"GIRALDI: And Grossman received money as a result. In one case, you said that a State Department colleague went to pick up a bag of money…
EDMONDS: $14,000
GIRALDI: What kind of information was Grossman giving to foreign countries? Did he give assistance to foreign individuals penetrating U.S. government labs and defense installations as has been reported? It’s also been reported that he was the conduit to a group of congressmen who become, in a sense, the targets to be recruited as “agents of influence.”
EDMONDS: Yes, that’s correct. Grossman assisted his Turkish and Israeli contacts directly, and he also facilitated access to members of Congress who might be inclined to help for reasons of their own or could be bribed into cooperation. The top person obtaining classified information was Congressman Tom Lantos. A Lantos associate, Alan Makovsky worked very closely with Dr. Sabri Sayari in Georgetown University, who is widely believed to be a Turkish spy. Lantos would give Makovsky highly classified policy-related documents obtained during defense briefings for passage to Israel because Makovsky was also working for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
GIRALDI: Makovsky is now working for the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy, a pro-Israeli think tank." Giraldi
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A remarkable interview. Giraldi is a very respected retired CIA field man.
What emerges from the article is a picture of the Washington of the "K Street Project," the revolving door, consultants sold out to foreign governments, foreign national intelligence agencies doing their duty in seeking to learn American government secrets, foreign connected lobbies working hard to suborn the US Congress. Hanging over the whole thing is a miasma of endless, meaningless, boring symposia, conferences, power lunches, etc. I think it was probably ever thus.
I am disappointed to think that Scowcroft is really like this.
I always wondered what lay behind Grossman's supercilious arrogance. There usually is something, something. pl
Download The American Conservative — Who’s Afraid of Sibel Edmonds
Mind-boggling tale. If even only a fourth of it were true I don’t see why the MSM isn’t picking up on this. A Pulitzer to the first reporter who can independently verify this interview.
Ah, the lines of once respected personas like Scowcroft who have sold their American soul to foreign governments for mere pittances.
K Street be damned! It should be called traitors row. What would our forefathers have called their behavior? Which type of tree (hickory or oak) would the forefathers use as their equalizer with what type of knot at the end of the rope?
What ever happened to the oath of fielty to our Constitution, are they not more than just mere words?
J
I am not sure that most of our forefathers were much better. Pl
Thanks, once again, to Colonel Lang for calling attention to this story, well-known to many but nevertheless seemingly invisible for years now to the “responsible media”.
In a somewhat related vein, I would ask for the Colonel’s views on this report
http://tinyurl.com/ydelhq4
regarding the (apparently well documented) use of torture at Guantanamo JUST TO OBTAIN FALSE CONFESSIONS, that is, without even a fig-leaf of “clear and present danger” or a “ticking bomb”. The Colonel has earned my admiration for his forthright stand on this question, so it may be that this story is merely a further indication of the correctness of that position. Nevetheless, it seems particularly egregious, and, to me as an American, particularly shameful.
… foreign national intelligence agencies doing their duty in seeking to learn American government secrets.
Good point. It is well worth acknowledging that spying is not just done by enemies. Advancing and protecting a state’s interests is a principal duty of its government. And it is not just unfriendly states that spy. Countries that are fairly close often have even more of a reason. The US, by virtue of the UNSC veto, makes it such a target by our erstwhile friend, Israel. It will be interesting to see if Netanyahu’s electioneering promise to have Pollard freed is fulfilled. While he is a hero in Israel he is an rightly an embarassment to patriotic American Jews like Admiral Shapiro.
From Wiki:
Admiral Shapiro, who was himself Jewish, stated that he was troubled by the support of Jewish organizations for Pollard: “We work so hard to establish ourselves and to get where we are, and to have somebody screw it up… and then to have Jewish organizations line up behind this guy and try to make him out a hero of the Jewish people, it bothers the hell out of me”.
Bennedict Arnold and Aaron Burr. They just didn’t run think tanks.
Colonel,
Ah yes, the selfish self-centeredness of the human psyche make-up at play knows no particular Century or time-frame. Morals and a conscious be damned! Robert the Bruce all over again.
K-Street should be re-named ‘Traitors Row’!
Hannah
I have been consulted by the defense in several similar habeas cases at Gitmo, and so I can say no more. pl
Interesting that Turkey used a professor at MIT to start placing potential or actual agents in various government agencies. What is China up to since they have even more PhD’s and PhD candidates all over the US?
I can’t wait to see how my Congressman answers my questions this Saturday. A the joy I’ll feel at this fundraising dinner.
Sibel Edmonds had only a small vantage point on the vast world of American foreign and military policy. Now imagine if her assertions are correct, and what she saw was not an aberration but standard operating procedure. And there is reason to believe that it may well be. Otherwise, why the intense effort to cover up few little rogue operators?
In my mind, the perpetrators of the Iraq and Afghanistan operations have never been able to account for their actions in terms of national security. After all the initial explanations for invading Iraq were exposed as false, there is still no official consensus as to what the ultimate goal was. And NATO involvement in Afghanistan is beginning to look like it has no more purpose than a dog chasing its tail around.
When policy makers cannot give a good, clear accounting of their actions, one that bears scrutiny, there is usually something, something.