Edmonds barred from DC hearing, will lead protest instead, Join her !

[G_j]

Breaking:

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/comments.php?id=2018_0_1_0_C

Join Sibel Edmonds' Protest Tomorrow
Sibel Edmonds to lead protest over government secrecy tomorrow morning

Tomorrow was to be the oral hearing on Sibel’s lawsuit fighting the State Secrets Privilege imposed over her case. The court has made the extraordinary decision to close the hearing to the public and to Sibel as well. Please come help show our outrage about the excessive secrecy imposed on her case! Sibel is organizing an impromptu protest in front of the courthouse.

Where: E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, Court of Appeals Courtroom, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., 5th Floor, Washington D.C.

When: Thursday, April 21, 9:00 a.m.-noon

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting serious security breaches and misconduct. Edmonds challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a lawsuit in federal court, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege," and retroactively classified briefings to Congress related to her case.

The government has argued that every aspect of Edmonds' case involves state secrets -- including where she was born and what languages she speaks -- and therefore cannot go forward. Edmonds is appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reinstate her case. Several 9/11 family member advocacy groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief in her support. Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU National Office, will argue on behalf of Edmonds. Oral arguments will be heard on April 21.

Beth Daley
Director of Communication
Project On Government Oversight
666 11th Street, NW, #500, Washington, DC 20010
Phone [phone] Fax [phone]


-----------

previous announcement:

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=45804

In Advance of Court Battle Over State Secrets, Experts Discuss the Government's Growing Use of Secrecy to Avoid Accountability

4/13/2005 4:11:00 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: Tracy Zimmerman or Crystal Streuber, 202-518-8047; [e-mail] or Paul Silva of ACLU, 212-549-2689 or 2666; [e-mail]

News Advisory:

-- In Advance of Court Battle Over State Secrets, Experts Discuss the Government's Growing Use of Secrecy to Avoid Accountability

-- D.C. Circuit to Hear Case of National Security Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds on April 21

As a preview to the appellate argument in Sibel Edmonds' case, secrecy and legal experts will hold a press briefing on Wednesday, April 20th to address the far-reaching impact of Edmonds' case and the disturbing trend of excessive government secrecy aimed at avoiding accountability.

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting serious security breaches and misconduct. Edmonds challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a lawsuit in federal court, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege," and retroactively classified briefings to Congress related to her case.

The government has argued that every aspect of Edmonds' case involves state secrets -- including where she was born and what languages she speaks -- and therefore cannot go forward. Edmonds is appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reinstate her case. Several 9/11 family member advocacy groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief in her support. Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU National Office, will argue on behalf of Edmonds. Oral arguments will be heard on April 21.

Wednesday, April 20 -- Briefing with Lawyers and Experts on Secrecy and Government Accountability

-- Steven Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists

-- Barbara Olshansky, Center for Constitutional Rights, Counsel to Maher Arar

-- Sibel Edmonds, National Security Whistleblower

-- Ann Beeson, Edmonds' attorney, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU National Office

-- Danielle Bryan, Executive Director, Project on Government Oversight

When: 10 a.m.

Where: Washington Court Hotel, Hermitage Room, 525 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.

RSVP: Tracy Zimmerman or Crystal Streuber, 202-518-8047; [e-mail]

---

Thursday, April 21 -- D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal Hearing

When: 9:30 a.m.

Where: E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, Court of Appeals Courtroom, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., 5th Floor

Immediately Following Hearing - Comments on Courthouse Steps

-- Ann Beeson, Edmonds' attorney, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU National Office

-- Sibel Edmonds, National Security Whistleblower

-- 9/11 Family Members

-- National Security Whistleblowers

Where: Courthouse Steps, E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, Court of Appeals Courtroom, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., 5th Floor

http://www.usnewswire.com /

-0-

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

[paineinthearse]

1. I would go if I were within 250 miles.

My thoughts will be with her.

[G_j]

3. so would I ..sigh.. :-(

[BamaBecky]

18. so would I........I fully support her!!!!....Have you seen these articles?

two very good articles...that I have found about her.....

Former FBI Translator Sibel Edmonds Calls Current 9/11 Investigation Inadequate
12/17/04

and

Sibel Edmonds: Still Silenced, But Why?
05/07/04

Both came from the Baltimore Chronicle
by Jim Hogue

[leftchick]

2. I would be there in a heartbeat if I could...

Another true American patriot that gets no notice! :banghead:

[G_j]

4. not even here n/t

[leftchick]

16. indeed...

:(

[annabanana]

5. This poor woman is getting so reamed...

besides trying to make a racket, what can we do?

[0007]

7. America is getting reamed also.

If I had the money I'd go in a heart beat.

[loudsue]

6. The United Soviet States of Amerika

This is a travesty. Americans should be rioting in the streets.

:kick:

[G_j]

8. she keeps running into walls

but then her case could expose lies behind 9/11, so I guess it is easy to see why.

Fortunately she doesn't appear to be the type to roll over and give up.

[loudsue]

10. This woman is AMAZING.....she's got the goods on all of 'em, and they know

it....the damned mafia that is running the world, and killing people's loved ones.

O8) May Sibel Edmonds quickly succeed in exposing the entire thing to the whole world! O8)

:kick::kick::kick:

[G_j]

11. some of us suspect Sibel may hold the key

that will unravel the neo-con criminal schemes.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. Interesting

I remember reading a prediction that a blond woman would be the one to bring down the Bush administration. Is this woman blond? :shrug:

[leftchick]

15. nope

she is brunette and the woman featured n G j's sig line.

[MelissaB]

9. Recommended to spread the word!

[understandinglife]

12. MNA, May 2 2005 -- the first in a series, be certain of that.....

www.missionnotaccomplished.us (a day to reflect on all the lies that we know, and all the lies being told to hide the lies that we haven't yet exposed -- the Bu$h theocratic neocon legacy: ALL LIES, ALL THE TIME)

[leftchick]

13. If Sibel does not get support from folks like us

just who the hell does she have? :shrug:

I have recommended as well!

[G_j]

17. how true

I wonder how many folks on DU even know who she is.
I may get around to doing a poll on this.

[leftchick]

26. I wonder if Keith Olberman would have her on?

I think that would be fantastic! :)

[seemslikeadream]

19. Folks back up and pay attention to what Sibel D. Edmonds made public

...

I keep reminding folks to back up and pay attention to what FBI Translator Sibel D. Edmonds made public and that Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft slapped a gag order on her immediately. She found—and pay close attention this time if you did not last time or this is the first time you have heard this—she found "drug trafficking, money laundering, foreign names and AMERICAN NAMES involved in the financing of 9-11."

Sibel Edmonds is not fluent in Arabic. She is fluent in Farsi (Iran), Turkish (her mother) and Azeri (her Azerbaijani father). What she found was not in Arabic notwithstanding the Bush and Ashcroft insistence that her "Arabic translations" regarding Osama bin Laden, attack on the U.S., and jet airplanes, which for the record are not even germane to the translations that Sibel Edmonds did find. What Sibel Edmonds found was not from "counter-terrorism" but rather from ongoing FBI investigations into drug trafficking and money laundering by certain foreign and American persons.

Then from another source we learned that there was a transaction due to close on 9-11 or 9-12-2001 involving payment of $120 billion. That payment it seems was problematic because the payment would have been prima facie evidence of a criminal fraud in progress relating to Brady Bonds and bogus gold instruments of which there are reportedly now over $10 trillion of such instruments floating around the world markets.

The documents for that closing were reportedly housed in WTC I, and, gosh, that company took a jet airplane right in the face. Consider that, and consider that no one is that lucky.

My sources inform that Cantor Fitzgerald was the underwriter / bond trustee on the $120 billion payment that was due. It may have been another firm, but my sources say Cantor Fitzgerald, WTC 1, 101-105 floors. Also, INTER AMERICAN INVESTMENT CORPORATION is the vehicle that has been used to float the bogus gold contracts and that entity is both a Reagan administration creation and still closely tied to George H.W. Bush. It was also noted that Global Crossing Holdings Ltd., that well known telecom fraud that fleeced global investors of billions, was on the 83rd Floor of WTC 1, but that and the fact that former CEO of Global Crossing Lodwrick Cook being on the board of the GHWB Presidential Library is a separate story.

more

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/011405Schwarz/011405schwarz.html

[G_j]

20. I agree, take a moment to read this and you will

understand why her case is so important.

[seemslikeadream]

21. Take a visit via the Net to the world of associations.

the reality is that it and other affiliated associations are the US government.

...

It is in and through such associations that US political, economic and military policy is made and the American public subsequently "educated" to support policies that are not, and could not, be debated in public because of their illegality, audacity, complexity and, arguably, necessity.

...

America Gives Birth to New EuroAsia

Now, before you yell, "Conspiracy," you might want to think Necessity and Stability, particularly in light of the opening to Central Asia, the Caucasus and the new Europe provided by 9-11. Pull up Net maps of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Europe. Once you've done that, consider what political, economic and military activities (defined as US national interests) the United States has underway in those regions. It is no less than the development of a US-dominated New EuroAsia that includes the "Stans," Ukraine, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech, Croatia, and Poland. Crazy? Hardly, it is a brilliant gamble. There are many compelling reasons to create a New EuroAsia with the US with a controlling interest.

...

ACPC was founded in 1999 and is chaired by former National Security Advisor Zibigniew Brezinski, former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr., and former Congressman Stephen J. Solarz. ACPC, according to its website, is composed of more than one hundred distinguished Americans representing both major political parties and nearly every walk of life.

And who are those 100 Americans? Well, to name a few, there's Geraldine Ferraro, former Democratic candidate for vice president; Frank Gaffney, CEO of the Center for Security Policy whose board members include Doug Feith, Gordon Sullivan, CEO of the Army Association of the USA, and Bob Livingston of the Livingston Group; Elliot Abrams and Mike Leeden. And who would have guessed that Richard Gere and PJ O'Rourke would be members of the ACPC?

And the story gets routine and boring as it moves on. The honorary chair of the American Georgia Business Council (AGBC) is James Baker III. Its members include ExxonMobil, Northrop Grumman and Ernst &Young. President of the AGBC is S. Enders Wimbush, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Booz Allen Hamilton employee. A trustee of note on the Hudson Institute is Al Haig. The same connections, whether through individuals or organizations, can be found for Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Six Degrees of Zibigniew Brezinski

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/021805Stanton/021805stanton.html


There is so much information in this article


Whistlerblower Coming in Cold From The FBI

...

the article mentions a woman named Melek Can Dickerson, a Turkish woman married to a major in the U.S. Air Force. The woman told Edmonds that she couldn't believe America was monitoring people who were their chief "persons of interest" because Dickerson and her husband had done favors for them...shopping...

"Ms. Edmonds has told the Judiciary Committee that soon after, Ms. Dickerson tried to establish social ties with her, suggesting they meet in Alexandria and introduce their husbands to each other.

When Sibel invited the visitors in for tea, she said, Major Dickerson began asking Matthew Edmonds if the couple had many friends from Turkey here in the U.S. Mr. Edmonds said he didn't speak Turkish, so they didn't associate with many Turkish people. The Air Force officer then began talking up a Turkish organization in Washington that he described, according to the Edmondses, as "a great place to make connections and it could be very profitable."

Sibel was sickened. This organization was the very one she and Jan Dickerson were monitoring in a 9/11 investigation. Since Sibel had adhered to the rule that an F.B.I. employee does not discuss bureau matters with one's mate, her husband innocently continued the conversation. Ms. Dickerson and her husband offered to introduce the Edmondses to people connected to the Turkish embassy in Washington who belonged to this organization. ..."My husband keeps thinking he's talking about promoting business deals," Ms. Edmonds later said of the encounter. "He has no idea the man is talking about criminal activities with some semi-legitimate front."

These are classic "pitch activities" to get somebody to spy for you, according to a Judiciary Committee staffer who investigated Ms. Edmonds' claims. ...The targets of that F.B.I. investigation left the country abruptly in 2002. Later, Ms. Edmonds discovered that Ms. Dickerson had managed to get hold of translations meant for Ms. Edmonds, forge her signature, and render the communications useless."

more
http://www.gailsheehy.com/9_11/9_11_art1_21.html


:hi:

[G_j]

22. Whistlerblower Coming in Cold From The FBI

a must read!

wanna get to the bottom of the 9/11 coup? follow this story and
support Edmonds in any way you can!

[G_j]

23. ACLU Files Emergency Motion to Open Hearing

(along with the Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and Several Media Outlets...wow)


http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18080&c=206

ACLU Files Emergency Motion to Open Hearing in Case of FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds

April 20, 2005




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [e-mail]

The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and Several Media Outlets Also File Motion

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of the National Capital Area today filed an emergency motion to open the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to the public during oral arguments tomorrow in a hearing over the termination of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds. Several media outlets filed a separate emergency motion.

The move comes in response to an announcement from the court clerk this morning that the argument would be closed to everyone except attorneys involved in the case and Edmonds. Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU National Office, will argue on behalf of Edmonds tomorrow.

"There is no plausible reason why members of the public and the press cannot be present at this hearing, especially since the written arguments of the parties are entirely on the public record," said Art Spitzer, Legal Director of the ACLU of the National Capital Area. "The rule of law does not evaporate because an appeal involves national security information."

In its motion, the ACLU noted that appellate arguments are historically open to the public as a matter of law, and that federal circuits have rejected efforts to close them, even in cases involving national security. When the United States asked the Supreme Court to close part of the oral argument in the Pentagon Papers case -- a case that involved classified information of the greatest sensitivity-that motion was denied. Likewise, in an appeal in the ongoing prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, an alleged conspirator in the September 11th terrorist plot, the court rejected the government’s move to close the entire hearing.

The ACLU said that the court’s decision does not appear to be based on state secrets because individuals allowed in the courtroom, including Edmonds’ lead attorney, do not have security clearance in this case to be present during discussions involving classified information. The ACLU also said that, in this case, the government has not even moved for a closed oral argument.

The Washington Post, The New York Times, Daily News, CNN, Reuters America, Bloomberg News, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and several other media organizations also filed an emergency motion appealing the court’s decision. They noted that, "the public has a strong interest in observing this oral argument, as it involves numerous issues of high public importance."

Edmonds, a Middle Eastern language specialist who was hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting serious security breaches and misconduct. Edmonds challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a lawsuit in federal court, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege," and retroactively classified briefings to Congress related to her case.

The government has argued that every aspect of Edmonds’ case involves state secrets -- including where she was born and what languages she speaks. Edmonds is appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reinstate her case. Several 9/11 family member advocacy groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of her appeal.

For a copy of the motion filed today, go to: http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18078&c=206.

[annabanana]

24. Proud to be a "card carrying member"

I hope ALL DUers are.

[G_j]

25. kick for DC residents

[G_j]

27. this protest starts in 1/2 hr

why do I think we will hear NOTHING about it?

Did anyone hear a thing about this hearing in the MSM?

[DrDebug]

30. According to google a couple of newspapers have reported it

But it's the usual bunch like Lone Star Iconoclast, Baltimore Sun, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Miami Herald. Only the Washington Post and the Guardian (UK)

[G_j]

32. you found a few more than I did

(see post below) thanks for the heads up!

[SheepyMcSheepster]

28. kick!

[G_j]

29. Reporters Committee objects to closure of D.C. Circuit hearing

http://www.rcfp.org/news/releases/20050420-reportersc.html

PRESS RELEASE: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Contact: Lucy Dalglish, [phone]

Reporters Committee objects to closure of D.C. Circuit whistleblower appeal
April 20, 2005
------

The Reporters Committee today expressed outrage at the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to conduct a hearing in a whistleblower's appeal in complete secrecy.

FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, fired for reporting espionage and inefficiencies within the agency's translation department to her superiors, filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit after she was fired, but the Justice Department argued that her case must be thrown out because everything about it implicated national security. A federal trial court agreed and dismissed the case. She has appealed, and her hearing is scheduled for 9:30am tomorrow, April 21, in Washington.

"It's inconceivable that the entire hearing would need to be closed when all of the briefs were publicly filed," according to Reporters Committee executive director Lucy Dalglish.

ACLU attorneys representing Edmonds learned today that tomorrow's hearing would be closed, and filed a petition asking the court to reconsider. The Washington Post led a quickly assembled coalition of media organizations, including the Reporters Committee, The New York Times, and The Associated Press, in supporting the openness request through a friend-of-the-court brief. The court did not act on the request today.

[G_j]

31. news search

aside from the ACLU press release, the story comes up only three times today, two in the US.
--------------------

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4952875,00.html

Appeals Court Closes Arguments in FBI Case

Thursday April 21, 2005 8:31 AM


By PETE YOST

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court is barring the public from arguments in the case of a fired FBI contractor whose lawsuit was thrown out of a lower court when the Bush administration invoked the state secrets privilege.

Sibel Edmonds's allegations of security breaches and alleged misconduct at the FBI have been aired on Capitol Hill and in a 35-page report by the Justice Department's inspector general.

Nonetheless, on the eve of a session before a three-judge panel, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit notified her lawyers that the case would be heard in secret Thursday.

Briefs in the case were publicly filed.

..more..

--------------------



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6220-2005Apr20.html

Whistle-Blower Argument Closed
Court Gives No Reason for Move in Case of Fired FBI Translator

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 21, 2005; Page A06

A federal court in Washington yesterday took the rare step of closing an entire oral argument to the public in the case of a former FBI translator who says she was fired for complaining about security breaches.

..more..

--------------------------------

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=FBI%20Contractor%20Lawsuit

Thursday, April 21, 2005 · Last updated 5:52 a.m. PT

Appeals court closes arguments in FBI case

By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

[G_j]

33. appeals court turns aside efforts to open closed-door arguments

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4954181,00.html

Court Closes FBI Case Arguments to Public

Thursday April 21, 2005 8:16 PM

By PETE YOST

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court turned aside efforts to open closed-door arguments Thursday in the case of a fired FBI contractor who alleged there were security breaches and misconduct at the bureau.

Sibel Edmonds is seeking to revive her lawsuit against the government. It was thrown out of U.S. District Court when the Bush administration invoked the state secrets privilege, which allows the government to withhold information to safeguard national security
<snip>

The court's unusual decision to close arguments prompted a challenge by Edmonds' American Civil Liberties Union attorneys. That challenge was supported by media organizations including The Associated Press. Two private groups, the Project on Government Oversight and Public Citizen, also joined the effort.

Outside the courthouse, ACLU attorney Ann Beeson said only the last 10 minutes of the arguments involved classified information, which the government presented to the judges after Edmonds' attorneys were ordered out of the courtroom.

..more..