of former and current FBI agents who were willing to go to Waxman's office and give more information on all of this," she said.

"Before the elections, I had a promise from Congressman Waxman's office." She claims they told her, before the election, "the only reason they couldn't hold hearings, was because the Republicans were blocking it."

"They said 'your case will be one of the first ones we will hold investigations on,'" she told us. Now, however, since the Democrats have become the majority in the House, Waxman's office is "going mum." They won't even respond to her calls.

The congressman's office did not respond to several requests for comment on this story.

As I explained in a post entitled The Turkish Lobby, Obstruction of Justice and Henry Waxman, a big part of the reason Congressman Henry Waxman hasn't acted is because Waxman is himself implicated in receipt of bribes. In particular, Congressman Waxman, who had been fully briefed on the Sibel Edmonds case prior to the 2006 general elections, joined the Congressional Caucus of a new organization which was set up in 2007, called the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), and which was established with the help of one G. Lincoln McCurdy. Here is part of Mr. McCurdy's biography from a page entitled Organizing in Politics:

He served as the senior advisor to the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New York in 2005 and 2006. McCurdy was the president and chief executive officer, 1998 - 2004, and executive director, 1989 – 1998, of the American-Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington, the leading business association in the United States devoted to the promotion of U.S.-Turkish commercial, defense and cultural relations. He received ATC’s Distinguished Career Award in 2005. Before joining ATC, Mr. McCurdy served in the American Consulate General in Istanbul as the Consul for Commercial Affairs, 1980 – 1984.

With those credentials, it is fair to assume that Mr. McCurdy was in deep with the Turkish organized crime figures who used the ATC as a front; consequently, it is reasonable to assume that the TCA is a front for Turkish organized crime, as well, especially since Congressman Waxman has both joined the TCA's Congressional Caucus and refused to hold the promised hearings into the Sibel Edmonds case.

In a Democracy Now article from August 10, 2005, entitled Did Speaker Hastert Accept Turkish Bribes to Deny Armenian Genocide and Approve Weapons Sales?, Sibel Edmonds stated:

SIBEL EDMONDS: As I said, Amy, I have been giving all the details to the appropriate channels. And they have been confirmed. And what I have said all along is the fact that as far as the 9/11 is concerned, September 11 is concerned, these departments—and when I say “these departments,” the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense—have intentionally blocked the investigations of real—the real criminals in this country. And we are talking about countries involved. The Vanity Fair article points out to Turkey—countries. And it’s very interesting. To this date, we are not hearing anything about targeting, you know, certain Central Asian countries. They are not speaking about the link between the narcotics and al Qaeda. Yes, we are hearing about them coming down on some charities as the real funds behind al Qaeda, but most of al Qaeda’s funding is not through these charity organizations. It’s through narcotics. And have you heard anything to this date, anything about these issues which we have had information since 1997? And as I would again emphasize, we are talking about countries. And they are blocking this information, and also the fact that certain officials in this country are engaged in treason against the United States and its interests and its national security, be it the Department of State or certain elected officials.

Well, in addition to emphasizing that it deals not just with Turkey, but with other countries as well, and with Al Qaeda and with heroin trafficking, Sibel Edmonds also pointed out that it deals with certain elected officials in this country who are involved in treason.

(Continued in Part 3)