G
Gandalf Grey
Guest
"We Can't Afford to Let Them Spill the Beans" - Sibel Edmonds on Marc
Grossman
By Gary Leupp
Created Jan 28 2008 - 8:41am
I am not one to easily embrace conspiracy theories, and in particular have
found the idea that 9-11 was somehow an inside job too incredible for
serious consideration. On the other hand, there are some very fishy aspects
to some officials' behavior pertaining to the attacks. Justin Raimondo has
made a very good case for the fact that Mossad agents posing as "Israeli art
students" were tracking al-Qaeda operatives [1] in the U.S. before 9/11.
Over 120 Israelis were detained after 9/11, some failing polygraph tests
when asked about their involvement in intelligence gathering. But they were
not held or charged with any illegal activity but rather deported. As former
FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has revealed, there was a
curious failure of the government before 9/11 to act upon intelligence
pertaining to an al-Qaeda attack. Most importantly Edmonds, defying the gag
order that former Attorney General Ashcroft imposed on her in 2002, is
implicating Marc Grossman, formerly the number three man in the State
Department, in efforts to provide US nuclear secrets to Pakistan and Israel.
She suggests this was done through Turkish and Pakistani contacts, including
the former head of Pakistan's ISI who funneled funds to Mohamed Atta! Now
there's a conspiracy for you.
Edmonds claims that during her time at the FBI (September 20, 2001 to March
22, 2002) she discovered that intelligence material had been deliberately
allowed to accumulate without translation; that inept translators were
retained and promoted; and that evidence for traffic in nuclear materials
was ignored. More shockingly, she charges that Grossman arranged for Turkish
and Israeli Ph.D. students to acquire security clearances to Los Alamos and
other nuclear facilities; and that nuclear secrets they acquired were
transmitted to Pakistan and to Abdul Qadeer Khan [2], the "father of the
Islamic bomb," who in turn was selling nuclear technology to Libya and other
nations.
She links Grossman to the former Pakistani military intelligence chief
Mahmoud Ahmad, a patron of the Taliban, who reportedly arranged for a
payment of $100,000 to 9/11 ringleader Atta via Pakistani terrorist Saeed
Sheikh before the attacks. She suggests that he warned Pakistani and Turkish
contacts against dealings with the Brewster Jennings Corp., the CIA front
company that Valerie Plame was involved in as part of an effort to
infiltrate a nuclear smuggling ring. All very heady stuff, published this
month in The Times of London (and largely ignored by the U.S. media).
She does not identify Grossman by name in the Times article, but she has in
the past [3], and former CIA officer Philip Giraldi does so in an extremely
interesting article [4] in the American Conservative. From that and many
other sources, I come up with the timeline that appears below.
But first, some background on Grossman. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara and
the London School of Economics, he was a career Foreign Service officer from
1976 when he began to serve at the US embassy in Pakistan. He continued in
that post to 1983, when he became the Deputy Director of the Private Office
of Lord Carrington, the Secretary General of NATO. From 1989 to 1992 he was
Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Turkey, and from 1994 to 1997,
US Ambassador to Turkey. As ambassador he strongly supported massive arms
deals between the US and Ankara.
Thereafter he was Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs,
responsible for over 4,000 State Department employees posted in 50 sites
abroad with a program budget of $1.2 billion to 2000. In 1999 he played a
leading role in orchestrating NATO's 50th anniversary Summit in Washington,
and helped direct US participation in NATO's military campaign in Kosovo
that same year. As Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from the
beginning of George W. Bush's administration to January 2005, he played a
bit role in the Plame Affair, informing "Scooter" Libby of Plame's CIA
affiliation.
Grossman is close to the American Turkish Council (ATC) founded in 1994 as a
sister organization to the American Israel Political Action Committee
(AIPAC). Its founders include neoconservatives involved in the Israel-Turkey
relationship, including Richard Perle and Douglas Feith, as well as Henry
Kissinger, Brent Snowcroft and former congressman Stephen Solarz. (Perle and
Feith had earlier been registered lobbyists for Turkey through Feith's
company, International Advisors Inc. Perle was at one point making $600,000
per year from such activity). Edmonds says this is "an association in name
and in charter only; the reality is that it and other affiliated
associations are the US government, lobbyists, foreign agents, and Military
Industrial Complex [5]." (M. Christine Vick of Grossman's Cohen Group serves
on the Board of Advisors.) Grossman is also close to the American Turkish
Association (ATA), and regularly speaks at its events.
Both ATA and ATC have been targets of FBI investigations because of their
suspected ties with drug smuggling, but Edmonds claims she heard wiretaps
connecting ATC with other illegal activities, some related to 9/11. The CIA
has investigated it in connection with the smuggling of nuclear secrets and
material. Valerie Plame and the CIA front group Brewster Jennings were
monitoring it when Bush administration officials leaked her identity in July
2003. Edmonds, Giraldi, and researchers Christopher Deliso and Luke Ryland
accuse him of suspiciously enriching himself while in government service.
Nevertheless he was awarded the Foreign Service's highest rank when
President Bush appointed him to the rank of Career Ambassador in 2004, and
received Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award the following
year.
A dual Israeli-American national, Grossman has promoted the neocon agenda of
forcing "regime change" in the Middle East. "[T]he time has come now," he
declared on the eve of the Iraq invasion, "to make a stand against this kind
of connection between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. And we
think Iraq is a place to make that stand first . . . the great threat today
is the nexus between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism." But he has
not been as conspicuous a war advocate as Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Libby,
Bolton, and some others. (Perle and Feith, one should note, were also deeply
involved in lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey as well as Israel in the
late 1980s and early 1990s. Edelman was ambassador to Turkey 2003-05 where,
chagrined by the Turkish failure to enthusiastically support the US
occupation of Iraq, he deeply offended his hosts.) Grossman seems less an
ideologue driven to make the world safer for Israel than a corrupt, amoral,
self-aggrandizing opportunist. Anyway, here is an incomplete chronology of
his alleged wrongdoing, along with other relevant details.
2001
As newly appointed Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Grossman
assists Turkish, Israeli and other moles - mainly Ph.D. students -
godfathering visa and arranging for security clearances to work in sensitive
research facilities, including the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New
Mexico. FBI taps his phone 2001-2, finds he is receiving bribes (one for
$15,000). Edmonds states: "I heard at least three transactions like this
over a period of 2
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
Grossman
By Gary Leupp
Created Jan 28 2008 - 8:41am
I am not one to easily embrace conspiracy theories, and in particular have
found the idea that 9-11 was somehow an inside job too incredible for
serious consideration. On the other hand, there are some very fishy aspects
to some officials' behavior pertaining to the attacks. Justin Raimondo has
made a very good case for the fact that Mossad agents posing as "Israeli art
students" were tracking al-Qaeda operatives [1] in the U.S. before 9/11.
Over 120 Israelis were detained after 9/11, some failing polygraph tests
when asked about their involvement in intelligence gathering. But they were
not held or charged with any illegal activity but rather deported. As former
FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has revealed, there was a
curious failure of the government before 9/11 to act upon intelligence
pertaining to an al-Qaeda attack. Most importantly Edmonds, defying the gag
order that former Attorney General Ashcroft imposed on her in 2002, is
implicating Marc Grossman, formerly the number three man in the State
Department, in efforts to provide US nuclear secrets to Pakistan and Israel.
She suggests this was done through Turkish and Pakistani contacts, including
the former head of Pakistan's ISI who funneled funds to Mohamed Atta! Now
there's a conspiracy for you.
Edmonds claims that during her time at the FBI (September 20, 2001 to March
22, 2002) she discovered that intelligence material had been deliberately
allowed to accumulate without translation; that inept translators were
retained and promoted; and that evidence for traffic in nuclear materials
was ignored. More shockingly, she charges that Grossman arranged for Turkish
and Israeli Ph.D. students to acquire security clearances to Los Alamos and
other nuclear facilities; and that nuclear secrets they acquired were
transmitted to Pakistan and to Abdul Qadeer Khan [2], the "father of the
Islamic bomb," who in turn was selling nuclear technology to Libya and other
nations.
She links Grossman to the former Pakistani military intelligence chief
Mahmoud Ahmad, a patron of the Taliban, who reportedly arranged for a
payment of $100,000 to 9/11 ringleader Atta via Pakistani terrorist Saeed
Sheikh before the attacks. She suggests that he warned Pakistani and Turkish
contacts against dealings with the Brewster Jennings Corp., the CIA front
company that Valerie Plame was involved in as part of an effort to
infiltrate a nuclear smuggling ring. All very heady stuff, published this
month in The Times of London (and largely ignored by the U.S. media).
She does not identify Grossman by name in the Times article, but she has in
the past [3], and former CIA officer Philip Giraldi does so in an extremely
interesting article [4] in the American Conservative. From that and many
other sources, I come up with the timeline that appears below.
But first, some background on Grossman. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara and
the London School of Economics, he was a career Foreign Service officer from
1976 when he began to serve at the US embassy in Pakistan. He continued in
that post to 1983, when he became the Deputy Director of the Private Office
of Lord Carrington, the Secretary General of NATO. From 1989 to 1992 he was
Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Turkey, and from 1994 to 1997,
US Ambassador to Turkey. As ambassador he strongly supported massive arms
deals between the US and Ankara.
Thereafter he was Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs,
responsible for over 4,000 State Department employees posted in 50 sites
abroad with a program budget of $1.2 billion to 2000. In 1999 he played a
leading role in orchestrating NATO's 50th anniversary Summit in Washington,
and helped direct US participation in NATO's military campaign in Kosovo
that same year. As Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from the
beginning of George W. Bush's administration to January 2005, he played a
bit role in the Plame Affair, informing "Scooter" Libby of Plame's CIA
affiliation.
Grossman is close to the American Turkish Council (ATC) founded in 1994 as a
sister organization to the American Israel Political Action Committee
(AIPAC). Its founders include neoconservatives involved in the Israel-Turkey
relationship, including Richard Perle and Douglas Feith, as well as Henry
Kissinger, Brent Snowcroft and former congressman Stephen Solarz. (Perle and
Feith had earlier been registered lobbyists for Turkey through Feith's
company, International Advisors Inc. Perle was at one point making $600,000
per year from such activity). Edmonds says this is "an association in name
and in charter only; the reality is that it and other affiliated
associations are the US government, lobbyists, foreign agents, and Military
Industrial Complex [5]." (M. Christine Vick of Grossman's Cohen Group serves
on the Board of Advisors.) Grossman is also close to the American Turkish
Association (ATA), and regularly speaks at its events.
Both ATA and ATC have been targets of FBI investigations because of their
suspected ties with drug smuggling, but Edmonds claims she heard wiretaps
connecting ATC with other illegal activities, some related to 9/11. The CIA
has investigated it in connection with the smuggling of nuclear secrets and
material. Valerie Plame and the CIA front group Brewster Jennings were
monitoring it when Bush administration officials leaked her identity in July
2003. Edmonds, Giraldi, and researchers Christopher Deliso and Luke Ryland
accuse him of suspiciously enriching himself while in government service.
Nevertheless he was awarded the Foreign Service's highest rank when
President Bush appointed him to the rank of Career Ambassador in 2004, and
received Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award the following
year.
A dual Israeli-American national, Grossman has promoted the neocon agenda of
forcing "regime change" in the Middle East. "[T]he time has come now," he
declared on the eve of the Iraq invasion, "to make a stand against this kind
of connection between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. And we
think Iraq is a place to make that stand first . . . the great threat today
is the nexus between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism." But he has
not been as conspicuous a war advocate as Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Libby,
Bolton, and some others. (Perle and Feith, one should note, were also deeply
involved in lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey as well as Israel in the
late 1980s and early 1990s. Edelman was ambassador to Turkey 2003-05 where,
chagrined by the Turkish failure to enthusiastically support the US
occupation of Iraq, he deeply offended his hosts.) Grossman seems less an
ideologue driven to make the world safer for Israel than a corrupt, amoral,
self-aggrandizing opportunist. Anyway, here is an incomplete chronology of
his alleged wrongdoing, along with other relevant details.
2001
As newly appointed Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Grossman
assists Turkish, Israeli and other moles - mainly Ph.D. students -
godfathering visa and arranging for security clearances to work in sensitive
research facilities, including the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New
Mexico. FBI taps his phone 2001-2, finds he is receiving bribes (one for
$15,000). Edmonds states: "I heard at least three transactions like this
over a period of 2
_______
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson