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This Week on the Right
The Sibel Edmonds Saga—Pitting Elite Interests against the Rule of Law
By Christian Nicholson
If people know of Sibel Edmonds at all, they know her as an FBI whistleblower. Since mid-2002, her face has graced newspapers across America; she's testified before numerous Senators and had her deposition subpoenaed by family members of 9/11 victims; as late as August 2005, Vanity Fair devoted 11 pages to her. Yet almost no one can tell you what she has to say. Like a star in a silent movie, Edmonds has been cast as the heroine in a legal drama whose details are obscure.
That's because Sibel Edmonds is the most gagged person in the history of the United States, at least according to her ACLU lawyers. If gag orders were nickels, she'd be rich. Since her dismissal from the FBI in March 2002, Edmonds has borne the burden of state censorship with relative aplomb, working constantly within the law to make her story heard. After she gave a brief spate of interviews, John Ashcroft invoked the “state secrets” privilege, silencing her before the press and denying Edmonds her day in court. Apparently, her lawsuit involves secrets so secret that not even Edmonds' lawyers are allowed to know the reasons why her case cannot be tried. Aside from an independent investigator, the Supreme Court is her only remaining option, and the Court will decide whether or not to hear her case in mid-October. [Read entire article]
Featured Profiles
The Great Game Redux
Is the American-Turkish Council, the “bilateral” business group at the center of the Sibel Edmonds case, a major player in U.S. efforts to keep a tight grip on that strategic arc of the globe extending from the Levant to Central Asia?
Right Web Profile: American-Turkish Council
Securing Whose Realm?
For a peek at how Turkey fits into neoconservative visions of a future Middle East, check out “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” a 1996 publication of the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies drafted by Richard Perle and friends.
Right Web Profile: Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies
Letters
(Editor's Note: We encourage feedback and comments, which can be sent for publication through our feedback page, at: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/form_feedback.html . We reserve the right to edit comments for clarity and brevity. Be sure to include your full name. Thank you.)
Re: Immigration Advocates Face Challenges
Dear Mr. Barry,
I just finished reading “Immigration Advocates Face Challenges.” I find it amusing that you cannot bring yourself to use the proper word in this article; that word, sir, is illegal.
As a conservative I have not spoken to anyone who is against immigration per se, however, I and many conservatives favor the elimination of illegal immigration. I feel you have posited a dishonest argument by your refusal to phrase the argument with the proper terminology. I, along with most conservatives recognize the important role legal immigration has played in making the United States a truly unique country and would hate to see that curtailed.
And yes, I think we can remove the illegal aliens freeing jobs for Americans of all colors and stripes. I find it extraordinary that you would go to bat for those who have broken laws to come here over those who have done it in the proper and legal way. If this isn't unethical, I don't know what that word means.
Anyway, I hope you will consider this the next time you write on this subject. Thank you for your time.
Truly,
Brian Jacobsen
