Revisiting My Silence on WikiLeaks

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/11/28/bfp-exclusive-revisiting-my-silence-on-wikileaks/

By: Sibel Edmonds
Date: 2011-11-28

The Question(s) of Disappeared Documents & Missing Links

A year or so ago I wrote a couple of pieces on the WikiLeaks case explaining my reluctance to form and communicate a conclusive opinion or reaction on this confusing intrigue. I encourage you to read my only two responses to the case here and here. Today, a new article paired with another fairly recent development in the case and a not so recent disclosure by a former WikiLeaks insider prompted another long-withheld response from me. Let me begin with the curious article from today’s news via RT:

US Government Demands Wikileaks Destroy All Files About Them- Assange
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has told a media summit that the US government has ordered Wikileaks to destroy all the material is has published on them and stop working with its sources in the government.
­“[When we released our documents] the Pentagon said we must destroy everything we published and were going to publish,” Assange said. ”And if we didn’t, we would be ‘compelled to do so,’” the summit’s website says. Assange made the allegation in the course of a speech made via Skype at the News 2011 Summit in Hong Kong.
…

Now let’s pair this up with two other developments in this case. I’ll start with the first one in December 2010.

Last December a former Wikileaks insider in one of its European branches contacted me with excitement and an anticipation inducing piece of information. According to this credible source the large cache of the State Department Cables contained explosive communication- discussions and reports that were directly related to my case which involved secret joint US-Turkey operations in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Balkans.
 
These cables, dated 1996 to 2002, were part of the case files I worked on during my work with the FBI. These FBI files and cases were later designated as ‘State Secrets Privilege,’ and with that came all the classification, gag orders and other retaliations in my case, spilling into congressional inquiries and active court cases. Basically everyone, every party, whether congressional offices or federal court judges, were slapped with a gag by the US government under the guise of ‘State Secrets’ only to cover up criminal black operations as part of hypocrisy-ridden US foreign policy in the target region.


The heads up by my Wikileaks source became a cause for my reserved optimistic anticipation of further vindication and truth-exposure in my long-buried and covered up ‘State Secrets’ case. That’s when I wrote this piece with the following excerpts on December 3, 2010:

Meanwhile, while I am restraining myself and being uncharacteristically patient, I am going to go on record and tell you what I expect to see if this whole deal proves to be completely genuine, and if the obtained files go as far as they say they go.
I prepared a long list of items (documented diplomatic correspondence) I know to be included in diplomatic communications which took place between the mid 90s and early 2000s. I know I have a fairly large credit due with Santa since I’ve never made a wish list for him; ever. He owes me. He knows it and I know it. While that justifies my very long list (now you know I am old!!) I am going to exercise a little bit of fairness and present my list in manageable quantities and intervals. I hope my Wikileaks Santa has ‘word/phrase search’ technology at his disposal, because that would make his task of sorting and finding my requested items a far easier task. Okay, here it goes Wikileaks Santa, my first list for you, may your immensely large goodies bag contain these items highly beneficial for not only me but many others here and abroad…

Well, months passed with nothing of importance being released by Wikileaks pertaining to Turkey-related cables. There were a couple of inconsequential cables here and there, but not a single cable from the most crucial target years, 1996-2001, or explosive communications pertaining to our evil-deeds conducted in that part of the world-Turkey, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Balkans, and joint operations and partnerships with our Bin Laden and Mujahedeen entourage, and later with Fethullah Gulen’s Islamist Army there.

The absence of those cables for month after month was extremely curious and highly troubling. Considering the known fact that the largest portion of Wikileaks’ cables was those from Turkey, why didn’t we have anything on Turkey, especially those covering the most crucial years-1996-2001? Well, I chose to remain silent, observe and wait. I did.

A few months ago, whether by design or slip up, the entire Wikileaks Cache was released to the public. Now, over a quarter million State Department Cables, with the largest percentage being from Turkey, was public and readily available to all. I frantically began the query, sorting through thousands of ‘Turkey Cables’ and looking for the ‘crucial dates.’  I had several other savvy researchers who had volunteered doing the same, so they began pouring over the cables. We looked. We read. We searched, and then we searched again. We found nothing. Zip zip zilch.

That was not all. Even more curiously, far more troubling, unprecedented with any other countries’ cables cache, was the entire missing block of years for Turkey related cables. No cables from 1996 to 2001. Nothing. The entire six-year period in one big block was missing. There was this glaring 6-year period. I mean nothing; whether classified or public, absolutely nothing. Had the State Department, the US Embassy, the Turkish government, US-Turkish businesses ceased all communications with each other for an entire 6+ -year period?

Troubled and bewildered by the void I contacted John Young of Crptome.Org, one of very few experts in this area whom I trust, to get his response. The following is the comment I received from Mr. Young on this never-touched aspect of Wikileaks’ coverage by the media:

Cables on the topics you seek may have been classified above Secret. This is the innocent explanation. A more sinister view would be that the collection was sifted either by the source (who may have been officially enlisted to execute the disclosure), by parties involved in the transmission from the source to the disclosure site(s), or by the disclosure site(s). Note that there may have been more than one disclosure site which received the cables as well as each offering differing cable collections. WL alone has made public disclosures but has stated that it carefully packaged releases among selected outlets and it is unknown what all those outlets may be beyond those publicized…

And here comes sound and astute observation and analysis by Mr. Young:

The so-called full release is suspect due to the ease with which authentication measures can be forged and faked. Beyond this sinister view, it would not be unusual in the black market for information to monetize such materials by offering the most valuable to the highest bidder, among them the US Government, its allies and opponents. Nor would forgeries be unexpected due to their prevalence in the black market by governments and NGOs. Authentication of the cables remains unresolved due to the seemingly inept way they have been handled (maybe a subterfuge), not only at the source but at the many-pronged outlets. Nor would disinformation about authentication be unexpected by those most adversely and beneficially affected. The cables of your interest are likely to be quite valuable due to the authentication you have publicly given them.

Today, a year since my first brief coverage of the Wikileaks’ saga, my questions still remain:

Was Wikileaks’ given a sanitized version of the cables by design by the US government?
I highly doubt that. Especially when you consider my intimate Wikileaks’ insider’s (who had seen the entire original cable cache) tip, that becomes highly unlikely. This credible source had confirmed the existence of a group of cables related to Turkey which were directly related to my case. And this source had zero incentive to make up something like that, and go to all the trouble of ‘cautiously’ contacting me.
Did Wikileaks put aside those cables, somewhere safe, as an insurance policy against further and grimmer US government action(s) against them?
Possibly. Is it highly likely? I don’t know.
Did the US government issue a bold and highly-threatening threat to WikiLeaks’ Assange against releasing ‘particular’ cables?
Again, I consider this highly unlikely, but not impossible. As we see in the article released today, Assange appears to be cocky and bold enough to go on record and report the alleged threats by the US government. Why would he not talk about or report specific warnings and threats against releasing specific cables?

My questions and wariness still remain. I would even say, with the latest developments I have more reservations, questions and wariness towards this entire case than I did a year ago. If it isn’t what is advertised, then what the heck is this case about? You tell me.

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