State Department

Office Working to Close Guantánamo Is Shuttered

"FORT MEADE, Md. — The State Department on Monday reassigned Daniel Fried, the special envoy for closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and will not replace him, according to an internal personnel announcement. Mr. Fried’s office is being closed, and his former responsibilities will be “assumed” by the office of the department’s legal adviser, the notice said.

The announcement that no senior official in President Obama’s second term will succeed Mr. Fried in working primarily on diplomatic issues pertaining to repatriating or resettling detainees appeared to signal that the administration does not currently see the closing of the prison as a realistic priority, despite repeated statements that it still intends to do so.

Mr. Fried will become the department’s coordinator for sanctions policy and will work on issues including Iran and Syria.

Obama's Failed Promise to Close Gitmo: A Timeline

"President Obama promised to shut down the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility during his first presidential campaign. But five years later, the controversial prison remains open. The Obama administration finally shut down something today, but the move will only frustrate civil libertarians even more. Because with Guantánamo's closure still indefinitely delayed, the office responsible for closing the prison has itself been closed. The New York Times's Charlie Savage reports that Daniel Fried—the State Department's the special envoy for closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba—has been reassigned and will not be replaced. The news comes on the same day that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other Guantánamo detainees began another round of pre-trial hearings for the attacks of September 11, 2001, a case that will surely reignite a fierce debate about the role of due process, torture, and oversees detention facilities. The Obama administration's latest seeming deferral adds yet another entry to the long timeline of failed attempts to shut down Gitmo".

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2013/01/obama-closing-guantanamo-timeline/61509/

'Curveball' admits he lied about Iraqi WMD; Wilkerson implicates Bush and Cheney

Cheney’s office misled Colin Powell on Iraq threat, former aide says
The Raw Story, February 19, 2011

Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Friday that former vice president Dick Cheney’s office misled his old boss with bogus information to sell the Iraq War to the American people. This talk with MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur Friday came in the wake of Iraqi defector Rafid Ahmed Alwan Al-Janabi nicknamed “Curveball” admitting he lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

FOIA? FOOLED 'YA!

FOIA? FOOLED YA!

(First In A Series On Freedom of Information At Hilary Clinton's State Department)

By

J. Michael Springmann

The U.S. Department of State evidently believes that it is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the Privacy Act (PA), laws passed in the aftermath of Richard Nixon's Watergate. It fiercely fights the public's attempts to learn about waste, fraud, corruption, mismanagement, and abuse of authority amongst America's diplomats. This is particularly bad for a U.S. government agency, but worse for State since the Director of its FOIA office is Margaret Grafeld, who works for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). That's the organization which, until comparatively recently, didn't have a sign outside its Langley, Va. headquarters and still does not provide anything more than a zip code for a mailing address.

U.S. Had 'High Confidence' Of UBL Attack In June 2001

Based on State Dept. cables- see original for links - loose nuke

http://intelwire.egoplex.com/2008_11_07_exclusives.html
November 07, 2008

U.S. Had 'High Confidence' Of UBL Attack In June 2001

Taliban Warned By Powell That Afghanistan Would Be Held Responsible For Harboring Terrorists Who Killed Americans
By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

Less than three months before September 11, Secretary of State Colin Powell warned the Taliban that American intelligence had "high confidence" that "Afghan-based and other operatives are now planning on carrying out attacks against Americans."

Powell's warning was conveyed to the Taliban by U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam, who specifically discussed Osama bin Laden with the Taliban's representative Abdul Salam Zaeef.

After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Zaeef was arrested as an "unlawful combatant" and detained at Guantanamo Bay for three years before being released into house arrest in Afghanistan.

Two cables obtained by INTELWIRE under the Freedom of Information Act detail the warnings, as well as the specific concern about an impending attack against the United States.

FBI Whistleblower Names Names - Transcript, Oct 23 Horton Interview of Edmonds and Cole

This post is to preserve the transcript of Scott Horton's Oct 23 interview of Sibel Edmonds and John Cole- mp3 previously posted at 911blogger here http://www.911blogger.com/node/21726. Please support Horton and antiwar.com by visiting the original:

http://original.antiwar.com/scott/2009/11/01/fbi-whistleblower-names-names/

FBI Whistleblower Names Names
Scott Horton interviews Sibel Edmonds and John M. Cole, November 02, 2009

Interview recorded Oct. 23, 2009. Listen to the interview.

Scott Horton: For Antiwar.com and KAOS Radio 95.9 in Austin, Texas, I’m Scott Horton, and this is Antiwar Radio.

I’m happy to welcome to the show Sibel Edmonds and John M. Cole. Of course, I’ve talked with Sibel, the former FBI translator-turned whistleblower, numerous times on this show and various other shows of mine over the years, and this will be the first time we have John Cole joining her.

BradBlog: Upcoming Cover Story on Edmonds 'Outs' Video-taped, 'Blackmailed' Dem Congresswoman; Alleges State Dept. Mole at NYT

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7427

By Brad Friedman on 9/21/2009 10:17AM
Exclusive: Upcoming Cover Story on Edmonds 'Outs' Video-taped, 'Blackmailed' Dem Congresswoman; Alleges State Dept. Mole at NYTimes; MUCH MORE...

'American Conservative' mag's description of interview with previously-gagged FBI whistleblower as 'explosive' may prove to be a gross understatement
Blackmail, bribery, infiltration, theft and sale of nuke secrets by Turkey, Israel explained in clearer detail than ever before...

On Friday, we reported on the coming exclusive American Conservative cover story interview with formerly-gagged FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds by quoting the magazine's own teaser description of the piece as "explosive". Over the weekend, we received an embargoed look at the final version of the AmCon interview by former CIA officer Phil Giraldi, and yes, "explosive", may be a vast understatement. At least if the U.S. corporate media bothers to notice it this time.

Sibel Edmonds Deposition: Deep Corruption Beneath the Surface

I went to the Sibel Edmonds deposition and shot video of the Q&A sessions outside; click the link for hyperlinks and 24" video:
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/sibel-edmonds-deposition-deep-corruption-beneath-surface

By Erik Larson

Aug 8, 2009, Sibel Edmonds gave a sworn deposition in which she testified to her knowledge of treasonous crimes and corruption involving current and former members of Congress and State and Defense Dept. officials. Given the nature of the deposition, the lines of questioning focused on Turkish espionage and services obtained through bribery and blackmail by Turkish officials and proxies. However, Edmonds has previously disclosed that the corruption involving U.S. officials also includes money laundering, trafficking in drugs, arms and nuclear secrets, U.S. support for Bin Laden/Al Qaeda, and obstruction of FBI investigations related to 9/11, before and after the attacks; she said these things came up “briefly” during the deposition. Edmonds learned of these things from wiretaps she listened to while working as a translator for the FBI in 2001-2002.

Video coverage from VelvetRevolution.us and BradBlog.com

“We Can’t Afford to Let Them Spill the Beans” (Sibel Edmonds on Marc Grossman) by Gary Leupp

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/01/%e2%80%9cwe-can%e2%80%99t-afford-to-let-them-spill-the-beans%e2%80%9d/

“We Can’t Afford to Let Them Spill the Beans”
Sibel Edmonds on Marc Grossman
by Gary Leupp / January 28th, 2008

I am not one to easily embrace conspiracy theories, and in particular have found the idea that 9-11 was somehow an inside job too incredible for serious consideration. On the other hand, there are some very fishy aspects to some officials’ behavior pertaining to the attacks. Justin Raimondo has made a very good case for the fact that Mossad agents posing as “Israeli art students” were tracking al-Qaeda operatives in the U.S. before 9/11.

Sibel Edmonds vs. the Nuclear Terrorists (full text/linked)

This the full text/linked version of the outline i previously posted- visit the opednews link for the html links in the article body

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_better_w_080522_sibel_edmonds_vs__th.htm

This is a primer on Sibel Edmonds; her story will be of interest to anyone concerned about US national security and sovereignty; terrorism; 9/11 truth; and abuse of power by public officials. All claims of fact in this article can be sourced in the Sibel Edmonds:US Government Timeline and the Media Coverage Timeline at the bottom of the article. Her allegations listed in this article, and the documents/articles linked in the timelines are not exhaustive.

US: Sept. 11 not a pretext to invade

US: Sept. 11 not a pretext to invade

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=50882&sectionid=3510203

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:52:51

(See: Iranian President Ahmadinejad: US used September 11 as 'pretext' for invasions

http://911blogger.com/node/14860 )

"We went into Afghanistan because that's where the attack originated. We went after al-Qaeda, we went after the Taliban. Afghanistan was a failed state," Sean McCormack noted.

Commenting on the reasons for invading Iraq, McCormack dismissively remarked that the issue has been discussed at length and the reasons for invading Iraq are clearly understood.

Sibel Edmonds vs. the Nuclear Terrorists

This is the outline for a speech i recently delivered in my Communications class- 13 people including the teacher, no one had ever heard of her, 3 seemed uninterested/annoyed, the rest were interested, some deeply, some seemed a bit shaken up, at least 3 (including the teacher) took note of her website "justacitizen.org" when i mentioned that at the end. I'll be adapting this as a longer article with sources linked, but this outline format worked well for the speech- i practiced it about 5 times and basically just delivered the outline- 7"30'

France Knew Of Hijack Plot Before 9/11

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/16/world/main2689205.shtml

France Knew Of Hijack Plot Before 9/11

PARIS, April 16, 2007(AP) France's foreign intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that al Qaeda was preparing a hijacking plot likely to involve a U.S. airplane, former intelligence officials said Monday, confirming a report that also said the CIA received the warning.

Le Monde newspaper said it had obtained 328 pages of classified documents on Osama bin Laden's terror network that were drawn up by the French spy service, the DGSE, between July 2000 and October 2001. The documents included a Jan. 5, 2001, intelligence report warning that al Qaeda was at work on a hijacking plot.

Pierre-Antoine Lorenzi, the former chief of staff for the agency's director at the time, said he remembered the note and that it mentioned only the vague outlines of a hijacking plot — nothing that foreshadowed the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

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