In a blockbuster article two weeks ago, the UK's Sunday Times described how a criminal network of Turkish, Israeli, Pakistani and American diplomats and officials conspired to steal nuclear secrets and sell them to the highest bidder in the nuclear black market.
The article, based primarily on the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, noted that:
"The wider nuclear network has been monitored for many years by a joint Anglo-American intelligence effort. But rather than shut it down, investigations by law enforcement bodies such as the FBI and Britain's Revenue & Customs have been aborted to preserve diplomatic relations."
The decisions to preserve those "diplomatic relations" - Pakistan, Turkey and Israel - were made by people within the US Government who happened to be personally profiting from those same relationships.
In this post, I'll discuss two other dimensions of the network that the Times article didn't cover: a) The use of Turkish front groups to supply nuclear hardware to the network b) The extraordinary legal steps the US and UK governments have used to hide their guilt
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Turkish Front Groups
One of AQ Khan's American suppliers was a company with strong Turkish roots called Giza Technologies in New Jersey. Giza's 'exposure' was 'officially' the result of an anonoymous email tip in 2003, however, as we know from Sibel's case, the FBI was aware of Giza's role in the AQ Khan network at least two years earlier. According to a documentary about the nuclear black market element of Sibel's case, Kill The Messenger, Giza's CEO Zeki Bilmen "was on the FBI wiretaps translated by Sibel Edmonds" who left the FBI in early 2002.
Given what we learnt in The Times, that phone call was probably between Bilmen and either the American Turkish Council or the Turkish Embassy - both targets of FBI counter-intelligence operations.
Inexplicably, Zeki Bilmen was never charged with his involvement, and Giza continues operating to this day. In 2005, Sibel said:
And (Giza's) business – well, business is good.
They have many shipments going out, coming in, all day long. To places like Dubai, Spain, South Africa, Turkey. They have branches in all these places. Yep, they're sailing along very smoothly.
When asked how this is possible, Sibel replied:
"It's beyond logical explanation. Maybe it was decided in high places that no one would touch him."
In fact, the identity of the company was even hidden in the indictment of one Humayun Khan, a procurer for the network who was close to Pakistan's ISI. In the indictment, Giza is simply referred to as 'a broker in Secaucus, New Jersey,' whereas every other company is clearly identified.
Investigative journalist Joe Trento might have an explanation for why Giza continues to operate, and why the US government wants to hide Giza's involvement. He says that
"The CIA even started using some of the Khan network's front companies for its own purposes."
As I documented here, it is very possible that Giza one of those companies. In Kill The Messenger, an anonymous "U.S intelligence officer" who is "very familiar with Turkish espionage activities" - including Giza and the American Turkish Council - says:
"There are people within the State Department and also in the U.S Congress that were facilitating the Israelis and the Turks in obtaining proprietary information or restricted technology.
That's why there is a gag order against Sibel Edmonds!"
That technology, he notes, can be:
"Nuclear or non nuclear. For example, computer hardware, maybe software."
I think we need to act now, we don't want the smoking gun to come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
It should be a simple mater to check the records to verify if Sibel's accusations are true. Let's recheck the conversations Sibel claims to have heard!
Now that this information has oozed out and been made public, a simple Congressional investigation providing some of the long-promised oversight can get to the bottom of this simply and easily. Either Ms. Edmonds made it all up and should be punished accordingly, or the officials protected those selling nuclear secrets. Let's find out, shall we?
Oh, we can't because President Bush says the answer to this alarming accusation is double-super-top secret...
by
Gustav Wynn (60 articles, 38 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 283 comments)
on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 8:04:47 PM
IT ALL LEADS BACK TO ISRAEL, THEY WHAT TO CONTROL THE WORLD,ISRAEL HAS 13 IN OUR SENATE, 30 CONGRESSMEN, BRITIAN 56 IN PARLIAMENT, 18 IN THE HOUSE OF COMOMS, FRANCE AND UKRANE 18 EACH LEGISLATORS, RUSSIA 13, BRIZIL 11, CANADA AND HUNGRY 10 EACH, 246 JEWISH LEGISLATORS WORLD WIDE. AND WITH AIPAC, THEY ARE THE REASON WE ARE IN IRAQ, AND MOST LIKELY STRIKE IRAN. HITLER WAS HALF JEW. AND IF WE GET HILLARY AS OUR NEXT PRESIDENT WE WILL HAVE WORLD WAR III.
by
RICHARD SHADE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 460 comments)
on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 1:37:08 AM
5 comments
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