We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, August 24, 2012

The U.S. of Terrorism

Click here to access podcast featuring Lew Rockwell's 30 minute interview with Sibel Edmonds. 

You may not be aware of Sibel (pronounced siBELL, accent on second syllable) Edmonds and her unusual fight against government coverups of key government officials trading in nuclear and military secrets, some events related to 9/11, and collusion with drug trafficking and money laundering. She discovered this corruption going on while working as an FBI Turkish translator after her recruitment following the 9/11 event. 

She followed all the rules in attempting to expose this high level corruption, but at every bend in the road she was turned away by FBI officials, Dept. of Justice officials, most congressional members, the courts up to, and including, the Supreme Court--always citing State Secrets Privilege. She was retaliated against, first by losing her job, then threats against her Turkish family, smears in the media, and finally, non-coverage by mainstream media. She courageously fought back with the support of her husband, the assistance of expensive law firms, the ACLU, Daniel Ellsberg and other whistleblowers. She continues her fight through her blog, Boiling Frogs Post, her recently publish memoir of this experience entitled Classified Woman, and participation with whistleblower organizations.

She is no radical in her political views, but simply a person who has a passionate belief in the necessity of speaking truth to power. Judging by her association with Lew Rockwell and The American Conservative magazine, it is likely that her political views fit into traditional American conservative views--views espoused by such people as Patrick Buchanan and U.S. Representative Ron Paul.

"Okay, so what else is new--our government is laced with corruption?", you may well be thinking. The importance of Edmonds' experience lies with the extreme extent of the coverups. Read her self-published book, Classified Woman, and see if you don't agree that, indeed, our secret shadow government was, and is, hiding crimes of a major scale.