DISCLOSING WAR CRIMES IN NORTH KURDISTAN

"The truth is plain to see. Banning the truth does not eradicate it."
~ Nadire Mater, in a statement at her trial for writing Mehmedin Kitabı.

Last week Taraf published a report about a book written by a former TSK non-commissioned officer, in which he names names and lists dates and crimes committed by Turkish special operations personnel in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan during the 1990s.

These kinds of confessions are not new, not even the part about throwing Kurds out of helicopters. In 1998 Nadire Mater published her book Mehmedin Kitabı: Güneydoğu'da Savaşmış Askerler Anlatıyor, in which she collected interviews with former soldiers who had served in The Southeast. The book has been available in English for several years--and is highly recommended . . . trust me. Mater's book created quite a stir when it was first released in Turkey.

While I said that the information in the Taraf article is not new; what is new, and what was not included in Mater's book, are the names, dates, and places for the war crimes witnessed by the author and documented in Being a Soldier While a Sergeant, by Kasım Çakan.

One thing that Mater and Çakan have in common is prosecution by the Ankara regime for publishing the truth. Mater faced charges in an Istanbul court for a violation of Article 159 of the old Turkish penal code (insulting military forces of the state through publishing). Mater was eventually acquitted of the charge.

Now, however, Çakan and his publisher have been charged and are undergoing a trial in Istanbul. Charges were brought by the chief prosecutor of Istanbul when Çakan's publisher used the book to bring charges against the special operations commandos and police named as war criminals in the book.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? You bring information about crimes to the prosecutor and he turns around and charges you with a "crime"? So much for democracy.

From Taraf:

Terrifying confession of a sergeant


"They threw a PKK member from a helicopter . . . A police special operations member raped the dead body of a female PKK member . . ." Former sergeant Çakan wrote this, including the name, date, and place, in his book; however, he was the one prosecuted.

Former Sergeant Kasım Çakan assembled information in his book on murders he witnessed which were committed by unknown perpetrators while he was on duty in The Southeast. Demanding that Çakan's book be accepted as an informant's document, Çakan's publisher, Mehdi Tanrıkulu, made a criminal complaint against the soldiers and police named in the document.

Being a Soldier Wile a Sergeant

Kasım Çakan, who used to work in the East and Southeast as a sergeant, compiled information about incidents that happened to him just after he was discharged from the army, in a book called Being a Soldier While a Sergeant. While Cakan wanted the incidents mentioned in his book to be considered as an informant documentation, Istanbul's chief prosecutor charged Çakan and his publisher with the charge of "making terror propaganda" [Article 7/2 of the new and improved Anti-Terror Law]. The trial of Çakan and Tevn Publications owner, Mehdi Tanrıkulu, is still ongoing.

A criminal complaint

Publisher Mehdi Tanrıkulu made a complaint to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office based on the writing in the book. Tanrıkulu did so with the rationale that starting an investigation about such incidents would reveal several murders by unknown perpetrators. In his complaint, he mentioned the following claims from Çakan's book:

They threw from a helicopter

"I started my duty in July 1992, in Kars-Kağızman in the 7th Mechanized Brigade, 1st Mechanized Battalion, 1st Mechanized Company. On 4 April 1993, around noon, there was a clash between PKK militants and the soldiers in the battalion between the two Ağrı Mountains. A militant named Doğan, who was originally from Malatya and left İnönü University in his second year, was captured while he was wounded. He was taken by military officials to Erzurum by helicopter. However, I learned from both civilian and military sources that Doğan was thrown from the helicopter and died, since he didn't 'confess'."

Raping a corpse

"We were on duty in the 7th Mechanized Brigade, 1st Mechanized Battalion. On 27 May 1994, around 0920 hours, there was an ambush by PKK against military patrols. Eight troops and one sergeant died. One female and one male PKK members were dead and their corpses were left in the valley. The next day, special forces units went to the area where the clash occured; after them, there were our forces. When we arrived there, the special forces police were beside the two corpses. The male's body was torn apart from bullets that targeted his body; the female was shot in the head. While my team went beside those [special forces police], there was this police, Ramazan, from Adana. Our company commander, Captain Mehmet Özpolat asked him, 'What are you doing?' Police Ramazan yelled, 'Don't come, I'm dealing with the dead terrorist.' The captain said, 'How come? Don't be silly. Can it be done to someone who's dead?' And again, he [the captain] continued, 'It can't be. You guys are crazy. There can't be such craziness.' I lost myself. I cursed at Ramazan. Ramazan pulled his gun and attacked the captain. Right at that moment, I removed the safety on my rifle and shot at the sky twice."

The death of Private Huseyin

"I started my duty in Demirköy with the 3rd Border Battalion on 18 September 1989. Tuncay Baydur was the company commander in this unit. While playing soccer, Baydur beat one of the company's soldiers called Huseyin, from Doğubeyazıt. On the same night, Huseyin ran away and three days later his body was found. I arrived at my new duty station, Şırnak, in April 1993. On 7 July 1993, around 1000 hours, the Kayseri Commando Unit returned to its base. There were four handcuffed villagers with them. They had been kept in the shelters at their [the commando unit's] base until morning. On 8 July 1993, they took those four villagers along with them and went on duty. On 9 July, when they returned, one of those young villagers was absent. The other three villagers were being dragged and beaten by a commando sergeant, two soldiers, and a second lieutenant. I asked one of those youngsters where the other [fourth villager] was. He replied, 'They [referring to the soldiers] constantly asked him to tell where the terrorists were, and he said 'I don't know'. Commando Captain Mustafa said, [ordering the other soldiers] 'Remove his handcuffs to let him escape.' Since he didn't escape, they shot him with twenty bullets. They shot the son in front of his father.' The next morning, they took the remaining three villagers and they never brought them back."

Mehdi Tanrıkulu, in his criminal complaint, wanted the soldiers and the police named in the book to be judged for the following crimes: killing more than one qualified manslaughter, omittance of duty, torture, desecration of a corpse, and forming an illegal armed gang within the army. Tanrıkulu pointed out that with the investigation, several other incidents would be revealed.

For more on the crimes of Turkish security forces, particularly JITEM, in The Southeast, see Wednesday's post.

There have been other revelations in recent years from retired Turkish military about the terror they committed against the population of The Southeast. Retired TSK general Altay Tokat admitted in an interview that he had "a few bombs" thrown at civil servants in order to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation in The Southeast. In short, they weren't afraid enough and Tokat was not above committing terrorism himself.

Then retired TSK colonel Erdal Sarızeybek wrote a book in which he described the terrorism he inflicted on the population of Şemdinli.

Now, tell me, who are the real terrorists?

ÊDÎ BESE FOR FRIDAY NIGHT

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Êdî Bese for a Friday night:

And when you've had enough, dağlara gel dağlara:

TURKEY AND THE BOMB

"I'm not supporting Turkey's nuclear energy program anymore because I'm not clear about what the real intention is. Let's put it that way."
~ Mustafa Kibaroğlu, Bilkent University.

First of all, there's an interview with Luke Ryland by Scott Horton at this page or listen directly here. Run time 47 minutes. The interview covers the latest information relating the AQ Khan nuclear network with Sibel Edmonds' case, including Turkish, Israeli, and neocon roles in the network, and the bullshit American media's cover-up job.

Refer also to Luke's article from Tuesday.

To prepare you for a listen of the interview, here's Luke's latest:

************

A front page article "In Nuclear Net’s Undoing, a Web of Shadowy Deals" in Monday's New York Times by William Sanger and David Broad details the destruction of evidence by the US government in a case involving the nuclear black market.

The article highlights again that the New York Times continues to engage in 'Judy Miller reporting' by warmongering and acting as a mouthpiece for the government.

This is the second article in a multi-part series. This article will focus on the countries involved, and how and why the NY Times continues to act as a government mouthpiece by focusing attention on, and warmongering toward, Iran, and minimizing the role of so-called allies such as Turkey and Dubai. (The first piece of the series focused on the players in the AQ Khan / BSA Tahir nuclear smuggling ring.)

The Sanger/Broad article is obviously designed to drum up support for a war against Iran. Without evidence or support, they write that Iran is "presumably racing for the capability to build a bomb." They say this despite the fact that the US Intelligence Community's 2007 National Intelligence Estimate states that "Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen."

The Sanger/Broad article quotes government-friendly sources stating that there were two 'successful' 'sting' operations against the Iranian nuclear program, without noting that at least one of the so-called stings in 2006 was against the nuclear power program, not a weapons program.

The entire premise of the destruction of evidence in the prosecution case against the Tinner family, key suppliers to the AQ Khan network, in Switzerland is that the Tinners were supplying "electronic blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon on computers."

These blueprints were destroyed, we were told, so that they wouldn't get into "the hands of a terrorist organization or an unauthorized state." It isn't until the final page of a four-page article that Broad and Sanger inform us that the IAEA has "no evidence that Iran had acquired the bomb plans." (please see Broad and Sanger's previous article on this and note how they were played for a fiddle by their government sources. No correction has been made to the article.)

Ignoring Other Countries

By focusing on Iran, and cherry-picked elements of the Tinner case, the New York Times journalists, acting as government mouthpieces, chose to ignore the other countries involved in the network, countries who are not members of the Axis of Evil.

The article notes that the list of customers "may extend further" than Iran, North Korea and Libya, but does not question why these other customers have not been made public. Could it be that these countries are allies of the United States?

We know that:

"The wider nuclear network has been monitored for many years by a joint Anglo-American intelligence effort. But rather than shut it down, investigations by law enforcement bodies such as the FBI and Britain’s Revenue & Customs have been aborted to preserve diplomatic relations."

In the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, we know that the same excuse - "sensitive diplomatic relations" - was used to gag her and all the details behind her case. Which diplomatic relations are we referring to here? In 2005, Sibel noted that these 'diplomatic relations' are "not named since obviously our officials are ashamed of admitting to these relations."

How is it possible that these relationships outweigh the very serious implications of the spread of nuclear weapons?

Turkey

Turkey's role in the nuclear black market has been well documented, though poorly reported in the US. Turkey acted (and may continue to act) as both a manufacturing base for nuclear hardware, as well as a trans-shipment point for goods on their way to the end-customers such as Libya and Pakistan.

In 2000, Bill Clinton signed an order to allow Turkey access to US nuclear technology, but this order was blocked because, according to President Bush, certain Turkish entities were actively engaged in "certain activities directly relating to nuclear proliferation."

Note the timing here. Turkey was known to have been involved in the nuclear black market at least three years prior to the 'official' outing of the AQ Khan ring when a ship containing nuclear hardware, from Turkey and elsewhere, was intercepted on its way to Libya.

President Bush recently re-signed Clinton's order allowing Turkey access to US nuclear technology, although there is no evidence that Turkey has rectified any of these problems.

Turkish Procurement

According to IAEA investigators, the nuclear hardware supplied by Turkey to the AQ Khan ring - including 7000 centrifuge motors - "could be used in manufacturing enough enriched uranium to produce 7 nuclear weapons a year."

In fact, the entire deal to supply Libya with a nuclear weapons program began in Turkey with a meeting in 1997 involving AQ Khan, his Chief Operating Officer BSA Tahir, and Libyan representatives.

The known Turkish suppliers to the network, Selim Alguadis and Gunes Cire, were not indicted for their criminal participation in the ring, and their companies, EKA and ETI Elektroteknik, continue to operate freely today.

Further, Turkish businessman Zeki Bilmen and his US based company Giza Technologies, was caught supplying nuclear hardware to Pakistan's military program in 2003 via South African-based Israeli Asher Karni.

Bilmen was also overheard on wiretaps translated by Sibel Edmonds prior to 2002 organizing nuclear shipments, apparently with members of the Turkish and Israeli military and diplomatic community in Washington DC. According to Sibel, Bilmen was shipping product to and from other hotspots in the Khan/Tahir network such as Turkey, Dubai, South Africa and Spain.

Zeki Bilmen was not indicted, and his company continues to operate freely.

Marco Tinner, a member of the Tinner family that was effectively pardoned by the Bush administration's destruction of evidence, was also recommended for indictment in Turkey in 2005. He faced 32 years in prison in Turkey but that case also appears to have disappeared in the same manner as the Swiss prosecution case.

A Turkish Bomb?

Although there has been no official proof that Turkey is actively building a nuclear weapons, some experts on Turkey's nuclear program have recounted their support, suspicious that the energy program is a cover for a weapons program. In 2006, Mustafa Kibaroglu, a nuclear proliferation expert in Turkey told the Washington Post:

"I'm not supporting Turkey's nuclear energy program anymore because I'm not clear about what the real intention is. Let's put it that way."

Of course, David Sanger and William Broad chose not to mention any of this in their article despite the direct link to the Tinner case, preferring to cherry-pick information in order to facilitate the agenda of their government masters. This pattern is consistent with the whitewashing of Turkey's involvement in nefarious activity. Turkey's role in terrorism is a "best kept secret," Turkey's role in narcotics smuggling is a 'best kept secret,' and with the able assistance of the New York Times, Turkey's involvement in the nuclear black market will remain another 'best kept secret.'

Dubai

According to the US State Department, Dubai is a major center for the trans-shipment of narcotics and the associated money-laundering. The same is true for nuclear hardware and the laundering of the profits of the nuclear black market. It is also considered a major US ally.

Chief Operating Officer of the nuclear procurement ring, BSA Tahir, was based in Dubai, as was one of his main suppliers, Briton Peter Griffin. Most of the hardware supplied to the network was sent to Dubai, and sometimes via Turkey, on its way to the end-customers. Nuclear hardware from the Tinners, and also Turkish operatives, Alguadis and Cire, was sent to Dubai from where it was dispatched to Libya on board the BBC China.

Interestingly, the official report regarding the exposure of the AQ Khan / Libya deal appeared to imply that the shipments from Turkey had some semi-official blessing, noting that "it is surprising" that the consingment from Turkish businessman Gunes Cire to Libya was "allowed without any action" and also that the consignment from Selim Alguadis "arrived in Libya without any obstruction and this is unusual."

Pardoned

As I documented in my previous article, virtually all of the participants in this procurement ring have been allowed to walk free, without paying any penalty for these very serious crimes. The same can be said for the different countries that actively supported the network, such as Turkey and Dubai - as well as the US, the UK, and Pakistan. Iran is the only country feeling the heat. Why is that?

Summary

By focusing on, and misrepresenting, the Iranian angle, Broad and Sanger again have shown themselves to be lapdogs for the US government. For one reason or other, none of them flattering, Broad and Sanger chose to selectively sanitize the role of other countries who are more culpable than Iran in matters of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Whatever the reason for the Times to provide the government's preferred spin on the case, David Sanger and William Broad will remain in the Judy Miller Hall of Fame.

************

See the original article at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak or at DailyKos.

JITEM'S BLACK FACE

"Beginning on 14 January 1994, almost a hundred people were individually picked up by commandos wearing uniforms and travelling in police vehicles. They were then killed somewhere along the road from Ankara to Istanbul, in the "satanic triangle" of Kocaeli, a fiefdom of the far-right mafia and a focal point for the trafficking of heroin into Europe."
~ Kendal Nezan.

What follows is not exactly news because it's typical behavior of JITEM with which Kurds in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan have long been familiar. But this news did come out in a Turkish daily and, according to the article, the information is contained in one of the Ergenekon files. This is the tip of the iceburg and shows that DTP politicians, such as Ahmet Türk and Emine Ayna are correct in their calls for the Ergenekon investigation to be expanded to the east of the Fırat (Euphrates).

This news is also at odds with the Bush regime's recent attempt to blacken PKK with charges of drug-trafficking, especially since it's widely known that the Ankara regime has long held a regional monopoly on the processing of heroin, a fact which has been a recurring theme in the Sibel Edmonds case.

From Bugün:

Here is JITEM's black face


An important document was found in the house of [Adnan] Akfırat, who has been arrested in the Ergenekon case. In the document, activities of troops on duty on the border [in The Southeast] between 1981 to 1990, were outlined in detail.

In Ergenekon's documents, which are noted as "The Writings of a Non-Commissioned Officer Who Wrote Additional Information for JITEM Files to Be Given to the Jandarma Headquarters Command", the duties that were carried out by the troops which were on duty between 1981 to 1990 in Şırnak, Diyarbakır, Van, and other border regions, including some soldiers ranked as field grade officers, were listed in detail.

This informant document about JITEM was found in Adnan Akfırat's house, who was the news manager of [Doğu] Perinçek's magazine, published in the 1990s, called Toward 2000. According to the NCO who wrote the document, high-ranking soldiers conducted illegal drug-trafficking and arms sales with Village Guards in conflict areas like Diyarbakır, Van, and Şırnak.

Narcotic and human trafficking

In the informant document, it is mentioned that the soldiers and Village Guards who smuggled weapons and tons of narcotics to Iraq earned huge sums of money. Human trafficking, the weapons and narcotics trade, and the rape of refugee women are some of the crimes committed by JITEM personnel. Despite being caught, they [JITEM personnel, soldiers, and Village Guards involved in this business] were protected by MİT.

They sold weapons to PKK

The informant document, which is in the Ergenekon indictment's 208th evidence file, mentions that Major Kamber O, Lieutenant Colonel Reşit D, Major İsmail A, First Lieutenant Cihan B, First Lieutenant Kemal Ş, Sergeant İbrahim K, Diyarbakır JITEM Group Commander Major Nurettin, established a group which included also Village Guards, and conducted human and narcotics trafficking, and weapons smuggling.

150,000 weapons collected

The claims in the informant document are terrifying:

First Lieutenant Cihan B was the commander of the 4th Border Company in Ortabağ, which was under the command of the Şenoba Border Battalion. Some Village Guards were among his men. From time to time, he sent these men to Iraq to buy TVs, videos, tapes, electronic games, and electronic devices. He sold these in Diyarbakır's Japan Bazaar. During the Gulf War, he assisted Iraqi refugees in crossing the border into Turkey, for a price. There were approximately 300,000 refugees. He collected around 150,000 weapons.

Sergeant İbrahim K shared money and gems that he collected from the refugees, with the battalion commander. He forced refugee women to have sexual relations.

First Lieutenant Kemal Ş smuggled flocks of sheep and tons of flour to Iraq during the war.

Now I know you noticed the sub-headline mentioning the sales of weapons to PKK, but there was no other mention of PKK in the entire article. If there were sales of weapons to PKK outlined in the informant document of the Ergenekon file, there would have been more information about that included in the Bugün article. Instead, what we have in the sub-headline is nothing more than gratuitous crap.

Most of the information here is pretty mild compared to the horrors that were visited upon the Kurdish population from 1990 onward. Those years must also be investigated and the information published in every Turkish daily.

AMERICAN MEDIA CONTINUES THE COVER-UP

"We have made the Reich by propaganda."
~ Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda.

Luke Ryland has another article out about Sibel Edmonds' case and nuclear blackmarketing, including the role of Turkish businessmen in supplying materials for A.Q. Khan's nuclear smuggling ring, as he picks apart a recent NYTimes pro-Washington regime propaganda piece on the subject.

Luke mentions Judy Miller-style reporting, and the fact that the two media lapdogs, William Sanger and David Broad, co-authored a book with Miller. Judy Miller was one of the major propagandists who helped spread Bush regime lies that led to the current Iraq War. She also helped the Bush regime out former CIA operative Valerie Plame, who was investigating the Pakistani nuclear blackmarketing ring through fine, upstanding institutions such as the American Turkish Council.

It's sufficient to say that if Judy Miller is mentioned, you'd better believe a big load of shit is coming your way.

You may also want to reference yesterday's post and how the bullshit American media constantly works to cover up or under-report Turkish involvement in a lot of very dirty business.

Now why is that?

************

A front page article "In Nuclear Net’s Undoing, a Web of Shadowy Deals" in Monday's New York Times by William Sanger and David Broad details the destruction of evidence by the US government in a case involving the nuclear black market.

The article highlights again that the New York Times continues to engage in 'Judy Miller reporting' by warmongering and acting as a mouthpiece for the government.

In the article, Sanger and Broad (who co-wrote a book, Germs, with Judy Miller):

1. Provide an incomplete and misleading story by conveniently withholding pertinent, established facts.

2. Spin the story towards Iran, and away from other governments, fulfilling the government's propaganda needs again.

3. Carry out no investigation, relying on government spokespeople without checking facts, relying on documents, or agenda-free sources.

In this article, I will focus on the way that the New York Times cherrypicked details, excluding key, relevant information resulting in a misleading story which coincidentally fits the government's agenda like a glove. In the coming days, I'll return to some of the other problems with the article.

The NY Times article focuses on selected, cherrypicked elements of the Tinner family who were key suppliers in one ring of AQ Khan's nuclear proliferation network, while mostly ignoring the other key players who worked with the Tinners in the ring. The New York Times again does the government's bidding, selectively sanitizing the article, in order to hide the fact that US allies are key proliferators.

Der Spiegel, which has done great work covering this story, described the hierarchy of the network, noting that the Tinners were just one of four division managers:

"At the top of the hierarchy was a confidant of Khan's, Sri Lankan businessman Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, who acted as a business manager of sorts, responsible for payments and contracts. He also appointed several division managers, who may not even have known of each other's existence. They were comprised of the Swiss Tinner family of engineers, including Friedrich Tinner and his sons Urs and Marco, who were apparently responsible for centrifuge parts; Briton Peter Griffin, a specialist in the procurement of tool-making machines; and (Gotthard) Lerch, whose job, as the prosecution claims, was to obtain the pipes that connect the centrifuges. Lerch's source for the pipes was Gerhard Wisser, a German national living in South Africa, with whom he had been doing business for decades."

Here is a more complete list of known actors in the nuclear proliferation ring that the Tinners were involved with:

BSA Tahir

Tahir, based in Dubai, was AQ Khan's Chief Operating Officer and right hand man. Tahir began working with Khan in 1995. In 2002, Tahir recruited Urs Tinner to help produce centrifuge parts, supplied in part by his brother and father. Tahir's involvement in the network was documented in a Malaysian Police Report in 2004, soon after a ship called the BBC China was intercepted on the way to Libya, filled with products from AQ Khan.

Interestingly, Tahir was released from prison two months ago in Malaysia because he is no longer considered a 'national security threat.'

Selim Alguadis, Gunes Cire & Hank Slebos

Turkish businessmen Alguadis and Cire were also key suppliers to the Tahir-Tinner ring. Alguadis' company, EKA, and Cire's company ETI Elektroteknik were both caught supplying hardware for Libya's nuclear program when the BBC China was intercepted.

Hank Slebos, a supplier to Khan's network for decades, was also a part owner of Gunes Cire's ETI Elektroteknik.

Despite their role supplying BSA Tahir, neither Alguadis nor Cire were ever convicted, and their companies continue to operate freely in Turkey. Slebos was sentenced to 12 months prison (8 months suspended, 4 months served) in 2005 for his role.

Turkey has a key role in the nuclear black market. In fact, IAEA investigators noted that the nuclear hardware supplied by Turkey to the AQ Khan ring - including 7000 centrifuge motors - "could be used in manufacturing enough enriched uranium to produce 7 nuclear weapons a year."

Asher Karni and Zeki Bilmen

Karni is an Israeli businessman based in South Africa. Zeki Bilmen is a Turkish businessman and CEO of Giza Technologies, headquarted in New Jersey. Karni purchased 200 spark-gaps in the United States from Giza Technologies n 2003 and then re-exported it to Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI.

Prior to 2002 Bilmen was also overheard on wiretaps translated by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds.

Zeki Bilmen was never charged. Karni was released on $100,000 bail and is now a free man.

Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin is a Dubai-based British man who was said to have a "central role" in Libya's nuclear bomb program.

Griffin also supervised Tahir's project to build a manufacturing facility in Libya. A four-year British investigation into Griffin which spanned a dozen countries and cost millions of dollars was "quietly dropped" earlier this year. Griffin is currently living "scot-free.".

Gerhard Wisser

Wisser was a German national, based in South Africa, who supplied the pipes required for centrifuges. According to prosecutors, he was the South African "conduit" to the Tahir-Tinner ring. He was "given 18 years -- not in prison, but of nighttime house arrest in his mansion in a luxury neighborhood in Johannesburg."

Could it be...?

Why did the New York Times cherrypick facts, while obscuring and ignoring important, pertinent facts? Could it be that they are simply lazy? Could it be that they see their role as supporting the government's objectives, whether to protect allies such as Turkey and Dubai, or still chasing the dream of an invasion of Iran? Could it be that they want to sanitize Turkey and Turkish actors from the Tinners case in order to bolster President Bush's recently signed Executive Order giving Turkey access to nuclear technology?

Any of these possibilities might be accurate, but all of them are far from innocent, and none of them exonerate the New York Times propaganda machine.

Summary

By only reporting selectively on the Tinner case, quoting only more-than-eager government agency press officers, and by spinning the story toward Iran, the NY Times once again cements its reputation as a mouthpiece for the US government, even when it relates to important matters of true national security, that involves not only the US, but the entire world.

Whatever the reason for the Times to provide the government's portrait of the Tinner case, David Sanger and William Broad will remain in the Judy Miller Hall of Fame.

************

You can find the original at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak or at DailyKos.

SIBEL'S CASE ON THE RADIO

"I'd say what she has is far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers."
~ Daniel Ellsberg.

Wow! Here's something I almost forgot--an interview with Luke Ryland and Joe Lauria about the Sibel Edmonds case on the Peter B. Collins Show. You can find it on this page, dated Friday, 22 August 2008, or go here to listen (Give it a few seconds to start). I don't know the exact run time, but it's not over an hour. You should listen anyway, so it doesn't really matter how long it is.

Joe Lauria has been working on Sibel's case for the London Sunday Times, which started running his pieces in January. A second article ran in the times later in January, which discussed the FBI's cover-up of the joint Turkish-Israeli nuclear weapons blackmarketing network in the US. A third Sunday Times article focused on the links between the Plame Affair and Brewster Jennings--also involved with the investigation of illicit sales of American nuclear weapons secrets.

Lauria discusses the FBI's complaint to the Sunday Times, something that Luke mentioned in an article last week.

Both Luke and Lauria discuss the American media's reluctance to report on Turkish crimes, such as its heavy involvement in narcotics trafficking and nuclear black-marketing. Is the US media being strong-armed by the FBI, as it attempted to do with the Sunday Times, or is someone else behind the enforcement of a code of silence over Turkey's involvement in these kinds of shady businesses?

Luke brings up Lauria's contention that the American media never looks at the American system as rotten, and points out that Americans easily believe that politicians in other countries are corrupt.

Later in the interview, there's a discussion of the lack of effort on the part of congressmen like Grassley and Waxman--as well as Leahy--to fulfill their promises to hold hearings into Sibel's case. In this case, we might ask who is strong-arming these congressmen? The FBI or someone else? Who might that someone else be?

Peter B. Collins notes that there has been no US objection to Turkish military operations in South Kurdistan but, of course, the US, along with Israel, has been providing Turkey with intelligence in those operations and permitted Turkish aircraft to enter Iraqi airspace to conduct bombing operations.

Apparently, former US Senator Mike Gravel suggested that Turkish involvement with the passing of American nuclear secrets to Pakistan was a way for Turkey to get The Bomb for itself.

Another subject touched on in the interview is that of the neocons' active involvement in military sales to Turkey and Israel, like Richard Perle, is because the neocons "have their hand in the till."

Go listen; it's easier than reading.

WHO ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS?

"May the prisoners' families not worry. If the prisoners are in the hands of HPG, which they are, they are in good hands."
~ Murat Karayılan, KCK Executive Council Chairman.

In case you missed it, here's the HBO documentary titled "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib". But it's not really torture, right? It's just torture lite; No need to lose any sleep over any of this. Forget what Anthony Taguba found as a result of his investigation.

Compare the treatment meted out by the Washington regime at Abu Ghraib to PKK's treatment of its prisoners of war. Check the video on that, too. Compare it to the one below and then you tell me who are civilized and who are the terrorists.

Run time 78 minutes. Full screen version here.

GÜLEN, KÜÇÜK, AND THE EDUCATION OF SOUTH KURDISTAN

"Gulen gave a new decree and a new kind of mobilization to assimilate Kurds and to steal their minds by injecting religious ideology and by causing them to sell their birthright."
~ Aland Mizell.

At the beginning of the month, I posted some news about the Ergenekon gang that had been published in Taraf. At the time, I mentioned that the nexus of the Ergenekon indictment could be found in a weirdo named Tuncay Güney:

It would appear, however, that the lies surrounding the issue of "The Antidote" stem from Tuncay Güney, a one-time, small-time journalist in whose possession the original Ergenekon documents were found in 2001. Güney has been linked to Fethullah Gülen and Gülen's Samanyolu TV. Güney claims to have brought the photos of Öcalan and Perinçek to MİT. He claims to have taken a bribe of $15,000 to PKK in order not to shut down Gülen's schools in Hewler, although how PKK would have had any control over anything in Hewler is a huge question. Perhaps the KDP took the bribe by introducing themselves as PKK members? Güney also claıms to have delivered money from Fethullah Gülen to ultra-fascist Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu so that he could establish the BBP.

Zaman has some additional weird tidbits about Güney:


"Meanwhile, in an interview with the Yeni Şafak daily, Tuncay Güney, a former journalist whose ties with various secret services, both domestic and international, have been documented, stated that Kurdish separatist terrorism would come to an end if the Ergenekon gang wanted that to happen. Güney, who now lives in Canada and works as a rabbi, has suspected ties to the group. Güney came to prominence when the first documents related to the Ergenekon gang were seized on his computer in a 2001 police raid.

"Güney, currently a rabbi at the Jacobs House Jewish Community Center in Toronto, praised Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz for having “done a great job” so far in the investigation, although he expressed doubts that the operation would be very successful in the end. “However, they are very close to the end and I think it is very difficult moving on further from this point. There is no power in Turkey that can stop Ergenekon,” he said, expressing doubts that the investigation will bring about the collapse of the crime group."


A check of YouTube reveals that Güney does, in fact, appear to be a member of an Orthodox Jewish community in Toronto, although he now denies any connection with Fethullah Gülen, as his appearance on Mehmet Ali Birand's 32. Gün indicates. If the first Ergenekon documents were found in Güney's possession, why has he not been indicted? Did he cut a deal and, if so, what kind of deal was it? Is his life now, in an Orthodox Jewish community in Toronto some kind of strange "witness protection" program?

Now, there's more from Güney on the connectıon between the Ergenekon gang, Fethullah Gülen, and Gülen's schools in South Kurdistan, from Milliyet:

Küçük knows Gülen for a long time


Güney, in his statement in 2001, claims that he and Mehmet Demircan, an important name in Fethullah Gülen's movement, spent intense efforts to gain Küçük into the movement and that the two [Gülen and Küçük] knew each other for a long time.

Tuncay Güney's statement in 2001, which he gave to Istanbul police, is one of the most fundamental pieces of evidence that Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, is working on. In this statement, Tuncay Güney gave a detailed explanation of Fethullah Gülen's movement. In the Ergenekon indictment's 442nd file, there are interesting claims that Güney made. Here, Güney claims that, since the 1970s, Fethullah Gülen knew retired Brigadier General Veli Küçük, who is under arrest in the Ergenekon case, from the right-wing National Struggle Movement (MMH). Güney explained that he learned that Küçük and Fethullah Gülen knew each other for a long time, while he and one of Gülen's prominent members, Mehmet Demircan, made efforts to gain Küçük to the movement.

"All of them are strugglers for nationalism"

When Tuncay Güney was detained in 2001 for by Istanbul police for fraud, he was working for Samanyolu TV, which is linked to the Fethullah Gülen movement. In the statement he gave to police while under interrogation, he pointed out that taking advantage of his position, he had the possibility to meet with important names in Fethullah Gülen's movement.

Within this framework, Güney mentions that he and Demircan tried to gain, the then active duty Veli Küçük, for the movement. "When we gain him, we will be more powerful in the eyes of Fethullah Gülen," Güney says.

Again, referring to Demircan, Tuncay Güney ascribed the information that Gülen knew Veli Küçük from the National Strugglers' Movement. "Look at all of Fethullah Gülen's members; they are all National Strugglers," he said.

Support for Gülen's schools

In his statement, Güney said that Veli Küçük helped Fethullah Gülen to open a school in Northern Iraq [South Kurdistan]. According to Güney's statement, they had stopped in Diyarbakır, where they were on the way to Erbil, in order to open private Irbil Light College. There (in Diyarbakır), they called Veli Küçük to let him know they were there, thus Jandarma Regional Commander Eşref Hatipoğlu met them. Hatipoğlu sent Güney and Gülen's members to Silopi in a military helicopter. From there, the group passed to Nehciban (there he means Neçirvan) and talked to Barzani and Talabani.

"Veli Küçük's teacher collared Erdoğan"

Güney also made a statement about field officer Necabettin Ergenekon's involvement with Gülen's movement. According to Güney, Necabettin Ergenekon was Küçük's teacher. According to Güney's claims, Necabettin Ergenekon had talks with R. Tayyip Erdoğan, then the Refah Partisi (RP) Istanbul chairman. In one of these talks, Ergenekon caught Erdoğan by the collar and shook him. According to Guney's statement, Erdoğan, in RP's Tepebaşı office, was having a discussion with Necabettin Ergenekon about pan-Islamism. Then Ergenekon became nervous and grabbed Erdoğan by the collar saying, "This is bullshit, Tayyip; there won't be pan-Islamism if there isn't Turkism."

Güney said that the person who introduced him to Veli Küçük, was Veli Küçük's teacher, Ergenekon. "The field officer in Izmit (Veli Küçük), is my student. I'll take you and introduce you to him" said Ergenekon according to Güney.

It was claimed that Küçük had named the Ergenekon organization after his teacher's last name.

He spied for Eymür about Gülen

In his statement, Güney said that when he was in Fethullah Gülen's movement, he was regularly informing MİT chairman Mehmet Eymür's staff. Güney said, "When I was working there, Mehmet Eymür's men would come and get information periodically . . . Besides this information, they were asking about the hot issues in the movement anyway."

In February, as war preparations against South Kurdistan were underway, Nêçîrvan Barzanî and the KRG gave the go-ahead for the foundation of a new Gülen university in Hewlêr.

There was no mention of anyone having given PKK a $15,000 bribe in connection with this Gülen enterprise, but that may be because any bribes would actually be given to the cehş of the KRG who are only too happy to contribute to the destruction of the Kurdish people for a price.

THE F WORD

"You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad."
~ Morpheus, The Matrix.

Uh-oh! They used the "F" word and they mean it!

Scott Horton interviews Greg Palast about oil, Iraq, Georgia, and the "F" word. MP3 here. Run time just over 24 minutes.

I love the cynicism there. It's so refreshing.

Much more on corruption, fascism, and cynicism, and why there's no point voting--especially for McCain here. Run time, again, just over 24 minutes.

SIBEL EDMONDS AND THE VARIETIES OF TREASON

"Sometimes the things we have to do are objectionable in the eyes of others."
~ Richard Perle.

Luke Ryland adds to the discussion begun here in July, on the varieties of treason, looking at Richard Perle's involvement in a consortium of Kazakhistani and South Kurdistani oil. One interesting item to note is that the Prince of Darkness denied involvement in Doug Feith's lobbying company, International Advisors, Inc.(IAI). At the time, Feith was a registered foreign agent representing Turkey in matters having to do with "U.S.-Turkey defense industrial cooperation."

The time frame for IAI's existence coincided with the period leading up to the "Clean Break" strategy:

In 1996, a group of American neoconservatives participated in a study group organized by the Israel-based Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies. The group produced a paper entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," which advocated an ambitious set of policies aimed at ensuring Israel's security. Although originally directed at Israel's then-incoming Likud government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, the ideas discussed in the paper parallel to a remarkable degree U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, which has resulted in disastrous consequences for American interests in and out of the region. It's time for the Bush administration to make a clean break with this flawed strategy and to implement a new policy that promotes peace and security in the Middle East.

Members of the "Clean Break" study group included Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, David Wurmser, Meyrav Wurmser, and several other like-minded ideologues, many of whom would later be given posts in the administration of President George W. Bush. Among the paper's more salient points was the argument that "Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq-an important objective in its own right-as a means of foiling Syria's regional ambitions." The authors also encouraged Israel to seize the initiative on its northern borders, "engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon." If striking military targets in Lebanon proved insufficient, Israel should feel free to strike at "select targets in Syria proper." To justify the new policy, Israel was counseled to remind the world that "Syria repeatedly breaks its word" (emphasis in the original). Finally, the paper considered it "both natural and moral" for Israel to abandon the idea of a "comprehensive peace," move to contain Syria, draw attention to Syria's weapons programs, and reject "land for peace" deals on the Golan Heights.

Feith went on to become the number three civilian in the Department of Defense under Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Perle served as an assistant secretary of defense from 1981 to 1987, during which time he made himself conspicuous by his willingness to accept bribes and involve himself in conflicts of interest. From 2001 to 2003, Perle served as the chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. The Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee is supposed to:

. . . serve the public interest by providing the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy. It will focus upon long-term, enduring issues central to strategic planning for the Department of Defense and will be responsible for research and analysis of topics, long or short range, addressed to it by the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy.

Conflict of interest appears to be Perle's middle name. No wonder that Perle distances himself from his business deals which, coincidentally--or not--benefit from the foreign policies that he's involved with pushing on the rest of the world. That is known as a conflict of interest.

Perle is consistent because, as with IAI, so now with Perle's business dealings in the Kazakhstani/South Kurdistani oil consortium. Perle denies any involvement with a business deal that sets him up to benefit from the very foreign policies he has been instrumental in implementing.

Now, I'll let Luke Ryland tell the rest of the story:

************

In 1989, the Wall Street Journal reported that Richard Perle and Douglas Feith had set up a lobbying company called International Advisors Inc [IAI] to lobby for "appropriation of U.S. military and economic assistance’ to Turkey."" When news of the $600,000 per annum contract got too hot to handle, Perle and Feith folded IAI and helped establish the American Turkish Council (ATC) to accomplish the same goals, but with a more respectable veneer.

Now, nineteen years later, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Richard Perle is "exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan" with a "consortium founded by Turkish company AK Group International... Potential backers include two Turkish companies as well as Kazakhstan."

Richard Perle issued a strange-sounding denial to the Wall Street Journal that he is involved with these latest oil projects, although he also issued a similarly "bizarre" denial to the 1989 WSJ article which reported on his consulting company IAI.

The WSJ continues:


"AK's chief executive is Aydan Kodaloglu, who, like Mr. Perle, has been involved with the American Turkish Council, an advocacy group in Washington."


In fact, according to her bio on the AK Group website, Kodaloglu "serves as a Board Member of the American Turkish Council." The ATC, established by Perle et al as a "sister organization" to AIPAC, was often caught on wiretaps heard by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. She described the ATC as a "front for criminal activity."

The ATC has been under surveillance by both the FBI and the CIA since at least 1996, in part because of suspected involvement in drug trafficking, public corruption and involvement in a nuclear black market procurement ring, but more importantly because of involvement in the 'great game' of the vast energy fields in Central Asia including Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Investigative journalist John Stanton has written extensively about the connections between Central Asia and many of the 'associations' in the US, including the ATC, and others such as the American Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and the US Kazakhstan Business Association (UKBA). Stanton argues that:


"While the ATC is an Association in name and in charter, the reality is that it and other affiliated Associations are the US government." (emphasis in original)


Perle's partner in this enterprise, the AK Group is an "international consulting" group whose two other directors are Murat Akay who works "Turkish companies interested in establishing joint ventures with U.S. and Israeli enterprises" and Fehmi Sait Hurol who is "involved in various cultural activities and exchange programs between Turkey and the U.S."

Interestingly, Sibel Edmonds has previously referred to "organization(s) supposed to be promoting the cultural affairs of a certain country within another country" as front groups for organized crime networks. Given the connections here, it would not be surprising if Mr Hurol and the AK Group are one such front group.

In my recent article "The Central Asia Islamization Cocktail: Mosques, Madrassas, Heroin & Terrorism" I quoted former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds describing the use of Turkish operatives and front groups to gain "control of Central Asia, particularly the oil and gas wealth, as well as the strategic value of the region." Sibel said:


"This started more than a decade-long illegal, covert operation in Central Asia by a small group in the US intent on furthering the oil industry and the Military Industrial Complex, using Turkish operatives, Saudi partners and Pakistani allies, furthering this objective in the name of Islam.

"This is why I have been saying repeatedly that these illegal covert operations by the Turks and certain US persons dates back to 1996, and involves terrorist activities, narcotics, weapons smuggling and money laundering, converging around the same operations and involving the same actors.

"And I want to emphasize that this is "illegal" because most, if not all, of the funding for these operations is not congressionally approved funding, but it comes from illegal activities.

"And one last thing, take a look at the people in the State Secrets Privilege Gallery on my website and you will see how these individuals can be traced to the following; Turkey, Central Asia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - and the activities involving these countries."


Richard Perle is listed in Sibel's State Secrets Privilege Gallery, and now we see him attempting to profit from his ATC connections by entering into an oil deal in Kazakhstan and Iraq, two decades after the WSJ first reported on the early phases of this criminal enterprise.

Meanwhile, the US media is mostly silent on the key issues again. Despite even the most mainstream WSJ reporting on Perle's recent dealings, including the importance of Turkey and the American Turkish Council, the rest of the media is asleep at the wheel, completely ignoring, or whitewashing, these important elements of the story.

Perhaps investigative reporter Joe Lauria said it best last week.


"Centrism is the philosophy of the American media - and that essentially backs the status quo, when you're a centrist, and this game of objectivity that they play is really limited by parameters that you're allowed to ask questions and to investigate and in a sense then you're transmitting these assumptions, and reinforcing every day that the US is really a functioning democracy, not even a representative democracy. And as we know of course there are oligarchic interests that buy off Congress, that puts the person in the Whitehouse that they need..."

************

The original can be read at Luke's place, Let Sibel Edmonds Speak, and at DailyKos

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

"History tells me that when the Russians come to a country they don't go back."
~ Mohammed Daoud Khan.

When things were still hot on the ground in Georgia, some Turkish journalists ran into some Russian troops outside of Gori, while on their way to South Ossetia:

A Turkish television crew that ventured down the same road from Gori to Tskhinvali filmed the attack on themselves. It makes chilling viewing: bullets shatter the windscreen of the four-wheel drive vehicle. Blood splatters on the broken glass. One of the journalists is wounded in the head, another in the arm. The cameraman films his comrades getting out with their hands up, walking towards the gunmen. The Turks miraculously survived, and were sent back to Turkey four days later.

The Turkish TV crew was from NTV and KanalTürk and they figured early on that they were going to die. Here's the video, from NTV via YouTube, with English subtitles:

The NTV news broadcast can be viewed here.

It's no wonder that Abdullah Gül got the sudden urge to talk about a "New World Order" over the weekend, or that Katil Erdoğan ran off to Moscow, not with Russian special operations troops talking like this:

"Take whatever you want! It's all free!" said a Russian special services soldier in wraparound sunglasses, driving a looted BMW.

"Next time we should invade Turkey. It's nice down there," said the second soldier, who wore a ski mask and drank bottles of beer with Georgian lettering on them. He threw them out half-finished, smashing them on the road.

Comments like that ought to really increase the collective pucker factor of the Ankara regime.

In the meantime, the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) arrived in Gori over the weekend, bringing "humanitarian" aid. But Kızılay has a very loose definition of what constitutes "humanitarian aid", as we saw in April 2003:

Ankara has been implicated in a series of events fomenting conflict between Iraqi Turkmens and Kurds. Last April, a Turkish Red Crescent convoy was stopped at a checkpoint, and weapons and explosives were found in bags identified as humanitarian supplies; Turkish Special Forces were accused by US military authorities of posing as aid workers and smuggling munitions to Iraqi Turkmen militias. In an even more serious incident on July 4, US troops detained 11 Turkish Special Forces for plotting to assassinate Kirkuk's Kurdish mayor.

There were also reports of Kızılay smuggling weapons into Lebanon during the 2006 Lebanese-Israeli war. If the Russians are smart, they'll check the Kızılay vehicles to make sure they're not bringing anything listed under that broader definition of "humanitarian aid".

Imagine this: NATO's second largest army going toe-to-toe with the SCO's second largest army. That would keep the paşas busy for a while.

THE AKP GIRLS

"Every nation has a characteristic and the characteristic of Islam is modesty."
~ attributed to The Prophet.

A friend reminded me of an observation that I had while in Turkey recently, and he sent me a link to photos to illustrate my point.

AKP girls are conspicuous by their uniforms. They wear large, garish scarves which appear to be tightly wrapped at the neck . . . thus cutting off blood flow to the brain, resulting in a lack of oxygen that renders one more compliant in matters of religion. The scarf is accessorized with an outer garment that resembles a raincoat; and that is the ensemble, the uniform, of the AKP girls.

Walking through Gülhane Park in Istanbul, and along the waterside in Kadıköy, I noticed that the AKP girls tended to favor the more hidden places in parks and along the docks, where they sat closely with males. Maybe these were husbands; maybe these were boyfriends. Maybe they were something else. Whatever the relationship with these males, the AKP girls were looking for privacy with them.

Hürriyet noticed the same thing and took some photos in a park in Ankara which illustrate my point:









If "modesty and faith are interlinked" so that "if either of them is lacking, the other is lacking too," I wonder where that leaves the AKP girls?

THE BULLSHIT AMERICAN MEDIA AND SIBEL EDMONDS

"And when I say the entire system being rotten, I mean Congress that is enthralled to corporate backers, and approving their aggressive foreign policy that enriches themselves, and does nothing to secure the American people or the interests of most American people."
~ Joe Lauria.

Here's the latest from Luke Ryland on the Sibel Edmonds case. The main theme of this work is the utter worthlessness of the American media, particularly with regard to Sibel's case, but the theme can be applied to many other cases as well, including that of the Kurds:

************

Last week, Scott Horton interviewed (audio) investigative journalist Joe Lauria. Lauria was one of the co-authors of the three-part (1, 2, 3) series on the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds for the UK's Sunday Times.

In the interview Lauria discusses the Sibel Edmonds case, the state of the US media, and the Military Industrial Complex in the context of his new book with presidential candidate Mike Gravel: "A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Mans Fight to Stop It".

In the interview, Lauria says that he spoke at length to the three FBI agents who were Sibel's immediate bosses at the FBI and that they "corroborated in general terms, that this story is true."

Lauria describes how he recently interviewed one of the FBI agents at his home for 90 minutes, and met another of Sibel's former bosses several times outside his house. The agents are unwilling to provide detailed corroboration on a lot of the details in the case because they fear being sent to prison, but their willingness to speak to Lauria about the case, and their supportive statements that "She's not crazy," provide generalized corroboration on the case.

The FBI itself is not happy that Lauria and the Sunday Times are still looking into the Edmonds case and they made a "formal complaint" with the Sunday Times (a British media outlet!) that Lauria stay away from the agents.

David Rose, author of the Vanity Fair article on Sibel's case, and the only other journalist who has been able to speak to some of the first-hand sources - from the FBI, Dept of Justice, and Congress - in Sibel's case, also reported how fearful his sources are:


"The people that I talked to about these tapes are extremely nervous. There is a climate in America now which is punitive towards people who are suspected of disclosing information without authorization to journalists. The approach of the Bush administration is to punish people who come forward."


The good news is that Joe Lauria and the Times have a lot more information about the case that they haven't yet published, and are still actively investigating - 8 months after their first article was published, and 6 years since Sibel first went to Congress. It is no wonder that the FBI is nervous and issuing formal complaints.

Case Background

Lauria gave a good summary of the nuclear black market element of Sibel's case:


"What Sibel revealed to us, and has been revealing little by little since January, is that she has heard that there was a nuclear procurement ring operating inside the US to procure nuclear designs and parts for the AQ Khan network, and it was done not through Pakistani intelligence directly, but through the Turkish embassy.

"Turkish businessmen who got the information and gave it to Turkish military attaches, who then turned it over to the ISI, and from there went on to the nuclear black market. To procure these parts and designs, high government US officials helped facilitate Turkish-Israeli PhD students to get into nuclear facilities in the US, they worked with the RAND corporation as well, some moles with RAND to help get this information. There was at least one American company, Giza Technologies, that was helping with parts, probably there were others, and this thing went on from 1995 at least until 2002, and it could still be going on - when this operation was shut down by the Dept of Defense and the State Dept.

"Now, Sibel tells us that high government officials inside those two departments - Defense and State - were involved in this ring. She has named them on her website - at least, she has not named them, she has photographs of people - other bloggers have named them."


US Media

Lauria excoriates the US media in the interview:

"Centrism is the philosophy of the American media - and that essentially backs the status quo, when you're a centrist, and this game of objectivity that they play is really limited by parameters that you're allowed to ask questions and to investigate and in a sense then you're transmitting these assumptions, and reinforcing every day that the US is really a functioning democracy

[...]

"The mindset of the American mainstream press does not allow certain ideas to easily filter through: the idea that high-ranking US officials might actually be facilitating this... It's entertainment all the time, the presidential campaign is entertainment, and do you actually think that these guys would actually go in there and make changes, whoever wins, when behind this wall of entertainment put forward by news media and the entertainment industry is a murky world of terrorism, nuclear procurement ring, of CIA, of the FBI working - and this rarely breaks through to the mainstream press...

"They rarely look at the entire system being rotten, not just one official here or there being rotten, and they pat themselves on the back. And when I say the entire system being rotten, I mean Congress that is enthralled to corporate backers, and approving their aggressive foreign policy that enriches themselves, and does nothing to secure the American people or the interests of most American people. That is not even in the discussion in the mainstream press, so this Boston Globe reporter was unable to conceive easily that a government official could have been nvolved."


Sibel's Comments

I asked Sibel for a comment about the interview, she replied:


"Again and again you see journalists in this country who think that their job consists of nothing more than phoning the FBI press office to ask for a comment. Only two journalists have spoken to actual first-hand sources about my case; David Rose who is British, and Joe Lauria working for a British newspaper. Why is it that only these two reporters were able to speak to sources at the Dept of Justice, at the FBI, and in Congress who are familiar with the details of my case?

"The agents that Joe Lauria spoke with are very familiar with all the details of the case because I worked directly with them. Yes, it is true that these sources are very nervous about speaking out because they fear the legal repercussions, however they shouldn't have anything to fear, because they know that it is illegal for the government to classify anything for the purpose of hiding criminality. As I've been saying from the beginning, Congress needs to hold hearings and put us all under oath where we are protected so long as we tell the truth."


It is time for hearings. All it takes is one congressman to hold hearings, or to read the classified information into the public record. Who will stand up?

************

A full transcript of Scott Horton's interview of Joe Lauria is at Luke's blog, Against All Enemies. Luke's recent work can be viewed at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak and, with comments, at DailyKos. In the interview transcript, there is much more on Sibel's case, The Times investigation into her case from the nuclear blackmarketing and proliferation angle, and how truly pathetic the bullshit American media really is.

In other news, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that a regime which already has two genocides under its belt is now hosting Sudan's war criminal, Omar al-Beshir during an Africa conference in Istanbul. The conference is being held because Turkey's campaigning for its first chance at one of the non-permanent UN Security Council seats in 2009/2010.

In another vain attempt to knock a sense of morality into the Ankara regime, Human Rights Watch issued a call for Turkey to do the right thing.

Some people never learn.

APPLYING THE MILITARY SOLUTION

"It was not the PKK that did this. The soldiers did it. And the next day they burnt down our shops".
~ Survivor of the Lice Massacre, 1993.

At the end of the month, there will be major changes of command within TSK, as is customary for August. The Higher Military Council (YAŞ) met earlier this month and the changes have been made public. It's no surprise that Land Forces Commander İlker Başbuğ will succeed Büyükanıt as the Chief of General Staff. On the other hand, what is surprising is that YAŞ expelled no Islamist officers, as it had done in previous years. For more on that, see what pro-terrorism think tank Jamestown Foundation had to say about the matter one year ago:

In recent years the expulsion of officers suspected of Islamic activities has become a regular occurrence at YAS meetings. In addition to its regular meeting in August, YAS can also be convened at a time chosen by the chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), which has usually been in November or December. A total of 17 officers were expelled in August 2006 and another 35 in November 2006. In 2005 the totals for the two YAS meetings were 11 and four respectively.

Since the early 1990s, identifying Islamist sympathizers in the armed forces has become one of the primary objectives of Turkish military intelligence. Although the expelled officers are usually accused of Islamist “activities,” suspected intent rather than action is usually sufficient to ensure their expulsion. The expelled officers are rarely allowed access to the evidence gathered against them and, under Article 125 of the Turkish Constitution; there is no right of appeal against YAS decisions. Expelled officers automatically lose all their pension rights and frequently have difficulty finding alternative employment.

[ . . . ]

Until relatively recently, the TGS’s primary fear was infiltration by supporters of the Islamic preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is currently in exile in the United States. Gulen’s supporters in Turkey currently control a vast network of businesses, schools, charitable foundations, and media outlets. The movement was an outspoken supporter of the AK Party in the run up to the July 22 general election (Today’s Zaman, July 21).

Alas, no more, according to Akşam, which recently noted that this year's YAŞ appointments included no expulsions:

After a long period of time, TSK, in its Higher Military Council (YAŞ), did not expel any military member. Prior to the YAŞ assembly, there were speculations that TSK would expel military members who were involved with Ergenekon. However, there were no files of any military members regarding expulsion.

This is more evidence that the TSK is involved with a deal with AKP in order to cover up the identities of the true Deep Staters, while blaming Deep State crimes on those currently detained in the Ergenekon case, all of whom are retired and well-known embarassments to the Islamist regime in Ankara, and their lapdogs among the Turkish General Staff.

The Akşam article lists all of the new command appointees, confirming Başbuğ's rise as the new Turkish Chief of Staff at Büyükanıt's retirement at the end of the month. Isık Koşaner will replace Başbuğ as Land Forces Commander. Katil Erdoğan also met with Koşaner the day before his meeting with Başbuğ, according to Islamist Zaman:

Erdoğan, more than a month before the YAŞ meeting and a day before his contact with Gen. Başbuğ on June 24 -- when Başbuğ was the Turkish Land Forces commander -- also met with Gen. Işık Koşaner, when Koşaner was the chief of the Gendarmerie General Command, said informed sources.

The Islamist coup took place on 31 July, the day before YAŞ met to begin confirmations of the new TSK chain of command, when the Constitutional Court ruled on the AKP closure case:

Ten of the 11 judges found the AKP guilty of the charge of being “a centre of anti-secular activity”, Mr Kilic said. But only six voted to close it, one short of the number required to ban the party. Instead, the AKP faces a big cut in its state funding, a penalty that will be compensated for easily by its wealthy backers.

As for Başbuğ, no one should forget that he was one of the butchers of Lice in 1993. Hevallo has more on the Lice Massacre, including pictures, for those who are memory-challenged.

Münir Erten, who confirmed PKK's casualties from the December 2007 aerial bombing campaign, has also been retired.

In the meantime, as part of his preparation for retirement, Yaşar Paşa is getting ready to receive his brand new 1 million Euro armored car, courtesy of the AKP regime:

Yaşar Büyükanıt, who was rescued from the Şemdinli incident by the AKP, has been awarded with a brand new car for his retirement. However, this disturbs CHP. In addition to the YAŞ decision without expulsion of religious officers, the purchase of an Audi A8, worth 1 million Euros, by AKP for Büyükanıt, raised several questions. CHP group parliamentary deputy Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, referring to the Council decision without expulsion, and the purchase of a new car for Büyükanıt, mentioned that this incident raises suspicions of a deal between AKP and TSK. Right after CHP's suspicions [were made public], the General Staff released a severe statement. In the statement, it was mentioned that Büyükanıt survived four assassination attempts, thus it [the armored car] is a necessity.

Turkish president Gül, who, according to the constitution, is supposed to be neutral, also supported this purchase and criticized CHP for its suspicions.

[ . . . ]

In Necati Doğru's column in Vatan, he revealed the vehicle's picture, bill, the document for its export from Germany, the vehicle's price with and without armor, the document for entrance into Turkey, technical specifications, a document sent from the National Defense Ministry to the Customs Ministry to order the Customs Ministry not to charge duty on the import, and a document that shows the vehicle entered Turkey duty-free.

According to Doğru's source in the National Defense Ministry (MSB), the car was imported from Germany for 1 billion YTL. It's an ice-silver metallic color, 4-door, gasoline-burning, 12 cylinder, 6,000 motor engine, 2008 Audi A8 W12 luxury automobile. The vehicle will be for retired Büyükanıt's personal use and TSK claims that any deal between AKP and TSK is mere fantasy.

But the fantasy is unlikely. For example, the previous Chief of General Staff, Hilmi Özkök--widely believed to be Islamist--was so worried about assassination at the end of his tenure as TSK chief that he started bringing his own lunch from home in a lunch box. But there were no indications at the time of his retirement that he was going to get so much as an armored lunch box, much less an armored car for personal use.

When he does retire, Büyükanıt will be able to drive his new armored Audi A8 W12 to his new villa, which is almost complete, in a village near Kuşadası.

Since we're on the subject of armored cars, Turkey is also providing armor for five Toyota Landcruiser V8, four-wheel drive SUV's for the not-so-bright Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. Turkey is also armoring Saakashvili's official Mercedes.

Abdullah Gül, who along with Saakashvili, can clearly read the Russian writing on the wall in the Caucasus, has suddenly become an avid supporter of a New World Order. No doubt this also has to do with the Islamist Turkish regime's warm relationship with the Islamist Iranian regime, but Gül extends it to a so-called AKP "solution" for the Kurdish situation:

Gül repeatedly returned to the importance of Turkey's democratisation process. He said it would ultimately resolve all of the country's domestic problems, including the long-festering conflict with Kurdish nationalists in south-eastern provinces. "Some call it terror, some call it the south-east problem, some call it the Kurdish problem - whatever you call it, we will find a solution," he said.

But we all saw very clearly what the AKP's "solution" for the Kurdish situation was, in September last year, when Gül made his first visit as president to TSK installations in The Southeast. We also saw clearly what AKP's "solution" was last December, February, and in March, during Newroz.

As with Başbuğ's solution in Lice in 1993, so now AKP's solution is also the military solution.