Posted on 01/07/2004 4:43:49 AM PST by Diogenesis
Arab translators cheered Sept. 11 [.... while the FBI kept the FBI free of Jews]
By Paul Sperry
WASHINGTON – In a shocking revelation, an FBI whistleblower claims some
Arab-Americans translating Arabic intercepts for the FBI spoke approvingly
of the terrorist attacks on America more than two years ago.
Former FBI translator Sibel D. Edmonds says translators of Middle Eastern
origin working for the FBI's Washington field office maintain an
"us"-versus-"them" attitude that's so strong it may be compromising al-Qaida
investigations.
She cited examples of mistranslations and security breaches within the FBI's
language division, where translators with Top Secret clearance interpret
sensitive terror-related information for agents.
"The issues and problems within the FBI's translation units range from
security failures to questions of loyalty to competence of translation personnel
to systemic problems within their low-to-mid-level management practices,"
Edmonds said.
She made the explosive charges Monday in a letter to the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, an independent
panel investigating the 9-11 attacks and U.S. intelligence leading up to them.
WorldNetDaily has obtained a copy of the 9-page letter.
Edmonds, a translator who worked closely with FBI counterterrorism and
counterintelligence agents at an office within blocks of the Washington field
office, said she overheard some translators express sympathy for the 9-11
terrorist attacks.
"During my work with the bureau, I was seriously taken aback by what I
heard and witnessed within the translation department," she said. "There
were those who openly divided the fronts as 'Us' – the Middle-Easterners who
shared certain views – and 'Them' – the Americans who were the outsiders
[whose] arrogance was now 'leading to their own destruction.'"
Not long after the attacks, Edmonds said one translator said: "It is about time
that they get a taste of what they have been giving to the rest of the Middle
East."
She says the remark was made in front of the unit supervisor, also of Middle
Eastern origin.
"These comments were neither rare nor made in a whisper," Edmonds said.
"They were open and loud."
She says such attitudes call into question "the integrity and accuracy" of
information Arabic translators are feeding agents.
Edmonds says agents who don't speak Arabic have no way of knowing
whether the information they receive from translators is tainted.
"They simply have to trust the information given to them by translators," she
said, "and based on that, decide to act or not act."
Decisions to release terrorist suspects taken into custody are also based on
translations of interviews with those suspects, she argues.
Remarkably, agents don't even have direct security access to the translation
unit, Edmonds says. They have to be escorted into the area by translators.
She says she caught a Turkish translator intentionally blocking intelligence
from being translated by labeling it as "not pertinent." The translator also
intentionally mistranslated documents and other information, she says. And
she alleges the same linguist, Melek Can Dickerson, was granted security
clearance by the FBI despite ties to targets of FBI investigations.
After she brought the alleged breaches to the attention of her supervisors,
Edmonds was fired by the FBI. Her termination letter does not state a reason.
Edmonds filed a lawsuit, but Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI
Director Robert Mueller got a federal judge to block it by asserting the
extremely rare claim of "State Secret Privilege."
And her lawyers say Justice's inspector general is slow-walking an internal
review of her case, even though the office has criticized the FBI for security
lapses in recent reports, some related to the language program. In fact, a Nov.
15, 2002, IG report states: "A language specialist was dismissed for
unauthorized contacts with foreign officials and intelligence officers, receipts
of things of value from them and lack of candor in his convoluted and
contradictory responses to questions about his contacts."
Most of Edmonds' charges have been confirmed by Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who have
quizzed the FBI about her case. Edmonds sent a copy of her 9-page letter to
Grassley, one of the FBI's biggest critics on the Hill.
The FBI blamed the security lapses on a chronic shortage of Arabic translators,
which has forced it to hire mostly immigrants from the Middle East, which
makes background checks more difficult.
The Washington field office did not return repeated phone calls seeking
comment.
But the chief of the FBI's language section, Margaret Gullota, has insisted in
congressional testimony that the FBI hasn't loosened its standards in recruiting
Arabic-speaking translators since 9-11.
Edmonds isn't the only one complaining, though.
John Cole, program manager for the FBI foreign intelligence investigations
covering India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, told Congress about what he
believed to be a security lapse regarding the screening and hiring of
translators.
And Donald Lavey, who worked in counterterrorism for 20 years at the FBI,
recalled loyalty issues with a former Arab translator in the FBI's Detroit office.
He said wiretap translations by Mideast-born agents should have a "second
opinion," because their backgrounds may "prejudice" their interpretation and
analysis.
Both he and Edmonds note that translators often exclude large sections of
Arabic dialogue as irrelevant to the investigation, when in fact, they may be
relevant.
"There are thousands of translated documents/information and documents
that were labeled as 'not pertinent to be translated' by certain translators
before and after Sept. 11, that need to, and have to, be retranslated and
re-examined," Edmonds wrote in her letter.
Also, she says some Arab-American translators, including a supervisor,
threatened to sue the FBI for discrimination after complaints were filed
against them.
"In one case, a certain individual ended up getting a supervisory position,
even though initially he was refused due to his questionable past,
incompetence and fraudulent invoices" for expenses, Edmonds said. She
declined to reveal his name.
Edmonds says she is working with some families of 9-11 victims to lobby the
9-11 Commission to investigate the Arabic translation department at the FBI.
Stay safe !
The correction is so simple that I get angry about it.
Have two teams reading the same Intel, UNKNOWN to each other. When one team continues to label material 'not pertinent to be translated' that the other team with good reason finds pertinent, you know who your traitors are. Quietly execute them and continue the program.
After that it was all traffic circle slang and screaming threats and questions as to who is making moonshine (sediki) and such. I was into the nuances of the verbage fer sure..........;o).....What I could'nt get across the launguage barrier I forced with gun barrel diplomacy ! With a little help from a Randall 14.
Stay Safe !
Stay Safe !
Did shoot a TV with the 460 Weatherby Magnum once though.....all it took was once of course and it was dead ! BTW check out Knoxx.com for new recoil pad for gunstocks.
Stay Safe !
A lot of the current intelligence data is actually being processed overseas by other governments and so the information that you get is in reality what someone else wants you to get.
Americans should be up in arms over the fact that Osama Bin Laden and his supporters are allowed to travel back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is clearly an intelligence problem.
My suggestion would be for the US government to try to make use of US citizens who live and work overseas. Or at least have a few people stationed overseas in each country that work independently of the embassy and State department.
Because of my work, I have been overseas now for almost 20 years and I find it extremely frustrating many times that our intelligence network is so completely dependent on foreigners and foreign governments.
Do you expect that foreigners truly have your best interest in mind? Do you think that paying them buys their loyalty or their disdain? The truth is that you make yourself out to be a idiot and you gain no one's respect.
There should be a very deep shame when you have one of your own loyal citizens that knows more about Al Qaeda's operations in a particular country that you do and yet you choose to rely on a citizen of that country to provide intelligence information for you. This is not "intelligence", this is sheer "stupidity" like some kind of politically correct intelligence gathering gone mad.
If you need someone to translate that speaks, reads and writes Farsi or Arabic them look for an loyal AMERICAN citizen FIRST instead of a foreigner. Our government automatically gravitates toward a foreigner each and every time. Why?
I know caucasians that speak, read and write better Chinese that Chinese Americans.
The excuse sometimes seems to be that there is a "shortage", that is a complete crock of BS. There is no "shortage" ~ logic would seem to dictate that if you can't find one in America then you might find one overseas.
Being a citizen won't guarantee patriotism.
"I know caucasians that speak, read and write better Chinese that Chinese Americans."
But we must have Diversity in our Bureau! /sarcasm
I'm of the opinion ,as are you, that Americans working and living in the regions should be employed as NOC sources of intel for RAW data.
Stay Safe !
Cheap, durable and comfy !
Gotta get outta here for now will check back this PM !........Stay safe !
NOW do you see why many people here are VERY VERY critical of the domestic component of the War on Terror? Maybe the clowns at the FBI and HSA deserve criticism.
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