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Fmr. FBI Translator: White House Had Intel On Possible Airplane
Attack Pre-9/11
Reporter Apologizes For U.S. Media Iraq Coverage
Robert Fisk: "Most Of The People Dying In Iraq Are Iraqis"
Fmr. FBI Translator: White House Had Intel On Possible
Airplane Attack Pre-9/11
We speak with former FBI translator, Sibel Edmonds, who
was hired shortly after Sept. 11 to translate intelligence
gathered over the previous year related to the 9/11 attacks.
She says the FBI had information that an attack using airplanes
was being planned before Sept. 11 and calls Condoleezza Rice's
claim the White House had no specific information on a domestic
threat or one involving planes "an outrageous lie."
President Bush yesterday finally agreed to allow National
Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice to testify publicly and under
oath before the independent commission investigating the Sept.
11 attacks.
- President Bush, White House Press Briefing, March 30,
2004.
Bush did not take questions and left the room after his statement.
For weeks, the White House has insisted for weeks that Rice
not testifying was a matter of constitutional principle and
would set a dangerous precedent.
On 60 Minutes this weekend Rice said, "It is a longstanding
principle that sitting national security advisers do not testify
before the Congress."
It is unclear what "longstanding principle" Rice
was referring to since President Clinton allowed his national
security adviser, Sandy Berger, to testify in public before
the House Governmental Affairs Committee only 8 years ago
and Zbigniew Brzezinski was allowed under President Carter.
In return for Rice testifying, the commission agreed to strict
conditions that ruled out any further public testimony from
White House officials, including Rice herself. So after Rice's
appearance before the panel, public testimony from various
aides who might be in a position to confirm or deny her claims
is not an option.
The commission also promised that Rice's testimony won't
set a precedent.
Bush also agreed to meet privately with all 10 commissioners
for an undetermined time limit, backing off his previous demand
to meet only with the Chairman and Vice Chairman for just
one hour.
But again, the apparent retreat by the president came with
conditions. In return, the commission agreed that Bush will
not be under oath and can have Vice President Dick Cheney
appear with him by his side.
Rice has outright denied having specific information of an
imminent domestic threat involving hijacking airplanes, but
she might have a particularly hard time convincing the 9/11
Commission of this fact.
A former FBI translator with top-secret clearance has called
Rice's claims "an outrageous lie." She says she
testified before the 9/11 Commission that the FBI had information
that an attack using airplanes was being planned before September
11.
- Sibel Edmonds, former FBI translator who was hired shortly
after Sept. 11 to translate intelligence gathered over the
previous year related to the 9/11 attacks. She speaks fluent
Farsi, Arabic and Turkish.
Reporter Apologizes For U.S. Media Iraq Coverage
We speak with a local Virginia columnist who wrote a column
apologizing for the U.S. media's performance in the run-up
to the war on Iraq. In his column "Why the Media Owe
You An Apology on Iraq" he specifically cites the New
York Times and Washington Post.
In an article published on Sunday, March 28, 2004 by The
Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA, entitled "Why
the Media Owe You An Apology on Iraq" columnist Rick
Mercier writes:
"The media are finished with their big blowouts on the
anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and there's one thing
they forgot to say: We're sorry.
"Sorry we let unsubstantiated claims drive our coverage.
Sorry we were dismissive of experts who disputed White House
charges against Iraq. Sorry we let a band of self-serving
Iraqi defectors make fools of us. Sorry we fell for Colin
Powell's performance at the United Nations. Sorry we couldn't
bring ourselves to hold the administration's feet to the fire
before the war, when it really mattered.
"Maybe we'll do a better job next war.
"Of course it's absurd to receive this apology from
a person so low in the media hierarchy. You really ought to
be getting it from the editors and reporters at the agenda-setting
publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington
Post. It's the elite print media that failed you the most,
because they're the institutions you have to rely on to keep
tabs on the politicians in Washington (television news cannot
do the kind of in-depth or investigative reporting that print
media can do-when they're doing their job properly)."
- Rick Mercier, columnist for the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg.
On Sunday he wrote a column apologizing for the media's
coverage leading up to the Iraq invasion.
Robert Fisk: "Most Of The People Dying In Iraq
Are Iraqis"
Veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk reports live
from Baghdad. Fisk describes the "grotesque, gruesome,
terrible" attacks in Fallujah, the contracted mercenaries
that have infiltrated Iraq: "They swagger in and out
with heavy weapons, with automatic weapons and pistols as
if they're cowboys" and the deteriorating situation throughout
the country: "The violence and the insecurity, the sense
of anarchy is greater."
With less than 100 days to go before U.S. authorities hand
over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, attacks throughout
the country kill both Iraqi civilians and occupation forces
on a daily basis.
An emotional former President George H.W. Bush yesterday
defended his son's invasion of Iraq and lashed out at White
House critics.
In a speech to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association
annual convention, the elder Bush said it is, "deeply
offensive and contemptible" to hear "elites and
intellectuals on the campaign trail" dismiss progress
in Iraq since last year's overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein.
Meanwhile, in and around Fallujah today, up to nine people
were killed, including five U.S. soldiers, in two separate
attacks.
Witnesses described scenes of horror after gunmen targeted
two civilian cars that residents said were carrying foreign
nationals. The cars were set on fire and the burnt bodies
of the occupants were dragged out, mutilated and dismembered
by angry crowds.
Reuters reports some body parts were pulled off and left
hanging from a pole, while two incinerated bodies were later
strung from a bridge over the road and left dangling there.
In a separate incident, five U.S. soldiers were killed when
their military vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device.
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq has now reached
600.
- Robert Fisk, chief Middle East correspondent for the
London Independent.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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