The highjacking of a nation, part 2: The auctioning of former statesmen
& dime a dozen generals
By Sibel Edmonds
Online Journal Guest Writer
Nov 30, 2006, 01:10
"The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from
behind the scenes."- – Justice Felix Frankfurter
It used to be the three branches — legislative, the executive, and the
courts — that we considered the make-up of our nation’s federal
government. And some would point to the press as a possible fourth
branch, due to the virtue of its influence in shaping our policies.
Today, more and more people have come to view corporate and foreign
lobby firms, with their preponderant clout and enormous power, as the
official fourth branch of our nation’s government. Not only do I agree
with them, I would even take it a step further and give it a higher
status it certainly deserves.
Operating invisibly under the radar of media and public scrutiny, lobby
groups and foreign agents have become the ‘epicenter’ of our government,
where former statesmen and ‘dime a dozen generals’ cash in on their
connections and peddle their enormous influence to the highest bidders
turned clients. These groups’ activities shape our nation’s policies and
determine the direction of the flow of its taxpayer driven wealth, while
to them the interests of the majority are considered irrelevant, and the
security of the nation is perceived as inconsequential.
In Part 1
< rticle_1442.shtml> of this
series, I used Saudi influence via its lobby and foreign agents by
default as a case to illustrate how certain foreign interests, combined
with their U.S. agents and benefactors, override the interests and
security of the entire nation. This illustrative model case involved
three major elements: the purchasing of a few ‘dime a dozen generals,’
bidding high in the auctioning of ‘former statesmen,’ and buying one or
two ex-congressmen turned lobbyists. In addition, the piece emphasized
the importance of the "Military Industrial Complex (MIC)," which became
a de facto ‘foreign agent’ by the universally recognized principle of
‘mutual benefit.’
This article will attempt to illustrate the functioning of the above
model in the case of another country, the Republic of Turkey, and its
set of agents and operators in the U.S. In doing so, I want to emphasize
the importance of separating the populace of example nations — Saudi
Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan . . . — from their regimes and select
key participating actors. As is the case with our nation, they too
suffer the consequences of their regime’s self-serving policies and
conduct. Not only that, they also have to endure what they consider
‘U.S. imposed policies’ that further the interests of only a few. Think
of it this way, the majority of us in the States do not see the infamous
and powerful neocon cabal as the chosen and accepted representatives of
our nation’s values and objectives. We do not want to be perceived and
judged based on the actions of a few at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. The
same is valid for these nations’ citizenry; so let not their corrupt and
criminal regimes be the basis of our judgment of them.
Moreover, as we all know, those subject to criticism in these articles
have mastered the art of spinning when it comes to the media and
propaganda. The Israeli lobby is quick to stamp all factually backed
criticism as ‘anti-Semitic’ and attack it as such. The Turkish lobby, in
this regard, as with everything else, follows its Israeli mentors; they
label all dissent and criticism as anti-Turkey, or, Kurdish or Armenian
propaganda; while the Saudi lobby goes around kicking and screaming
‘anti-Muslim propaganda.’
I am not known to be ‘politically correct’ and am often criticized for
it. I readily accept that and all responsibilities associated with it. I
am not seeking a position as a diplomat, neither am I serving any
business, organization, or media channel furthering a particular
ideology. This is me, saying it as I see it; no more, no less. By the
end of this series it should be obvious, at least for many, that the
selection of the nations encompasses varied sides and affiliations.
Moreover, the main purpose, and the target of these commentaries, goes
to the heart of our own government and its epicenter; lobbyists and the
MIC.
# # # # #
Many Americans, due to the effective propaganda and spin machine of
Turkey’s agents in the U.S., and relentless efforts by high-level
officials and lobbying groups on Turkish networks’ payroll, do not know
much about Turkey; its position and importance in the areas of
terrorism, money laundering, illegal arms sales, industrial and military
espionage, and the nuclear black-market. Not many people in the States
would name Turkey among those nations that threaten global security, the
fight against terrorism, nuclear proliferation, or the war on drugs. For
the purpose of this article it is necessary to have at least a
rudimentary knowledge of Turkey, its strategic location within global
criminal networks, its various networks and entities operating behind
seemingly legitimate fronts, and its connection to the military and
political machine in the U.S.
For many Americans Turkey is one of the closest allies of the United
States; a most important member of NATO; a candidate for EU membership;
and the only Middle Eastern close ally and partner of Israel. Some
acknowledge Turkey’s highly prized status in the United States due to
its location as the artery connecting Europe to Asia, its cross borders
with Iran, Iraq and Syria to its East and South, with the Balkan states
to its west, and with the Central Asian nations to its north and
northeast. Others may recognize the country as one of the top U.S.
customers for military technology and weapons.
Interestingly enough, these same qualities and characteristics which
make Turkey an important ally and strategic partner for the nation
states, make it extremely crucial and attractive to global criminal
networks active in transferring illegal arms and nuclear technology to
rogue states; in transporting Eastern narcotics, mainly from Afghanistan
through the Central Asian states into Turkey, where it is processed, and
then through the Balkan states into Western Europe and the U.S.; and in
laundering the proceeds of these illegal operations via its banks and
those on the neighboring island of Cyprus.
The Real Lords of the Poppy Fields
It is a known fact that there often is a nexus between terrorism and
organized crime. Terrorists use narco-traficking and international crime
to support their activities. Frequently, the same criminal gangs
involved in narcotics smuggling have links to other criminal activities,
such as illegal arms sales, and to terrorist groups. The Taliban’s link
to the drug trade is irrefutable. In 2001, a report by the U.N.
Committee of Experts on Resolution 1333 for sanctions against the
Taliban stated
< 11/testimony_006.htm> that
"funds raised from the production and trade of opium and heroin are used
by the Taliban to buy arms and war materials and to finance the training
of terrorists and support the operation of extremists in neighboring
countries and beyond."
Afghanistan supplies almost 90 percent
< 8021e58a90476e734813612d.html>
of the world’s heroin, which is the country’s main cash crop,
contributing over $3 billion a year in illegal revenues to the Afghan
economy, which equals 50 percent of the gross national product. In 2004,
according to the U.S. state department, 206,000
< /14/60minutes/main946648.shtml>
hectares were cultivated, a half a million acres, producing 4,000 tons
of opium. "It is not only the largest heroin producer in the world,
206,000 hectares is the largest amount of heroin or of any drug that I
think has ever been produced by any one country in any given year," says
Robert Charles
< /14/60minutes/main946648.shtml> ,
former assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement, overseeing anti-drug operations in Afghanistan.
Heroin trafficking is also the main source of funding for the al-Qaeda
terrorists. A Time Magazine article
< /printout/0,13675,501040809-67480
6,00.html> in August 2004 reported that al-Qaeda has established a
smuggling network that is peddling Afghan heroin to buyers across the
Middle East, Asia, and Europe, and in turn is using the drug revenues to
purchase weapons and explosives. The article states: " . . . al-Qaeda
and its Taliban allies are increasingly financing operations with opium
sales. Anti-drug officials in Afghanistan have no hard figures on how
much al-Qaeda and the Taliban are earning from drugs, but conservative
estimates run into tens of millions of dollars." Anti-drug officials say
< ntout/0,13675,501040809-67480
6,00.html> the only way to cut off al-Qaeda’s pipeline is to attack it
at the source: by destroying the poppy farms themselves. This year,
Afghanistan’s opium harvest is expected to exceed 3,600 tons — enough
to produce street heroin worth $36 billion.
Key congressional leaders have been pressing the Pentagon to crack down
on the major drug traffickers in Afghanistan upon learning that al-Qaeda
is relying more than ever on illicit proceeds from the heroin trade.
Congressional investigators who returned from the region in 2004 found
that traffickers are providing Osama bin Laden and other terrorists with
heroin as funds from Saudi Arabia and other sources dry up. "We now know
al-Qaeda’s dominant source of funding is the illegal sale of narcotics,"
said Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a member of the House Appropriations
foreign operations subcommittee, as reported by Washington Times
< 20041206-124320-5344r.htm> .
Rep. Kirk added that bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror organization is reaping
$28 million a year in illicit heroin sales.
It is puzzling to observe that in reporting this major artery of
terrorists’ funding, the U.S. mainstream media and political machine do
not dare to go beyond the poppy fields of Afghanistan and the fairly
insignificant low level Afghan warlords overseeing the crops. Think
about it; we are talking about nearly $40 billion worth of products in
the final stage. Do you believe that those primitive Afghan warlords,
clad in shalvars, sporting long ragged beards, and walking with long
sticks handle transportation, lab processing, more transportation,
distribution, and sophisticated laundering of the proceeds? If yes, then
think again. This multi billion-dollar industry requires highly
sophisticated networks and people. So, who are the real lords of
Afghanistan’s poppy fields?
For al-Qaeda’s network, Turkey is a haven for its sources of funding.
Turkish networks, along with Russians,’ are the main players in these
fields; they purchase the opium from Afghanistan and transport it
through several Turkic speaking Central Asian states into Turkey, where
the raw opium is processed into popular byproducts; then the network
transports the final product into Western European and American markets
via their partner networks in Albania. The networks’ banking
arrangements in Turkey, Cyprus and Dubai are used to launder and recycle
the proceeds, and various Turkish companies in Turkey and Central Asia
are used to make this possible and seem legitimate. The al-Qaeda network
also uses Turkey to obtain and transfer arms to its Central Asian bases,
including Chechnya.
Since the 1950s Turkey has played a key role in channeling into Europe
and the U.S. heroin produced in the "Golden Triangle" comprised of
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. These operations are run by mafia groups
closely controlled by the MIT (Turkish Intelligence Agency) and the
military. According to statistics compiled in 1998, Turkey’s heroin
trafficking brought in $25 <;
bil lion in 1995 and $37.5 <;
bil lion in 1996. That amount makes up nearly a quarter of Turkey’s GDP.
Only criminal networks working in close cooperation with the police and
the army could possibly organize trafficking on such a scale. The
Turkish government, MIT and the Turkish military, not only sanctions,
but also actively participates in and oversees the narcotics activities
and networks.
In July 1998, Le Monde Diplomatique reported
< y> that in an explosive document
made public at a press conference in Istanbul, the MIT, Turkish
Intelligence Agency, accused Turkey’s national police, of having
"provided police identity cards and diplomatic passports to members of a
group which, in the guise of anti-terrorist activities, traveled to
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Azerbaijan to engage in
drug trafficking." MIT provided a list of names of some of the
traffickers operating under the protection of the police. The Turkish
police returned the compliment and handed over a list of named drug
traffickers employed by the MIT!
In January 1997, Tom Sackville
<http://www.publications.parliament.u k/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo970718/tex
t/70718-08.htm > , minister of state at the British Home Office, stated
that 80 percent of the heroin seized in Britain came from Turkey, and
that his government was concerned by reports that members of the Turkish
police, and even of the Turkish government, were involved in drug
trafficking.
In an article < hive.html>
published in Drug Link Magazine
< default.asp> , Adrian Gatton cites
the case of Huseyin Baybasin, the famous Turkish heroin kingpin now in
jail in Holland. Baybasin explains: "I handled the drugs which came
through the channel of the Turkish Consulate in England," and he adds:
"I was with the Mafia but I was carrying this out with the same Mafia
group in which the rulers of Turkey were part." The article also cites a
witness statement given to a UK immigration case involving Baybasin’s
clan, and states that Huseyin Baybasin had agreed to provide
investigators with information about what he knew of the role of Turkish
politicians and officials in the heroin trade. The article quotes Mark
Galeotti, a former UK intelligence officer and expert on the Turkish
mafia, "Since the 1970s, Turkey has accounted for between 75 and 90
percent of all heroin in the UK. The key traffickers are Turks or
criminals who operate along that route using Turkish contacts." In 2001,
Chris Harrison, a senior UK Customs officer in Manchester, told veteran
crime reporter Martin Short that Customs could not get at the Turkish
kingpins because they are "protected" at a high level.
In 1998, the highly official International Narcotics Control Strategy
Report < ; (INCSR) of the
U.S. State Department, revealed <;
tha t "about 75 percent of the heroin seized in Europe is either produced
in, or derives from, Turkey," that "4 to 6 tons of heroin arrive from
there every month, heading for Western Europe" and that "a number of
laboratories for the purification of the opium used in transforming the
basic morphine into heroin are located on Turkish soil". The report
stresses that Turkey is one of the countries most affected by
money-laundering, which takes place particularly via the countries of
the ex-Soviet Union, such as Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan,
through the medium of casinos, the construction industry, and tourism.
INCSR’s < ; 2006 report cites
Turkey as a major transshipment point and base of operations for
international narcotics traffickers and associates trafficking in opium,
morphine base, heroin, precursor chemicals and other drugs.
We know that al-Qaeda and Taliban’s main source of funding is the
illegal sale of narcotics. Based on all the reports, facts, and expert
statements, we know that Turkey is a major, if not the top, player in
the transportation, processing, and distribution of all the narcotics
derived from the Afghan poppies, and as a result, it is the major
contributing country to al-Qaeda. Yet, to date, more than five years
into our over exhaustive ‘war on terror propaganda,’ have we heard any
mentioning of, any tough message to, any sanction against, or any threat
that was issued and targeted at Turkey?
We all know of our president’s ‘selective evilization’ of countries that
have been ‘chosen’ to be on our hit list. But how many of us know of our
government’s ‘selective go free cards’ that have been issued to those
‘ally countries’ that directly fund and support the terrorist networks?
In fact, our government would rather move heaven and earth, gag
‘whistleblowers’ with direct knowledge of these facts, classify
congressional and other investigative reports, create a media black-out
on these ‘allies’ terrorist supporting activities, than do the right
thing; do what it really takes to counter terrorism.
. . . and the WMDs we actually located & have known about
In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush declared he would
keep "the world’s most destructive weapons" from al-Qaeda and its allies
by keeping those weapons from evil governments. Later he told a campaign
audience in Pennsylvania, "We had to take a hard look at every place
where terrorists might get those weapons and one regime stood out: the
dictatorship of Saddam Hussein." Well, the Iraqi WMD that never was!
Here is what CIA Director Porter Goss said
< /terror/main674254.shtml>
bluntly before the Senate Intelligence Committee in February 2004, "It
may be only a matter of time before al-Qaeda or other groups attempt to
use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons. We must
focus on that." And we know that he knows; has known for the longest
time!
Seymour Hersh in his March 2003 article
< articles/040308fa_fact> quotes
Robert Gallucci, a former United Nations weapons inspector who is now
dean of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, "Bad as it
is with Iran, North Korea, and Libya having nuclear-weapons material,
the worst part is that they could transfer it to a non-state group.
That’s the biggest concern, and the scariest thing about all this.
There’s nothing more important than stopping terrorist groups from
getting nuclear weapons."
Although numerous prestigious reports by agencies and organizations such
as IAEA, and news articles in the European media, have clearly
established Turkey, and various international networks operating in and
out of Turkey, as major players within the global nuclear black-market
and illegal arms sales, the relevant agencies and main media in the U.S.
have maintained a completely silent and hands off position.
Nuclear black-market related activities depend on Turkey for
manufacturing nuclear components, and on its strategic location as a
transit point to move goods and technology to nations such as Iran,
Pakistan, and others. Not only that, Turkey’s status and close
relationship with the U.S. enables it to obtain (steal) technology and
information from the U.S.
Lying at the crossroads not only between Europe and Asia, but also
between the former Soviet Union and the Middle East, Turkey is already a
well-established transit zone for illicit goods, including nuclear
material and illegal weapons sales. According to a report by Turkish
Atomic Energy Authority <;
(TAEA), at least 104 < df>
nuclear smuggling incidents had occurred in the past eight years in
Turkey. For instance, in September 1999, 5 Kilograms of Uranium enriched
to 4.6 percent were confiscated from an international smuggling ring in
Turkey, which included four Turkish, one Azerbaijani, and three
Kazakhstani citizens. The report
< 3zait.pdf> cites over one
hundred incidents like this, and these are only cases that have been
intercepted and reported.
Turkey played a major role in Pakistan and Libya’s illicit activities in
obtaining nuclear technologies. In June 2004, Stephen Fidler, a reporter
for Financial Times
< 040611000766>
reported that in 2003, Turkish centrifuge motors and converters destined
for Libya’s nuclear weapons program turned up in Tripoli aboard a ship
that had sailed from Dubai. One of those detained individuals in this
incident, a ‘respected and successful’ Turkish Businessman, Selim
Alguadis, was cited in a public report from the Malaysian
inspector-general of police into the Malaysian end of a Pakistani-led
clandestine network that supplied Libya, Iran and North Korea with
nuclear weapons technologies, designs and expertise. According to the
report, "he supplied these materials to Libya." Mr. Alguadis also
confessed that he had on several occasions met A Q Khan, the disgraced
Pakistani scientist who has admitted transmitting nuclear expertise to
the three countries. Selim Alguadis remains a successful businessman in
Turkey with companies in several other countries. He was released
immediately after being turned over to Turkish authorities. His partner,
another well-known and internationally recognized wealthy businessman,
Gunes Cire < t; , also
actively participated in transferring nuclear technology and parts to
Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. Although under investigation by several
international communities, Alguadis and his partners continued to roam
free < k.htm> in Turkey
and conduct their illegitimate operations via their ‘legit international
business’ front companies.
David Albright and Corey Hinderstein of the Institute for Science and
International Security (ISIS) identify Turkey’s major role in the
nuclear black-market. According to their report
< /southasia/nuclear_black_market.
html> , workshops in Turkey made the centrifuge motor and frequency
converters used to drive the motor and spin the rotor to high speeds.
These workshops imported subcomponents from Europe, and they assembled
these centrifuge items in Turkey. Under false end-user certificates,
these components were shipped from Turkey to Dubai for repackaging and
shipment to Libya.
Turkey’s illegal arms smuggling activities are not limited to Europe and
the Middle East; many of these activities reach U.S. soil. According to
a report <; published by the Institute
for the Analysis of Global Security <; , in April
2004 the Italian police searched a container destined for the port of
New York onboard a Turkish ship at the port of Tauro during a routine
customs inspection, sparked by discrepancies between the various customs
declarations. Inside the container more than 8,000 AK47 assault rifles,
11 submachine guns, and magazines worth over seven million dollars were
discovered.
Our tough talking president works very hard to sound convincing when he
says ‘we have to take a hard look at every place where terrorists might
get those weapons;’ in fact, he has succeeded in fooling many into
believing those words. However, while he was determined to move heaven
and earth to get our nation into a war and a quagmire with a country
that did NOT possess ‘those weapons,’ he refused and continues to refuse
to look at his own ‘allies-packed backyard’ where he would find a few
that not only do possess ‘those weapons,’ but also distribute and sell
them to the highest bidders no matter what their affiliation.
# # # # #
Curiously enough, despite these highly publicized reports and
acknowledgements of Turkey’s role in these activities, Turkey continues
to receive billions of dollars of aid and assistance annually from the
United States. With its highly placed co-conspirators and connections
within the Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Congress, Turkey never
has to fear potential sanctions or meaningful scrutiny; just like Saudi
Arabia and Pakistan. The criminal Turkish networks continue their global
criminal activities right under the nose of their protector, the United
States, and neither the catastrophe falling upon the U.S. on September
Eleven, nor their direct and indirect role and ties to this terrorist
attack, diminish their role and participation in the shady worlds of
narcotics, money laundering and illegal arms transfer.
The ‘respectable’ Turkish companies established and operate bases in
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and other similar former soviet states. Many of
these front companies, disguised under construction and tourism
entities, have received millions of dollars in grants from the U.S.
government, allocated to them by the U.S. congress, to establish and
operate criminal networks throughout the region; among their networking
partners are al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Albanian Mafia. While the
U.S. government painted Islamic charity organizations as the main
financial source for al-Qaeda terrorists, it was hard at work trying to
cover up the terrorists’ main financial source: narcotics and illegal
arms sales. Why?
For years and years, information and evidence being collected by the
counterintelligence operations of certain U.S. intelligence and law
enforcement agencies has been prevented from being transferred to
criminal and narcotics divisions, and from being shared with the Drug
Enforcement Agency and others with prosecutorial power. Those with
direct knowledge have been prevented from making this information
available and public by various gag orders and invocation of the State
Secrets Privilege. Why?
Is this due to the fact that the existence and survival of many U.S.
allies; Turkey, almost all Central Asian nations, and after the
September Eleven attack, Afghanistan; greatly depend on cultivating,
processing, transporting, and distributing these illegal substances? Is
it caused by the fact that a major source of income for those who
procure U.S. weapons and technology, our military industrial complex’s
bread and butter, is being generated from this illegal production and
illegal dealings? Or, is it the fear of exposing our own financial
institutions, lobbying firms, and certain elected and appointed
officials, as beneficiaries?
When it comes to criminal and shady global networks most people envision
either Mafiosi like entities who keep to themselves and are separated
from society, or, street level gangster-like criminals. Contrary to
these expectations, the top tier Turkish criminal networks consist
mainly of respectable looking businessmen, some of whom are among the
top international businessmen, diplomats, politicians, and scholarly
individuals. Their U.S. counterparts are equally respected and
recognizable; some of whom are high-level appointed bureaucrats within
the State Department and the Pentagon; some are elected officials, and
others consist of the combination of the two who have now set up their
own companies and lobbying groups.
The American Turkish Council (ATC)
Operating tax-free and under the radar is one of the most powerful
"non-profit" associations in the U.S., the American Turkish Council
< > (ATC). Some who are familiar
with its operations and players describe it as ‘Mini AIPAC;’ this
description aces it. ATC followed the AIPAC model; with the direct help
of AIPAC & JINSA, it created a base out of which to stretch its
tentacles, reaching the highest echelons of our government. While the
ATC is an association in name and in charter, the reality is that it and
other affiliated associations are the U.S. government, lobbyists,
foreign agents, and MIC. Investigative journalist, John Stanton,
correctly describes
< Stanton0214.htm> the ATC as an
extraordinary group of elite and interconnected Republicans, Democrats
and corporate and military heavyweights who are spearheading one of the
most ambitious strategic gambits in U.S. history.
Included in ATC’s management, board of directors, and advisors; in
addition to Turkish individuals of ‘interest;’ is a dizzying array of
U.S. individuals. The ATC is led by Ret. General Brent Scowcroft, who
serves as Chairman of the Board; George Perlman of Lockheed Martin, the
Executive Vice President; other board members include: Former National
Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Ret. General Elmer Pendleton, Ret.
General Joseph Ralston, Ret. Col. Preston Hughes, Alan Colegrove of
Northrop Grumman, Frank Carlucci of Carlyle Group, Christine Vick of
Cohen Group, Representative Robert Wexler, Former Rep. Ed Whitfield . .
. Basically many formers; statesmen, ‘dime a dozen generals,’ and
representatives.
On the members – paying clients — side; their list includes all the
MIC’s who’s who, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman; the
Washington Lobby scene’s who’s who; The Cohen Group, The Livingston
Group, Washington Group International . . .
Of course, there are also many Turkish companies that are members of the
ATC. Most of these companies have branches and operations in Libya,
Dubai, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.
Although the official listings of their businesses are cited as
‘construction,’ ‘real estate,’ ‘manufacturing,’ and ‘tourism’; the main
activities of these businesses are known to be related to global illegal
arms sales and narcotic processing and trafficking. These companies
provide necessary fronts and channels to launder proceeds. Curiously
enough, hundreds of millions of dollars have been granted by the United
States government, approved by the congress, to these Turkish companies
under the guise of various ‘U.S. Central Asian development programs;’
and ‘Iraq & Afghanistan reconstruction programs.’
Stanton notes < 4.htm> :
‘ATC is joined in the creation of the New EuroAsia by the American
Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (AACC)
< D2> . AACC’s Honorary Council of
Advisors just happens to have General Scowcroft and the following
persons of significance: Henry Kissinger and James Baker III. Former
Council members include Dick Cheney and Richard Armitage, and Board of
Trustee members include media-overkill subject Richard Perle of AEI, and
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas.’
The MIC Factor
In Part 1
< rticle_1442.shtml> , we
discussed the MIC as ‘agents by default;’ marriages and loyalties based
on ‘mutual benefit;’ our previous example was Saudi Arabia, top customer
of U.S. weaponry. Well, Turkey only tails the Saudis slightly in that
category; between 1992 and 1996, Turkey was the second largest importer
of weaponry, spending more than $7 billion
< erview.asp?ref=3D15> in four
years. A report
< s/reports/wawjune2005.html#15>
by the World Policy Institute shows that Turkey is the third largest
recipient of U.S. military aid, behind Israel and Egypt. Between 1994
and 2003, Turkey took delivery of more than $6.8 billion in U.S.
weaponry and services.
In fiscal year 1989, U.S. aid to Turkey was $563,500,000. According to a
Multi National Monitor Report
< ssues/1993/04/mm0493_05.html> ,
in 1991, Turkey received more than $800 million in U.S. aid, "an
exceptional return" on its $3.8 million investment in Washington
lobbyists. At the time, International Advisors, INC. (Douglas Feith &
Richard Perle lobbying firm as registered agents for Turkey) was paid
more than $1 million for representing Turkey in the U.S. for the purpose
of securing these types of deals. In 2003, Turkey received a $1 billion
<http://72.14.203.104/search?q=3Dcache: WxKuhjS1rYoJ:fpc.state.gov/document
s/organization /31987.pdf+%22US+Aid%22+and+Turkey&hl=3Den& ;gl=3Dus&ct=3Dclnk&cd=3D
18&ie=3DUTF-8 > aid package. During this period their registered and
known
lobbyists were the Livingston Group, headed by the former Speaker of the
House Bob Livingston, and Solarz Associates, headed by a formerly
powerful Representative, Stephen Solarz. Turkey, from 2000 to 2004, for
only four years, paid Livingston $9 million
< se.cfm?ID=3D1999> for his
lobbying
services. What did the Republic of Turkey get for its $2 million per
year investment in Ex-Congressman Livingston’s services?
A Joint Report < rep.htm>
by the Federation of American Scientists and the World Policy Institute
found that the vast majority of U.S. arms transfers to Turkey were
subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. In many cases, these taxpayer funds are
supporting military production and employment in Turkey, not in the
United States. Of the $10.5 billion in U.S. weaponry delivered to Turkey
since 1984, $8 billion in all has been directly or indirectly financed
by grants and subsidized loans provided by the U.S. government. Many of
the largest deals — such as Lockheed Martin’s sale of 240 F-16s to the
Turkish air force and the FMC Corporation’s provision of 1,698 armored
vehicles to the Turkish army — involve co-production and offset
provisions which steer investments, jobs, and production to Turkey as a
condition of the sale. For example, Turkey’s F-16 assembly plant in
Ankara — a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Turkish Aerospace
Industries (TAI) — employs 2,000 production workers, almost entirely
paid for with U.S. tax dollars.
Let’s recap the above data: Not only does our government, actually, our
taxpayers, subsidize $8 billion of Turkey’s $10 billion weapons
purchases; the production of this weaponry and the associated employment
occurs not in the U.S., but overseas, in Turkey. We, the taxpayers, are
subsidizing these purchases; our nation readily transfers its technology
to a country that ranks high in global narcotics, terrorist and WMD
related activities; while a select few MIC related firms such as
Lockheed and the pimping middlemen, the lobbyists, get fatter and
richer.
One Stop Shop: The Cohen Group
Like many other former statesmen, William Cohen, former Secretary of
Defense, dived into the business of lobbying and consulting, and created
his own Washington firm, The Cohen Group
< > , which works for some of the
largest companies in the defense industry, such as Lockheed Martin, and
serves numerous foreign players. The Cohen Group is one of the primary
and most active members of the American Turkish Council
< > (ATC). Cohen’s client,
Lockheed Martin, happens to be on the board of ATC, in addition to being
listed as ATC’s top paying client.
The group claims on its Website that its principals have "a century and
a half of combined experience in the Congress, the Defense Department,
the State Department, the White House, and state and local governments"
and that they "have developed extensive expertise and relationships with
key international political, economic, and business leaders and acquired
invaluable experiences with the individuals and institutions that affect
our clients’ success abroad." Abroad indeed. With a few ‘dime a dozen
generals’ and former statesmen, the firm owes its phenomenal speedy
success to interests ‘abroad’ and of course, the MIC! Let’s look, with
great amazement, I hope, at how this ingenious lobby venture serves as
foreign agent for several influences without having to register as such;
with complete immunity against any scrutiny.
According to Intelligence Online, in its March 27, 2006 issue, Cohen
accompanied Bush on his trip to India and Pakistan in March 2006. The
Cohen Group is very active in India; Joseph Ralston, Cohen’s Vice
Chairman, led two delegations of U.S. Defense Chiefs to India the
previous year. The trips were organized in conjunction with the U.S.
India Business Council; among the participants were Lockheed Martin,
Northrop Grumman, and Boeing.
On June 9, 2006, Intelligence Online reports ‘already operating in
India, the Cohen Group headed by William Cohen, has just opened an
office in Beijing . . . Since 2003 the Cohen Group has equally been
employing Christine Vick. She is a former Vice President of Kissinger
Associates; the consultancy founded by former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, and had been in charge of the firm’s Chinese business.’
Prior to the October 2005 release of Paul Volcker’s report on violations
of the United Nations’ Iraq oil-for-food program, the Australian wheat
exporter AWB Limited
< itle=3DAWB_Limited> hired
Cohen’s
firm. AWB paid approximately $A300 million in trucking fees on its wheat
contracts to a Jordanian company, Alia, which owns no trucks! The funds
were funnelled to Saddam’s regime. AWB hired Cohen Group as part of its
‘strategy, ‘ code-named ‘Project Rose,’ to deal with the UN inquiry
headed by Paul Volcker and corruption allegations made against it by
U.S. wheat farmers and ‘hostile US politicians.’ Cohen Group is not a
law firm; what kind of services and representation is it providing for
this criminal case?
So who are the key players at Cohen’s lobby firm, giving it its value?
Well of course, a handful of powerful formers; in addition to Cohen as
the top principal we have former Undersecretary of State Mark Grossman,
and two formerly high-level ‘dime a dozen generals:’ General Joseph
Ralston and General Paul Kern; let’s briefly look at them; shall we?
Ret. General Paul Kern
Cohen Group senior counselor is retired general Paul J. Kern
< gt; , a former head of the Army
Materiel Command, who recently served on a panel convened by the Defense
Department to recommend improvements in how it acquires weapons systems;
of course, a topic of great interest to Cohen clients.
Pentagon’s Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment Panel
< es/p_som_archives.asp?num=3D505&y
ear=3D2005&a mp;rub=3Darchives> , DAPAP, was created to recommend changes in
the
awarding of military contracts. Over half of this panel is executives of
large defense corporations. Among the Committee’s six members are Frank
Cappuccio, VP of Lockheed Martin, and retired General Kern, who is the
Senior Counselor of the Cohen Group!
When the Pentagon is informed of wasteful practices, it commonly ignores
them. Congressman Walter Jones, (R-N.C.) is quoted as understating,
"We’ve got an agency that is not doing its job of being a watchdog for
the taxpayers." Retired Army Reserve officer Paul Fellencer Sr.
complained to the Pentagon’s fraud hot line last year about $200-million
worth of outrageous overpayments for ordinary supplies. Pentagon
investigators never bothered to call him and dismissed his tip as
"unsubstantiated," the news service said.
One wonders how many American citizens are aware of the fact that a
‘dime a dozen general’ such as Kern, who happens to be a Senior Counsel
of a lobby firm with foreign interests and MIC representation, who
happens to sit on the board of Lockheed Martin, gets to sit on a panel
that monitors and advises on awarding military contracts to the private
MIC companies by the Pentagon. Would it take an absolute genius to
figure out that this is ‘putting a fox in charge of the hen house’? If
not, then how could this get past the decision makers at the Pentagon?
How come our lawmakers, those in charge of ensuring the checks and
balances in our government, those we consider our representatives, sit
there either unaware or unbothered by this red flag visible from a
hundred miles away? What happened to ‘investigative journalists with
good noses;’ were they all inflicted by congested sinuses at the same
time?
<!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–>
<!–[endif]–&g t;
Fmr. Gen. Joseph Ralston
General Joseph Ralston <; , one
of Cohen Group’s Vice Chairmen, is on the board of Lockheed Martin,
which paid the Cohen Group $550,000 in 2005, according to a Lockheed
filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ralston is also a
member of the 2006 Advisory Board of the American Turkish Council (ATC)
< t; , and one of Turkey’s top
advocates. If you think this ‘dime a dozen general’ ended one career and
removed himself from the U.S. government by becoming ‘the foreign agent
man,’ think again after reading the following.
On August 28, 2006, the U.S. State Department appointed
< splay.html?p=3Dwashfile-english&y=3D200
6& m=3DAugust&x=3D20060828171825xlrennef0.3752863 > the former U.S. Air
Force
General, current Vice Chairman of the Cohen Group, board member of
American Turkish Council, registered lobbyist for Lockheed Martin,
Joseph Ralston, as a "Special Envoy" for countering the Kurdistan
Worker’s Party (PKK)! Lo and behold, Ralston’s appointment came as
Turkey was finalizing the purchase of 30 new Lockheed Martin F-16
aircraft valued at $3 billion, and as Turkey was due to make its
decision on the $10 billion purchase of the new Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF
aircraft. Coincidentally, the U.S. Congress approved the sale of the
F-16s to Turkey in October 2006, shortly after Ralston’s return from
Turkey.
While the implications of Ralston’s appointment caused a major stir
< sflash-from-diaspora.html>
within the Kurdish community and organizations, mainly pointing to
Ralston’s position with the Turkish lobby in the U.S. (he is on the
board of ATC), and within Turkey’s own communities, pointing to
Ralston’s position with Lockheed Martin (he is on the board of Lockheed
Martin), our own media, watchdog organizations, and congress let this
gargantuan conflict of interest pass under the radar.
Our government sent this man, Ralston, as a special envoy to help
resolve the highly critical Northern Iraq situation with possible dire
consequences in the near future. Considering Ralston’s livelihood and
his loyalties, as a member of the board of the directors of Lockheed
Martin, as the vice chairman of a lobbying firm with foreign interests,
as an advisor and board member for the most powerful Turkish Lobby
group, ATC, who did this man represent while in Turkey as the special
envoy? What interests did he really represent; Iraq’s situation,
Lockheed’s livelihood, which depends on further conflicts and bloodshed;
the corrupt and criminal government of Turkey and its representation via
ATC; or, the furthering of the Cohen Group’s future pimping
opportunities?
Why in the world did no one within the U.S. mainstream media give even
the slightest coverage of this conflict of interest? Why did no one,
Democrat or Republican, in our congress make a peep? Why haven’t we
heard anyone asking Ralston the most important question, in dire need of
an answer: ‘Who’s your daddy Ralston; boy?’ Ralston’s position is no
different than what is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as: "A
person conceived and born out of wedlock." With the possibility of any
one of four daddies, and without the benefit of a DNA test, how do we go
about determining Ralston’s real daddy?
Fmr. Undersecretary Marc Grossman
The second Vice Chairman of Cohen’s firm is Marc Grossman
< cfm> , who was the U.S.
Undersecretary for Political Affairs in the State Department from 2001
until 2005. From November 1994 to June 1997, he served as U.S.
Ambassador to Turkey. In January 2005 Grossman resigned from his
position and joined the Cohen Group. In late December 2005, Grossman
joined Ihlas Holding, a large and alleged shady Turkish company which is
also active in several Central Asian countries. Grossman is reported to
receive $100,000 < > per
month for his advisory position with Ihlas.’ Most and foremost, Grossman
is known for his extraordinarily cozy relationship with Turkey and
Israel; followed by Pakistan.
Here < sman_003.htm> is
Grossman as the key speaker at an ATC conference in March 2002; while
Undersecretary of State; and here it is followed by Grossman’s visit
< /WTARC/2002/ss_turkey_12_04.htm
l> to Turkey in December 2002, to approve the $3 billion U.S. aid to
Turkey for the Iraq Cooperation deal. There he goes again, Grossman back
to Turkey < /n6.htm> in
December 2003 re: approval of Turkey’s eligibility to participate in
tenders for Iraq’s reconstruction! Here
< 3D9E34272C-66B3-438D-98F9-3492EC
57DC9B> is Grossman as the key speaker at an ATC Conference held at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel in December 2004, while Undersecretary. Here
< nts_list.cfm?LIST=3DRE> is
Grossman as the guest of honor and key speaker at the American Turkish
Society dinner in New York in February 2005, while Undersecretary. Here
< sim/01/fkoru2.html> he is
again, at the lavish Turkish Ottoman Dinner Gala in November 2005. Here
< ml> is Grossman at the award
dinner gala by the Turkish lobby group, the Assembly of American Turkish
Association (ATAA), in Chicago, receiving his award in November 2005.
Here < 473> is Grossman as
the key speaker at the ATC annual conference in March 2006, and later,
in June 2006, at the MERIA Conference
< /issue3/jv10no3a5.html> to discuss
Turkey’s importance to the U.S. & Israel. This list can go on for pages
and pages; but I believe you all get it; right?
Here is a comment
< /2002/t12032002_t1203tpm.html>
by Wolfowitz during his visit to Turkey: "I’m delighted to be back in
Turkey and so is my colleague Marc Grossman, who feels like Turkey is a
second home." Second home indeed, Mr. Grossman!
Please do not make the grave and naive mistake of assuming that Grossman
found and obtained his highly lucrative and questionable positions after
his resignation in January 2005. Within two months after his confident
resignation, this boy got the vice chairmanship of the Cohen Group. Only
six months later, Grossman ended up securing a ‘special advisory’
position for a foreign company that reported his monthly fee at $100,000
a month. The industrious Grossman seems to be juggling so many balls
simultaneously: numerous foreign sponsored dinner speeches, the
demanding pimping activities of Cohen’s firm, the very ‘special
advising’ of a shady foreign company . . .
We all have a pretty good idea how long and how much work it takes to
secure that level of income and those positions. Did Grossman beat the
odds and get lucky as soon as he got out of the State Department? Did he
hit the jackpot? Or, did he diligently and industriously work at it,
while in his position as the ambassador to Turkey and as Deputy
Secretary of State? Did he sell his soul while under his oath of office?
Did he sell our government’s soul? Did he sell our nation and its
interests? If so; for what and how much?
# # # # #
Long gone are the days when generals were content to retire and go back
home where they held their heads high as honorable patriots and heroes
who had served their nation; where they marched in their towns’ parades
as proud distinguished men and women who had fulfilled their duty to the
people. Today, as we clearly see, they perceive themselves and their
authority as a commodity; they go about marketing their worth
(nationally and internationally; foreign and domestic) long before they
leave their positions as public servants.
The same goes for many of our statesmen. While in office, Grossman and
others like him appear to have one objective in mind and in action: to
make sure that their future employer who is waiting for them on the
other side of the revolving door will receive special and lucrative
arrangements so that they can be compensated handsomely later.
In Part 1
< rticle_1442.shtml> , we
briefly described the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)
<; , established to insure that the
American public and its lawmakers know the source of propaganda intended
to sway public opinion, policy, and laws; and the Lobbying Disclosure
Act
< t/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teas
ers/lobby ingdisc.htm> (LDA)
< tive/g_three_sections_with_teas
ers/lobbyingdisc.h tm> of 1995, which was passed to make the regulation
and disclosure of lobbying the federal government more effective. The
article emphasized that both of these cosmetic laws are filled with
exemptions and loopholes that allow minimization of, and in some cases
complete escape from, warranted scrutiny, and have serious loopholes and
limitations < id=3D15> .
The Cohen Group is an excellent case, illustrating the futility of FARA,
since the firm does not have to be registered. They can claim that
Turkey is not their ‘direct’ client; they can argue that they are not
getting paid ‘directly’ by the government of Turkey or any other foreign
entity or government. They certainly can; no matter that Grossman
receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from a dubious Turkish
company. Does Cohen discount Grossman’s Vice Chairmanship salary
accordingly? No matter that half a million dollars per year from their
client Lockheed Martin is mainly for services provided to Turkey, and
having the group’s second chairman serve on Lockheed’s board is another
way to get around all restrictions. The incestuous relationship twists
and turns: The Cohen Group on the board of ATC, The Cohen Group a paying
member client of ATC, The Cohen Group as Lockheed’s lobbyist, Cohen’s
men on the board of Lockheed, Lockheed on the board of ATC, Lockheed
also a paying client of ATC . . . How is your head; spinning yet?
We are proud of the large turnout at the ballot box for the midterm
elections a few weeks ago; a sign of participatory citizenship. Perhaps
we’ll be repeating this phenomenon, if not increasing it, for the
presidential elections in two years; another means to demonstrate our
‘democratic government process in action’ for badly needed change. But
who really runs our country? Who really shapes our public policies and
determines the flow of our hard-earned tax money entrusted to our
government? If you had the patience to go through this article, which
sheds light on only a fragment of what really takes place behind our
backs, within the halls of our government, in all three branches, you
would start questioning your significance as a voter and taxpayer, and
you would begin wondering whether you are governed by who you think you
are.
The foreign influence, the lobbyists, the current highly positioned
civil servants who are determined future ‘wanna be’ lobbyists, and the
fat cats of the Military Industrial Complex, operate successfully under
the radar, with unlimited reach and power, with no scrutiny, while
selling your interests, benefiting from your tax money, and serving the
highest bidders regardless of what or who they may be. This deep state
seems to operate at all levels of our government; from the President’s
office to Congress, from the military quarters to the civil servants’
offices. Let’s let Marcus Cicero’s timeless warning from over two
thousand years ago put the finishing touch on this article:
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot
survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable,
for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves
amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through
all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the
traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his
victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the
baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a
nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the
pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no
longer resist. A murder[er] is less to fear." –Marcus Tullius Cicero
Copyright (c) 2006 National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.
Information in this release may be freely distributed and published
provided that all such distributions make appropriate attribution to the
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.
Sibel Edmonds <; is the founder and
director of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC
<; ). Ms. Edmonds worked as a language specialist for
the FBI. During her work with the bureau, she discovered and reported
serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking
of intelligence that had national security implications. After she
reported these acts to FBI management, she was retaliated against by the
FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Since that time, court
proceedings on her case have been blocked by the assertion of "State
Secret Privilege"; the Congress of the United States has been gagged and
prevented from any discussion of her case through retroactive
re-classification by the Department of Justice. Ms. Edmonds is fluent in
Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani; and has a MA in Public Policy and
International Commerce from George Mason University, and a BA in
Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University. PEN
American Center awarded Ms. Edmonds the 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First
Amendment Award.
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