Author: Vanyan Gary

IN CASE OF BEING ELECTED PRESIDENT, T. KARAPETIAN NOT TO CONTINUE
DEEPENING ARMENIAN-IRANIAN RELATIONS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Tigran Karapetian, a candidate for
presidency, the Chairman of the People’s Party and the ALM holding, is
discontent with the foreign policy carried on at present. As he stated
at the January 29 press conference, in case if being elected, he will
make essential changes in that sphere. In particular, according to T.
Karapetian, he will not continue deepening Armenia’s relations with the
Islamic Republic of Iran, as that country’s President "avoided" the
visit to Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex. Instead, as the PP Chairman
mentioned, he will improve relations with Georgia for even more, but he
does not imagine establishment of diplomatic ties with Turkey and
Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the process of the election race, T. Karapetian said that
the critical abilities of some candidates do not exceed the level of
flinging mud at one another. "The forces, which have not been able to
do helpful acts, accentuate working with the protest electorate, doing
anti-propaganda to others," T. Karapetian added. Whereas, as he
mentioned, he has given tractors to villagers, as well as has taken
movable mammographic centers to remote regions for the local women to
be able to be examined there.

PRESS RELEASE
Date: February 1, 2008
Armenian National Committee of Illinois
1701 N. Greenwood, Glenview, IL 60026
Contact: Nairee Hagopian
Tel: 312-615-7698

ANC OF ILLINOIS ANNOUNCES ENDORSEMENTS IN
FEBRUARY 5TH ILLINOIS PRIMARY

Glenview, IL — Armenian American voters throughout Illinois are
gearing up for the February 5th primary elections. With the recent
announcement of the ANCA’s endorsement of Illinois Senator Barack
Obama for the Presidential Democratic Primary, the ANC of Illinois
has also announced their Congressional endorsements of the primary
races taking place this Super Tuesday.

"The ANC of Illinois plays a vital role in the Armenian community
alerting them of the best Congressional candidates that are
favorable in our issues," commented Ari Killian, ANC of Illinois
Chairman. "This past Congress we continued to build solid
relationships with various members of Congress that has led us to
the following endorsements."

Of the 14 northern Congressional districts that the ANC of Illinois
oversees, those facing challengers in the February 5th primaries
that have been endorsed by the ANCA include: Bobby Rush (D-1),
Daniel Lipinski (D-3), Danny Davis (D-7), and Janice Schakowsky (D-
9), all who have been instrumental in promoting the Armenian cause.
The ANC of Illinois has also been active in sending out the ANCA
Congressional Questionnaire to those candidates facing challengers
in the November election as well and will announce endorsements for
the November elections in the coming months.

State House Representative Paul Froehlich (D-56) was also endorsed
by the ANC of Illinois. Froehlich was instrumental in introducing
HB0312 in 2005, legislation mandating the teaching of genocide in
Illinois.

The Armenian National Committee of Illinois is part of the largest
and most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the United States and
affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively
advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad
range of issues.

ACCORDING TO AMBASSADOR OF POLAND, IF SOCIETY REALLY WISHES CHANGES, THERE IS ALWAYS POSSIBILITY OF MAKING THEM

Noyan Tapan
Jan 31, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The European Union member-countries
are interested in presidential elections in Armenia being democratic
and free.

Tomasz Knothe, the Ambassador of Poland to Armenia, stated at the
January 31 press conference. "For me, it is not important which
candidate will win, it is more important how the elections will be
held," he said.

The Ambassador said that the Ambassadors of the European Union
member-countries accredited in Armenia discussed issues concerning
Armenia’s relations with EU, as well as presidential elections at
the meeting with the President the day before. The Ambassadors, in
particular, were interested in issues regarding missions’ participation
in organization of elections.

According to T. Knothe, the Ambassadors are also observers, but
permanent and not temporary. In his words, there is a sufficient
legislative basis in Armenia for holding free and fair elections.

Answering journalists’ question of is there a real opposition in
Armenia, the Ambassador said that in any country opposition’s activity
and extent of its influence is determined through elections. He
reminded the journalists that in 1989 when there was no democratic
system in Poland yet and the communists were in power, the latters
used all reserves, but the opposition won.

In T. Knothe’s words, if society really wishes changes, there is
always a possibility of making them. The Ambassador gave assurance
that the most important is society’s willingness and the foreign
factors cannot have a great influence on country’s domestic life.

PRESS RELEASE
The Armenia Fund
Contact: Hayk Petrosyan
Tel: + (3741) 56 01 06 ext. 107
Fax: + (3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

January 30 2008

The Armenia Fund launches Khashtarak health clinic restoration project

Yerevan, January 30, 2008 – Khashtarak community’s health clinic will
undergo complete renovation as part of the Armenia Fund Rural Development
Program. The subcontractor tender has already been announced and the
construction works are expected to commence in the spring. The project will
become a reality thanks to the efforts of the Armenia Fund Netherlands
Affiliate who managed to rally the support of both the local Armenian
community and the government of the Netherlands around the idea of improving
the health care in Armenia’s border villages.

Khashtarak community is one of the six villages included in the Armenia Fund
Rural Development Program pilot cluster. The renovated clinic will serve the
needs of all these communities, providing the community members of the
border villages with a viable alternative to traveling the regional center
of Ijevan to get access to health care.

The lack of efficient health care is an almost universal issue in all of
rural Armenia. The health care point in Khashtarak is certainly no
exclusion. Only one room in the two story building is currently in use, with
the medical personnel limited to a dedicated doctor who defies the cold in
the unheated building and helps the community members with advice and an
occasional shot of medicine bought by the patients themselves from Ijevan.
In the present situation, there is little more she can do. The clinic has
received medical equipment as part of a support program but currently cannot
use it as the building’s abysmal conditions cannot accommodate their
adequate placement and maintenance.

Thus, when the need arises, (even in the case of first aid), each community
member is all alone in the difficult task of finding a running vehicle and
making the several kilometer journey to the hospital in Ijevan. The
situation is the same and worse in the other five villages constituting the
Khashtarak cluster. There, the on the spot health care is limited to nurses
who receive patients in small rooms that offer little opportunity for
organizing an effective health care process.

The implementation of this project will see a full scale reconstruction of
the health clinic in Khashtarak. This will include the whole spectrum of
associated activities including the installation of a heating system,
renovation of the leaking roof and the floor. With the reconstruction
completed, this clinic will become the base for normally functioning health
care system for the cluster as a whole. This is something that makes the
implementation of the project all the more important.

"The idea of the cluster of villages is based on our firm belief that the
small border communities will have a better chance to overcome their present
isolation, to survive and develop in the modern world if they work
together", says the Armenia Fund Executive Director Vahe Aghabegians.
"Projects like this will help people living in these villages see themselves
as an integral part of the whole and will become the basis for building
mutually beneficial and effective cooperation with their neighbors."

###

The Armenia Fund

Counte rPunch
January 29, 2008
A Sibel Edmonds Timeline
"We Can’t Afford to Let Them Spill the Beans"

By GARY LEUPP

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. Over 120 Israelis were detained
after 9/11, some failing polygraph tests when asked about their
involvement in intelligence gathering. But they were not held or
charged with any illegal activity but rather deported. As former FBI
translator and whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds has revealed, there was a
curious failure of the government before 9/11 to act upon intelligence
pertaining to an al-Qaeda attack. Most importantly Edmonds, defying
the gag order that former Attorney General Ashcroft imposed on her in
2002, is implicating Marc Grossman, formerly the number three man in
the State Department, in efforts to provide U.S. nuclear secrets to
Pakistan and Israel. She suggests this was done through Turkish
contacts and Pakistani contacts, including the former head of
Pakistan’s ISI who funneled funds to Mohamed Atta! Now there’s a
conspiracy for you.

Edmonds claims that during her time at the FBI (September 20, 2001 to
March 22, 2002) she discovered that intelligence material had been
deliberately allowed to accumulate without translation; that inept
translators were retained and promoted; and that evidence for traffic
in nuclear materials was ignored. More shockingly, she charges that
Grossman arranged for Turkish and Israeli Ph.D. students to acquire
security clearances to Los Alamos and other nuclear facilities; and
that nuclear secrets they acquired were transmitted to Pakistan and to
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the "father of the Islamic bomb," who in turn was
selling nuclear technology to Libya and other nations. She links
Grossman to the former Pakistani military intelligence chief Mahmoud
Ahmad, a patron of the Taliban who reportedly arranged for a payment
of $ 100,000 to 9/11 ringleader Atta via Pakistani terrorist Saeed
Sheikh before the attacks. She suggests that he warned Pakistani and
Turkish contacts against dealings with the Brewster Jennings Corp.,
the CIA front company that Valerie Plame was involved in as part of an
effort to infiltrate a nuclear smuggling ring. All very heady stuff,
published this month in the Times of London (and largely ignored by
the U.S. media).

She does not identify Grossman by name in the Times article, but she
has in the past, and former CIA officer Philip Giraldi does so in an
extremely interesting article in the American Conservative. From that
and many other sources, I come up with the timeline that appears
below. But first, some background on Grossman. A graduate of UC-Santa
Barbara and the London School of Economics, he was a career Foreign
Service officer from 1976 when he began to serve at the U.S. embassy
in Pakistan. He continued in that post to 1983, when he became the
Deputy Director of the Private Office of Lord Carrington, the
Secretary General of NATO. From 1989 to 1992 he was Deputy Chief of
Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Turkey, and from 1994 to 1997, U.S.
Ambassador to Turkey. As ambassador he strongly supported massive arms
deals between the U.S. and Ankara.

Thereafter he was Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs,
responsible for over 4,000 State Department employees posted in 50
sites abroad with a program budget of $1.2 billion to 2000. In 1999 he
played a leading role in orchestrating NATO’s 50th anniversary Summit
in Washington, and helped direct U.S. participation in NATO’s military
campaign in Kosovo that same year. As Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs from the beginning of George W. Bush’s
administration to January 2005, he played a bit role in the Plame
Affair, informing "Scooter" Libby of Plame’s CIA affiliation.

Grossman is close to the American Turkish Council (ATC) founded in
1994 as a sister organization to the American Israel Political Action
Committee (AIPAC). Its founders include neoconservatives involved in
the Israel-Turkey relationship, including Richard Perle and Douglas
Feith, as well as Henry Kissinger, Brent Snowcroft and former
congressman Stephen Solarz. (Perle and Feith had earlier been
registered lobbyists for Turkey through Feith’s company, International
Advisors Inc. Parle was at one point making $ 600,000 per year from
such activity). Edmonds says this is "an association in name and in
charter only, the reality is that it and other affiliated associations
are the U.S. government, lobbyists, foreign agents, and Military
Industrial Complex." (M. Christine Vick of Grossman’s Cohen Group
serves on the Board of Advisors.) Grossman is also close to the
American Turkish Association (ATA), and regularly speaks at its
events.

The both ATA and ATC have been targets of FBI investigations because
of their suspected ties with drug smuggling, but Edmonds claims she
heard wiretaps connecting ATC with other illegal activities, some
related to 9/11. The CIA has investigated it in connection with the
smuggling of nuclear secrets and material. Valerie Plame and the CIA
front group Brewster Jennings were monitoring it when Bush
administration officials leaked her identity in July 2003. Edmonds,
Giraldi, and researchers Christopher Deliso and Luke Ryland accuse him
of suspiciously enriching himself while in government service.
Nevertheless he was awarded the Foreign Service’s highest rank when
President Bush appointed him to the rank of Career Ambassador in 2004,
and received Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award the
following year.

A dual Israeli-American national, Grossman has promoted the neocon
agenda of forcing "regime change" in the Middle East. "[T]he time has
come now," he declared on the eve of the Iraq invasion, "to make a
stand against this kind of connection between weapons of mass
destruction and terrorism. And we think Iraq is a place to make that
stand first the great threat today is the nexus between weapons of
mass destruction and terrorism." But he has not been as conspicuous a
war advocate Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Libby, Bolton, and some others.
(Perle and Feith, one should note, were also deeply involved in
lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey as well as Israel in the late
1980s and early 1990s. Edelman was ambassador to Turkey 2003-05 where,
chagrined by the Turkish failure to enthusiastically support the U.S.
occupation of Iraq, he deeply offended his hosts.) Grossman seems less
an ideologue driven to make the world safer for Israel than a corrupt,
amoral, self-aggrandizing opportunist. Anyway, here is an incomplete
chronology of his alleged wrongdoing, along with other relevant
details.

2001

As newly appointed Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,
Grossman assists Turkish, Israeli and other moles—mainly Ph.D.
students—godfathering visa and arranging for security clearances to
work in sensitive research facilities, including the Los Alamos
nuclear laboratory in New Mexico. FBI taps his phone 2001-2, finds he
is receiving bribes (one for $15,000). Edmonds states: "I heard at
least three transactions like this over a period of 212 years. There
are almost certainly more."

Between Aug. and Sept: Grossman warns his Turkish associates seeking
to acquire nuclear secrets that Brewster Jennings (for whom CIA agent
Valerie Plame works) is a CIA front.

Sept. 4: Gen. <; Mahmoud
Ahmad, the chief of Pakistan’s intelligence service (ISI) arrives in
U.S., meets with Grossman and other U.S. officials.

Sept. 10: Report by Amir Mateen in Pakistani newspaper Dawn (Karachi):
"[Ahmad] also held long parleys with unspecified officials at the
White House and the Pentagon. But the most important meeting was with
Mark Grossman, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. US
sources would not furnish any details beyond saying that the two
discussed ‘matters of mutual interests.’"

Sept. 11: Gen. Ahmad is having breakfast in Washington with
Congressman Porter Goss (R-Fla.) and Senator Bob Graham (D) when
attacks occur.

(Goss had had10 years in clandestine operations in CIA and later-Sept.
22, 2003-May 5, 2006—heads the organization. Graham and Goss later
are the co-chairs of the joint House-Senate investigation that
proclaimed there was "no smoking gun" as far as President George W.
Bush having any advance knowledge of September 11.)

Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, FBI arrests people suspected of
being involved with the attacks–including four Turkish and Pakistani
associates of key targets of FBI’s counterintelligence operations.
Sibel heard the targets tell Grossman: "We need to get them out of the
U.S. because we can’t afford for them to spill the beans." Grossman
facilitates their release from jail and suspects immediately leave
U.S. without further investigation or interrogation.

Sept. 12-13: Meetings between Ahmad and Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage. Armitage threatens to bomb Pakistan "back to the
Stone Age" unless it cooperates in U.S. attack on Afghanistan. Ahmad
also meets Secretary of State Colin Powell. Agreement on Pakistan’s
collaboration is secured.

Sept. 20: Sibel Edmonds, a 32-year-old Turkish-American, hired as a
translator by the FBI.

According to Edmonds, she overheard an agent on a 2000 wiretap
discussing with Saudi businessmen in Detroit "nuclear information that
had been stolen from an air force base in Alabama," and stating: "We
have a package and we’re going to sell it for $250,000." She also
claims she listened to recordings of a high official (Grossman)
receiving bribes from Turkish officials.

Early October: Indian intelligence reports that Gen. Ahmad had in
summer of 2001 ordered Saeed Sheikh (convicted of the kidnapping and
killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl) to wire
US$100,000 from Dubai to one of hijacker Mohamed Atta’s two bank
accounts in Florida. FBI confirms story, reported on ABC news.

Oct. 7: U.S.-led Coalition begins air strikes against Taliban.

Oct. 8: Gen. Ahmad, Taliban supporter and an opponent of the U.S.
invasion of Afghanistan, forced to retire from his post as
director-general of ISI.

Late Oct.: Pakistani government arrests three Pakistani nuclear
scientists, all with close ties to Khan, for their suspected
connections with the Taliban.

2002

Early March: Edmonds sends faxes to Sens. Chuck Grassley and Patrick
Leahy on the Judiciary Committee, is called in for polygraph test;
Department of Justice inspector general’s report states "she was not
deceptive in her answers."

March: Grossman keynote speaker at ATC conference.

March 22: Edmunds fired, allegedly for shoddy work, security breaches.

Oct. 27: Edmonds appears on CBS’ "60 Minutes" program.

Dec: Grossman visits Turkey, approves $3 billion U.S. aid to Turkey
for the Iraq Cooperation deal.

2003

March 3: In interview for Dutch television, Grossman says, ""[T]he
time has come now to make a stand against this kind of connection
between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. And we think Iraq
is a place to make that stand first the great threat today is the
nexus between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism."

May 29: Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff "Scooter" Libby asks
Grossman for information about news report about the secret envoy sent
by the CIA to Africa in 2002. Grossman requests a classified memo from
Carl Ford, the director of the State Department’s intelligence bureau,
and later orally briefs Libby on its contents.

Mid-June: Powell and his deputy secretary Richard Armitage may have
received a copy of the Grossman memo.

June 10: Grossman asks the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)
for a briefing on the Niger uranium issue, and specifically the State
Department’s opposition to the continuing White House view that Iraq
had tried to buy yellow cake. The resulting memo is dated the same
day, and drawn from notes on the February 19 meeting at the CIA on the
Wilson mission and other sources. Memo is classified "Top Secret," and
contains in one paragraph, separately marked ‘(S/NF)" for "Secret/No
dissemination to foreign governments or intelligence agencies, " two
sentences describing in passing Valerie "Wilson’s" identity as a CIA
operative and her role in the inception of the Wilson trip to Niger.
This June 10 memo reportedly does not use her maiden name Plame.

June 17-July 9: Senate Judiciary Committee holds unclassified hearings
on Edmunds’ allegations.

June 19: letter from Senior Republican Senator, Charles Grassley, and
Senior Democrat Senator, Patrick Leahy to Inspector General Glenn A.
Fine concerning Edmonds’ allegations.

July 14: Robert Novak reveals Plame’s CIA identity.

July 22: Edmonds files suit against the Department of Justice, the
FBI, and several high-level officials, alleging that she was
wrongfully terminated from the FBI in retaliation for reporting
criminal activities committed by government employees.

Aug. 13: letter from two senators to Attorney General Ashcroft
concerning Sibel Edmonds’ allegations.

Aug. 15: 600 victims of the 9/11 attacks file suit (Burnett v. Al
Baraka Investment & Dev. Corp.), request from Edmonds deposition
providing evidence for U.S. government foreknowledge of 9-11 attacks.

Sept. 22: Goss made CIA Director (resigns May 5, 2006).

Oct. 18, 2002: Attorney General John Ashcroft invokes the State
Secrets Privilege (requested not by Justice Department but by State
department) in order to prevent disclosure of the nature of Edmonds’
work on the grounds that it would endanger national security, and
asked that her wrongful termination suit be dismissed. In effect
places Edmonds under a gag order.

Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Ca.) expresses outrage at gag order,
promises that a Democratic majority in Congress would conduct
hearings. (This has not been done.)

Oct. 28: Letter from two senators to FBI Director Robert Mueller
concerning Sibel Edmonds’ allegations.

Dec. 11, Attorney General Ashcroft again invoking the State Secrets
Privilege, files a motion calling for Edmonds’ deposition in Burnett
v. Al Baraka case be suppressed and for the entire case to be
dismissed. The judge, seeking more information, orders government to
produce any unclassified material relating to the case. In response,
Ashcroft submits further statements to justify the use of the State
Secrets Privilege.

Dec: Gross back in Turkey to approve Turkey’s eligibility to
participate in tenders for Iraq’s reconstruction.

2004

Grossman achieves Foreign Service’s highest rank when President Bush
appoints him to rank of Career Ambassador.

Patrick Leahy calls for investigation; Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican
Chairman of the Senate, blocks it.

May 13: Ashcroft retroactively classifies all material that had been
provided to Senate Judiciary Committee in 2000 relating to Edmond’s
lawsuit, as well as the senators’ letters that had already been posted
on line by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

June 23: POGO files lawsuit against Justice Department for classifying
material it had published; Justice Department fails to get the case
dismissed.

July 6: Edmonds suit dismissed on state secrets grounds.

July : Edmonds files appeal. On same day, Inspector General releases
unclassified summary of a highly classified report on an investigation
that had concluded "that many of her allegations were supported, that
the FBI did not take them seriously enough, and that her allegations
were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI’s decision to
terminate her services. Rather than investigate Edmonds’ allegations
vigorously and thoroughly, the FBI concluded that she was a disruption
and terminated her contract."

August: Edmonds founds the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
(NSWBC) to address U.S. security weaknesses.

December: Grossman the key speaker at an ATC Conference held at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel.

2005

Grossman receives Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award.

January: Grossman quits his government job. Eric Edelman, another
former ambassador to Turkey, takes job of Under Secretary of Defence
for Policy.

January: Pakistani nuclear engineer A. Q. Khan confesses to having
been involved in a clandestine international network of nuclear
weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and
North Korea.

Feb. 5: Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf announces he has
pardoned Khan. U.S. response is mild.

March: Grossman made vice-chairman of Cohen Group.

Feb. 18: Justice Department under new attorney general backs away from
claim that documents posted by POGO were classified.

April 21: In the hours before the hearing of her appeal, three judges
issued a ruling that barred all reporters and the public from the
courtroom. During the proceedings, Edmonds was not allowed into the
courtroom for the hearing.

May 6: Edmonds’ case dismissed, no reason provided, no opinion cited.

May 14: In open letter, Edmonds states the governments wants to
silence here to "protect certain diplomatic relations" and to "protect
certain U.S. foreign business relations." Says the "foreign relations"
mentioned in the gag order "are not in the interest of, or of benefit
to, the majority of Americans, but instead serve and protect a small
minority."

June 20: Edmonds writes: "(In) April 2001, a long-term FBI
informant/asset who had been providing the bureau with information
since 1990, provided two FBI agents and a translator with specific
information regarding a terrorist attack being planned by Osama Bin
Laden. For almost four years since September 11, officials refused to
admit to having specific information regarding the terrorists’ plans
to attack the United States. The Phoenix Memo, received months prior
to the 9/11 attacks, specifically warned FBI HQ of pilot training and
their possible link to terrorist activities against the US. Four
months prior to the terrorist attacks the Iranian asset provided the
FBI with specific information regarding the ‘use of airplanes’, ‘major
US cities as targets’, and ‘Osama Bin Laden issuing the order.’ Coleen
Rowley likewise reported that specific information had been provided
to FBI HQ."

July 20: Unidentified as a "retired state department official"
Grossman tells AP that a classified State Department memo disputed the
legitimacy of administration claims that Iraq sought to acquire
uranium from Niger, also contained a few lines about Plame Wilson’s
CIA employment, marked as secret.

August 5: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) petitioned for the
Supreme Court of the United States to review the lower courts’
application of the State Secret Privilege in both lawsuits. The ACLU
claims that the courts conflated the State Secrets Privilege and the
Totten rule.

Sept. 28: Washington Post cites unnamed former administration source
(Grossman) as stating that the outing of Plame was "Clearly..meant
purely and simply for revenge.

Oct. 28: In Patrick Fitzgerald’s indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter"
Libby, Grossman is the Under Secretary of State mentioned as giving
information about Plame to Libby.

Nov.: Grossman attends lavish Turkish Ottoman Dinner Gala, receives
award from Turkish lobby group, the Assembly of American Turkish
Association (ATAA) in Chicago.

Nov. 28: the Supreme Court declined to review the decisions made in
the Edmonds case.

2006

March: Grossman the key speaker at the ATC annual conference.

June: Grossman key speaker at MERIA Conference, discussing Turkey’s
importance to U.S. and Israel.

Sept. 2006: a documentary about Sibel Edmonds’ case called Kill The
Messenger ("Une Femme à Abattre") premiers in France

2007

January 24: Grossman first to testify in Libby trial. Says he informed
Libby of Plame’s involvement "in about 30 seconds of conversation" in
June 2003.

Nov: Grossman subpoenaed by defense in AIPAC trial.

Nov. 26: Grossman, now Vice Chairman of the consulting firm the Cohen
Group, attends a major Security Conference in Riga, Latvia.

2008

January: Edmonds posts, without comment, photos of current and former
officials and Turkish associates on website: Richard Perle, Eric
Edelman, Marc Grossman, Brent Snowcroft, Larry Franklin, Ex-House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, Roy Blunt (R-Mo), Dan Burton (R-Ind.), Tom
Lantos (D-Ca.), Bob Livingston (ex-House Speaker, R-La.), Stephen
Solarz (D-NY), Graham Fulle (RAND), David Makovsky (WINEP), Martin
Markovsky (WINEP), Yusuf Turani (president in exile of Turkmenistan),
Prof. Sabri Sayari (Columbia University, WINEP), Mehmet Eymur (former
head of Turkish counter-terrorism).

Jan. 6: Times of London carries story, "For sale: West’s deadly
nuclear secrets." States that a high official "was aiding foreign
operatives against US interests by passing them highly classified
information, not only from the State Department but also from the
Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives."
Claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence against senior
Pentagon officials–including household names–who were aiding foreign
agents.

"If you made public all the information that the FBI have on this
case, you will see very high-level people going through criminal
trials."

Jan. 22: White House issues statement declaring its intention to
approve sale of nuclear secrets to Turkey; Joshua Franks writes, "It
appears the White House has been spooked by Edmonds and hopes to
absolve the U.S. officials allegedly involved in the illegal sale of
nuclear technology to private Turkish ‘entities’." Frank identifies
Grossman as one of these officials.

* * * * *

Edmonds is tirelessly and fearlessly campaigning for Congressman
Waxman, now chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, to hold hearings. She says that FBI agents and even former
Turkish intelligence officials are willing and able to validate her
charges. But the congressman hesitates, perhaps fearing the storm of
indignation that explosive evidence will produce in a country sick of
its politicians, the lying neocons, and the war. Should they discover
that, while disseminating disinformation about foreign nukes in order
to fearmonger and build support for aggressive war, some of these
officials were actually peddling nuclear secrets-committing treason
while receiving honors for their patriotic service—the response
could be explosive.

The Office of Special Plans under Abram Shulsky and Douglas Feith
cherry-picked the intelligence vetted through the New York Times to
terrify people into supporting an attack on Iraq. Democratic leaders
have in the past urged an investigation of that spooky office, but
furnished the opportunity since November 2006, they have declined to
hold hearings. The Italian parliament conducted a study of the Niger
uranium hoax, fingering neocon Michael Ledeen as a key suspect in
forging documents designed to provide a casus belli before the Iran
attack. Congress does nothing to follow up. In effect they are saying
that the administration has a right to lie to the people. The
presidential pardon granted Libby is a clear statement that it’s okay
to punish whistle-blowers like Joseph Wilson. The Supreme Court
refuses to hear Edmonds’ appeal. It seems that all three branches of
government compete to coddle the most unscrupulous and lawless
officials, while marginalizing or punishing honest citizens who expose
the rot.

The publication of the National Intelligence Estimate undercutting the
administration’s case for attacking Iran indicates that there are in
the U.S. intelligence community persons alarmed by the
administration’s lies and efforts to justify more aggression based on
lies. It enrages the neocons, who with Norman Podhoretz in the lead
have been praying for Bush to bomb Iran. The arrest and conviction of
Feith subordinate Larry Franklin shows that within the FBI there are
forces disturbed at the close connections between the neocons, Israeli
intelligence, and the Israel lobby and willing to take action against
lawbreaking. But Feith and Perle have both been investigated before,
Perle for discussing classified information with Israeli Embassy staff
in an FBI-monitored phone call in Washington in 1970. But the cases
dropped for apparent political reasons. Perhaps the Grossman story
will gain some traction. Maybe it will prove egregious enough that the
tide will turn. Maybe Bush’s last year of office will see the neocons’
thorough exposure, humiliation and defeat.

Or maybe Waxman, Rep. Conyers and others in positions to honestly
confront this most mendacious of administrations will continue to
dither, feeding the assumption of the most vicious, cynical and
corrupt that they are indeed above the law. And earning the contempt
of those naïve enough to expect serious congressional oversight of a
rogue regime.

Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct
Professor of Comparative Religion. He is the author of Servants,
Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male
Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and
Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women,
1543-1900. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch’s merciless
chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, Imperial
Crusades.

He can be reached at: [email protected]

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PRAISES MEDIA FOR ‘POSITIVE’ CHANGES

ARMENPRESS
Jan 28, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS: Chairman of the National Democratic
Union (NDU) party Vazgen Manukian, one of nine candidates to contest
the February 19 presidential election, said today media provides
equal access to air waves to all candidates.

Manukian, speaking to journalists, praised it for a set of ‘positive’
changes. Nevertheless, he complained that despite extensive coverage
of all nine presidential candidates’ campaigns some of newspapers
and TV stations do not show or write what he would like to be shown
or written.

He also justified retaliatory attacks by some of the candidates saying
if one of them is assaulted by others, it is normal to expect the
attacked one to respond.

"What I can not accept in this struggle is when a candidate claims
that all others who are not with him are government puppets,’ he said.

Manukian also argued that unlike the 2003 election this time there
are no frontrunners among opposition candidates.

PACE OBSERVATION MISSION ARRIVES IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.01.2008 19:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) has arrived in Yerevan.

On January 29, the representatives of PACE will hold meetings with
the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran Torosian,
members of the Armenian Delegation in PACE, representatives of the
OSCE Observation Mission.

The same day, the members of PACE Delegation will meet the Chairmen
of the Central Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court of
Armenia, members of the Council of Europe member-states.

On January 30, the representatives of PACE will meet with presidential
hopefuls and incumbent President Robert Kocharian.

On January 31, the members of the delegation will hold a meeting with
the Foreign Minister and the Head of the Armenian Police, members of
the National Commission on TV and Radio and the members of the Board
of the Public TV-Radio Company, elections2008.am reports.

Today, Azerbaijan
Jan 28 2008

Khazar Ibragim: "Only after the Azerbaijani lands, occupied by
Armenians, are released, will it be possible to speak about
construction of hydroelectric power stations with Iran"

28 January 2008 [14:39] – Today.Az

The issue of the construction of hydroelectric power stations on the
Iranian-Azerbaijani border can be settled only after release of the
Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia.

The due statement was made by spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of
Azerbaijan Khazar Ibragim, commenting on the issue of the
construction of an Iranian hydroelectric power station on the border
with Azerbaijan, which is currently under Armenian occupation, Day.Az
reports.

He noted that the discussions regarding the construction of a
hydroelectric power station on the Iranian border had been held since
the USSR period.

"Yet, after the USSR collapsed and a part of Azerbaijani lands were
occupied by Armenians, the construction of this establishment became
impossible. Naturally, Azerbaijan will undertake steps to improve the
living conditions of its citizens, residing in these territories and
may initiate the construction of this station after the occupied
lands are released. Currently, Iran works on its territory and joint
operation on the territory of Azerbaijan will be able only after
release", he said.

Kh.Ibragim noted that Azerbaijan controls this issue and it will not
agree to conduction of works in its occupied lands.

/Day.Az/

URL:

POSSIBLE ECONOMIC RECESSION IN U.S. TO HAVE IMPACT ON ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Jan 24, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The anticipated economic recession
in the U.S. will have some impact on the Armenian economy as well,
the director of the Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre
(AEPLAC) Tigran Jrbashian stated at the January 24 press conference. In
his words, the possible consequences of this impact should be clearly
evaluated now in order to take steps aimed at their mitigation. He
said that the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has been conducting
dicussions and studies on this issue for four months.

According to T. Jrbashian, if the recession becomes reality
and continues long in the U.S, economic growth will slow down
worldwide. "We will have problems with prices of metals and raw
materials, which represents the second largest source of our economic
growth," he said. The possible recession in the U.S. may also affect
the amounts of remittances to Armenia.

"They will decrease and result in a change of our economic conditions,"
he remarked.

In the economist’s opinion, it is still early to speak about global
recession. However, in his words, "its phantom is moving, making a
serious influence on all markets". It has already begun to affect the
oil market: oil prices have fallen by about 4% in the last two years.

SOPRANO’S ETHNICITY GIVES HER ROOTS FROM WHICH TO GROW AN EXOTIC SOUND
By Paul Horsley

Kansas City Star
/457270.html
Jan 24 2008
MO

Isabel Bayrakdarian is not just a globe-trotting soprano, she’s an
Armenian-Canadian and proud of it.

Her ethnic background is important enough to her that she mentions
it in her official bio. Because, she said, it’s an essential part of
understanding who she is as an artist and a person.

"My identity makes me feel unique because I can express and approach
music having had a completely different database of emotions and
experiences," said the Lebanese-born soprano, who immigrated with
her family to Canada at age 14.

"For about 2,000 years, our identity and our culture has been defined
by the duality of keeping our language alive and keeping our faith
alive. The Armenian language is unique: There is no other language
that you can say it’s related to."

As a result, even when she sings Mozart – as she did last season
in the Metropolitan Opera’s "The Magic Flute" – you should hear the
difference "because the approach or the sensitivity to a phrase is
instinctively different."

Critics and audiences have certainly heard the difference, and she’s
now one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos among us. On Saturday
at the Folly Theater, she joins a long line of great opera stars who
have sung recitals on the Harriman-Jewell Series.

She’ll be accompanied by her husband, New York-born composer and
pianist John Musto.

But there are other sides to the 30-something Bayrakdarian
(ba-rok-DAH-rian) than opera, most notably her interest in Armenian
folk and sacred music.

She first sought vocal training, in fact, so that she could be a better
singer in the Armenian church. The style of singing there is free and
flowing, almost cantorial, she said, with "gorgeous, soaring lines."

Perfect preparation, as it turned out, for a future opera singer. But
that was the last thing on her mind at the time. Things began to take
off during her college years, but her voice teacher still urged her
to have a backup plan.

She got a degree in biomedical engineering.

You mean, like, cloning?

"Yes, that’s right," she said with a laugh. So far she hasn’t had to
use her degree to support herself, but having it gives her a freedom
that she enjoys.

"You can’t imagine the times I’ve had the courage to say no to a role
because in my mind I had the confidence that I always had something
to fall back on. Mimi (in ‘La Boheme’) at 22 was not good for my
voice. It was empowering that I had something else."

Some of Bayrakdarian’s other sidelines are as interesting as her
opera career. It was her CD of Armenian hymns, "Joyous Light," that
captured the ear of Hollywood composer Howard Shore, who immediately
wanted to find out who she was.

"This is the voice I’ve been looking for," Shore said and sought
her out for the score of "The Two Towers," the second "Lord of the
Rings" film.

The silvery purity of Bayrakdarian’s voice makes the haunting song
"Evenstar" one of the score’s highlights.

Involvement with the film has brought the singer into contact with a
whole new audience, a phenomenon that was repeated when she sang on
a Grammy-nominated track for the electronica group Delerium.

"I still get fan mail from people who’ve never, ever been exposed to
opera," she said.

People see her name on Shore’s soundtrack or on Delerium’s "Nuages
du Monde." They Google it, follow the link to her Web site,
bayrakdarian.com, and then listen to the sample tracks.