Let SIBEL EDMUNDS SPEAK

Thanks to triple crown choker, but valuable Atrios Commenter, Smarty Jones, comes notice of this story from today's NY Times (perhaps you've heard of the paper?):

A classified Justice Department investigation has concluded that a former F.B.I. translator at the center of a growing controversy was dismissed in part because she accused the bureau of ineptitude, and it found that the F.B.I. did not aggressively investigate her claims of espionage against a co-worker.

The Justice Department's inspector general concluded that the allegations by the translator, Sibel Edmonds, "were at least a contributing factor in why the F.B.I. terminated her services," and the F.B.I. is considering disciplinary action against some employees as a result, Robert S. Mueller III, director of the bureau, said in a letter last week to lawmakers. A copy of the letter was obtained by The New York Times.

Ms. Edmonds worked as a contract linguist for the F.B.I. for about six months, translating material in Turkish, Persian and Azerbaijani. She was dismissed in 2002 after she complained repeatedly that bureau linguists had produced slipshod and incomplete translations of important terrorism intelligence before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. She also accused a fellow Turkish linguist in the bureau's Washington field office of blocking the translation of material involving acquaintances who had come under F.B.I. suspicion and said the bureau had allowed diplomatic sensitivities with other nations to impede the translation of important terrorism intelligence.

The Edmunds matter has been fairly underwraps except for other left-wing blogs and websites for months now. Where her allegations first came to light, the Justice Department re-classified a document that had been made public supporting Edmunds claims and then fought like the hell to make sure Edmunds couldn't pursue a whistleblower claim against them.

Edmunds claims had also been found credible by Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, Chair of the Committee which had looked into many matters, including some of Edmunds claims. Grassley is certainly a conservative, but has the admirable trait of not liking the taste of Kool-Aid.

The Justice Department has imposed an unusually broad veil of secrecy on the Edmonds case, declaring details of her case to be a matter of "state secrets." The department has blocked her from testifying in a lawsuit brought by families of Sept. 11 victims, it has retroactively classified briefings Congressional officials were given in 2002, and it has classified the inspector general's entire report on its investigation into her case. As a result, groups promoting government openness have accused the Justice Department of abusing the federal procedures in place for classifying sensitive material.

Mr. Mueller's letter, sent July 21 to leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, offered a rare glimpse inside the F.B.I.'s thinking on the case, and its content surprised some congressional officials.

Now, get a load of this Double-Speak from Mueller:

In his letter, Mr. Mueller said he was pleased that the office of the inspector general "had not concluded that the F.B.I. retaliated against Ms. Edmonds when it terminated her services on April 2, 2002." At the same time, he said, "I was concerned by the O.I.G.'s conclusion that Ms. Edmonds' allegations 'were at least a contributing factor in why the F.B.I. terminated her services.' "

Um, I was pleased that the FBI did not retaliate against Ms. Edmunds when we used her complaints as a reason for firing her.

...care to explain for me Bob how that is NOT retaliation? I think I'll be waiting for some time on that one.

An official with knowledge of the report who spoke on condition of anonymity said investigators confirmed some of Ms. Edmonds's allegations about translation problems to be true, but could not corroborate others because of a lack of evidence. None of her accusations were disproved, the official said.

Ms. Edmonds said in an interview Wednesday that she had not been informed about any of the inspector general's findings and was planning a lawsuit to force the public release of the report.

She said was gratified to hear that the inspector general found that her allegations played a part in her dismissal, and she said public pressure was needed to correct what she considers continuing problems in the F.B.I.'s ability to translate terrorism intelligence.

"Here we are almost three years after Sept. 11, and these problems have not been corrected," she said. "This is one of the major problems the intelligence community is facing."

It is time for Ms. Edmunds' situation to be made more clear and the circumstances of this matter described to the American Public -- the Bush Administration's Bosses!