Sibel Edmonds: Sorry, No Room on the MSM

By W. David Jenkins III

“Justice will come when it is deserved by our being and feeling strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I’ve been away from my computer for a time as I’ve quit smoking and the computer was one of my “triggers.” But when I received a heads up last week from Sibel Edmonds and Blogger Supreme “Lukery” that something was coming down the pike regarding Sibel’s case, I knew it was time to make a big pile of Dum Dums™ on the desk, suck it up and get back to work. It turns out that the news is some pretty big stuff – you can tell as the MSM has gone out of their way to ignore it. Well, at least as of this writing.

A week after Seymour Hersh let anyone who’s willing to pay attention know that the Bush Gang is doing its own version of Iran/Contra with certain Sunni militant groups without Congressional approval or oversight, along comes this release from NSWBC (Edmonds’ organization) that exposes a new twist to the NSA wire-tapping Olympics.

Back in April of ’02, a month after Edmonds was fired from the FBI, Special Agent Gilbert Graham filed a classified protected disclosure to the Department of Justice and the Office of the Inspector General which detailed numerous FISA violations with regards to Bush’s domestic spying activities. The NSWBC announcement also included statements of another
former veteran FBI Counterintelligence and Espionage Specialist who had filed a similar report. Both agents submitted detailed complaints which included, amongst other violations, examples and references to the electronic surveillance of high-profile U.S. public officials.

Graham’s disclosure became available on the Internet, blogs were created to help the story gain momentum and a grassroots effort to call attention to this latest development affecting the Edmonds case to the new leadership in DeeCeeVille fired up.

Twenty four hours later, the next news cycle began and any hopes of getting even the slightest attention from the MSM seemed to be dashed.

The continuing Walter Reed debacle, the senate hearings with four fired U.S. Attorneys and the guilty verdict of “Scooter” Libby dominated the airwaves less than 24 hours after the largely ignored NSWBC announcement. Granted, these are all incredibly important developments and are instrumental in the ongoing exposure of the sordid underbelly of this administration but, why does there always seem to be a news blackout when it comes to the Edmonds case or anything related to her struggle? Is the MSM afraid to address this story or, even worse, do they just not get it?

Maybe there’s just not enough time to include the story with all this other stuff going on. Let’s flip through the channels and see what else was so important on that big news day, shall we?

Okay, we got a distressed dad who flies a plane into his mother-in-law’s house with his daughter on board and a guy who killed and cut up his wife on MSNBC. CNN is talking about Obama-mania and Victoria Toensing is telling Wolf that the Libby jury was misinformed and Fitz is “warped.” Meanwhile, Fox is happy that the stock market rallied despite the Libby verdict.

Gee whiz by golly, I guess there really isn’t any room on the airwaves for letting the American people know that Sibel Edmonds has proof that the NSA was breaking all the rules and that the Justice Department went above and beyond to cover it up! Besides, are we really sure Anna Nichole is still dead? Somebody get me Larry King on the phone, pronto!

Okay, so I get a bit cynical lately. Maybe it’s because I get frustrated that one of the most important players on this post-9/11 stage seems to have been regulated to little more than someone who already had their fifteen minutes (or 60 Minutes) of fame – a sort of political version of an American Idol runner up. “Sorry, Darlin’, but we got a commercial comin’ up and there just isn’t time. But good luck to ya.”

Hell of a way to treat somebody who’s trying to call attention to the fact that the Dept. of Justice is breaking the law, don’t you think?

The country finds itself in a position where our worst nightmares are coming true. The powers granted under the Patriot Act are being abused as we’d always feared they’d be and the administration has been exposed dangerously misusing classified information for political advantage. And while the NSA and FBI have been busy illegally invading the privacy of the citizenry and high ranking government officials, they abuse the “state secrets” privilege to insure against any prying eyes into their unlawful behavior.

Edmonds’ case isn’t just another piece in the puzzle as much as it could very well be the first domino in a long succession just begging to be knocked over. What she knows and wants so much to tell has a lot of people scared to the point where they’ve even made her driver’s license a “state secret.” What Sibel knows either answers or ties into many questions we all have about domestic spying, illegal arms and drug trafficking, 9/11 and activities much like we learned about during the Libby trial; What Sibel calls “business as usual.”

Next Friday, Valerie Wilson will sit before Congress and give her side of her story. Sibel Edmonds’ chance to sit at the same table to do the very same thing is long overdue. We can scream at and email members of the Main Stream Media until we’re all blue in the face or fingers to give this story the exposure it deserves but chances are none will take notice until Sibel gets an audience with members of Congress like Henry Waxman and John Conyers. In other words, we need to get her a gig on CSPAN before she’ll get any notice from CNN or CBS.

Look, the Democrats have been a little slow at behaving like a majority and it’s been more than just a little frustrating to watch. But some of them seem to be waking up and the last thing the Congress needs is any loss of momentum. The past few weeks have been a good start with hearings on Walter Reed and the obvious politicization of the DOJ in the case of the firings of the eight U.S. Attorneys. And as I stated earlier, Ms. Wilson will be speaking to Mr. Waxman next Friday as the Congressman feels the information that came out of the Libby trial warrants a closer look into the activities of the Bush administration.

In fact, Congressman Waxman would seem to be on a roll and we can all do our part to keep him and others like him moving in the right direction. Although the House Government Reform Committee has assured Sibel that they will hold hearings, we all know that those on The Hill are more prone to act when they know there is a great deal of support. Sibel has submitted a 15,000 signature petition, complete with the support of 30 organizations like the ACLU and the People for the American Way, but your help is needed.

Lukery has started a new web site with contact information for select members of Congress as well as an archive of information to help educate those not familiar with Sibel Edmonds’ case. If you’ve never called your representative, now is the best time to begin a new habit and light a fire under the feet of these law makers.

Mike Mejia has a great piece out about this and pegged the perfect reason for taking action. He stated that Sibel Edmonds is the Daniel Ellsberg for our time and those of us old enough to remember those days know what a powerful blow to the lies and injustice this country has faced for the last six years Sibel Edmonds’ testimony could be. If you’re not familiar with Ellsberg, Google the name…..and then go raise some hell with your representative.

Seriously. I’m not kidding.

Do it now.

sibel needs all of us to speak up

perhaps, CBS, to honor Ed Bradley, might think about doing the second half of his interview with her

naaaaahh

how silly