Grossman testifies on US embassies, subcommittee does not ask about Turkey or Brewster Jennings
By Wayne Madsen. Former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and U.S. ambassador to Turkey Marc Grossman testified on January 23 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. Although Grossman was testifying on the future of U.S. embassies abroad, several on lookers expected to hear something about recent revelations in the London Sunday Times and American Conservative magazine regarding revelations from former FBI Turkish translator Sibel Edmonds that Grossman was a person of interest for the FBI who had his phone tapped by the FBI from 2001 to 2002.
Grossman is now vice chairman of the Cohen Group, a consulting firm headed by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
The American Conservative article, unlike two articles in the Sunday Times, alleges that Grossman received cash from an official of the American Turkish Council (ATC), described as a sister organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The articles also allege that Grossman intervened after 9/11 to stop the FBI's interrogation of four Turks and one Pakistani who were all considered suspects in the terror attacks against the United States. The article in the conservative magazine also reports that according to FBI wiretaps seen by Edmonds, Grossman tipped off a Turkish contact about the true identity of Valerie Plame Wilson's Brewster Jennings and Associates non-official cover firm and that its fronting for the CIA's counter-proliferation division (CPD) efforts were passed by the Turk to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the A Q Khan nuclear proliferation network, a target of Brewster Jennings and the CIA's CPD. This revelation came long before Robert Novak's outing of Plame and Brewster Jennings in July 2003. The wiretap reportedly was between August and December 2001 and is found in the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterintelligence Division, Turkish Unit File 203A-WF-210023 file.
The American Conservative article, written by Phil Giraldi, a partner of Cannistraro Associates, an international security consulting firm. Giraldi served as deputy chief of the CIA's Istanbul station from 1986 to 1989. Grossman served as US ambassador to Turkey from 1994 to 1997. Giraldi's colleague at Cannistraro Associates, Vince Cannistraro, was Chief of Operations and Analysis at the CIA's Counterterrorist Center until 1991. It is important to note that while Giraldi was the deputy CIA station chief in Istanbul in 1989, Grossman was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Ankara the same year.
Grossman was one of four experts to testify on the future design of U.S. embassies. He was joined by former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Pickering. Grossman and Pickering served on a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on the "Embassy of the Future," along with Felix Rohatyn. Bill Clinton's ambassador to France, and George Argyros, former George W. Bush ambassador to Spain.
Stopping by to engage in idle chit chat with Pickering and Grossman was Indiana Republican Representative Dan Burton. Edmonds contends that Burton was an illegal recipient of funds and possible bribes from Turkish sources. Another said to have received such funds is Republican House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri. On the eve of Grossman's testimony, Blunt's son, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, flush with a huge campaign war chest for his re-election campaign in November this year, abruptly announced he was pulling out of the race with no explanation offered. The move left his campaign staff stunned.
No member of the subcommittee took the occasion of Grossman being under oath to ask him about the allegations in the Sunday Times or American Conservative articles. Those present included Chairman John Tierney (D-MA), Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY), Burton, and Todd Platts (R-PA). Shays, Platts, and Burton made quick appearances and departed. A single member of the anti-war group "Code Pink" occasionally held up a pink sign with the words: "Talk to Sibel" (meaning, Sibel Edmonds).
Answering a question from the subcommittee about the rotation of U.S. foreign service officers in particular locations, Grossman responded with the following: "When a [U.S.] diplomat is in Turkey four or five years, it's easy to forget who you're working for." Grossman served in Turkey as ambassador and deputy chief of mission for a total of over six years.
After the hearing, this editor asked Grossman if he had any comment on the allegations that he spoke to a Turkish embassy contact about Brewster Jennings on the phone long before the Novak article was published. Grossman replied, "That's ridiculous."
Although Giraldi was deputy CIA station chief in Istanbul in 1989, the same year Grossman was deputy chief of mission in Ankara, Grossman told this editor, "I never heard of Phil Giraldi." Asked by another hearing attendee if he had read the Sunday Times article on Edmonds, Grossman said he had not seen it. When asked if he would like a copy, Grossman said he could look it up later.
publication date: January 23-24, 2008
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in The Village Voice and Wired.
Reprint from Wayne Madsen Report
Related stories:
Found in Translation (The American Conservative, 28.01.2008)
FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her "secrets"
(The New Anatolian, 24.01.2008)
Daniel Ellsberg: Pakistan's Bomb, U.S. Cover-up
(consortiumnews.com, 22.01.2008)
Sibel Edmonds Case: Nukes for sale (Pt 2) (opednews.com, 18.01.2008)
The Bomb in the Shadows: Proliferation, Corruption and the Way of the World (The Daily Scare, 09.01.2008)
On FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds (mytown.ca, 23.01.2008)
Sibel 'names names' (in pictures!)
(letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com, 06.01.2008)
Articles in the "Sunday Times":
For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets
(timesonline.co.uk, 06.01.2008)
FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft
(timesonline.co.uk, 20.01.2008)
US journalists ignore Sunday Times scoop on FBI nuclear scandal
(blogs.guardian.co.uk, 22.01.2008)
News:
Bush OKs US-Turkey Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Deal (AFP, 23.01.2008)
Turkey should participate in multilateral nuclear mechanisms
(Turkish Daily News, 23.01.2008)
Archives:
Archive Press Releases and Official Statements
Marc Grossman, Under Secretary Of State For Political Affairs Remarks After His Meeting With Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
(istanbul.usconsulate.gov, 09.12.2003)
ISI chief's parleys continue in US (Karachi News, 10.09.2001)
A Cloak But No Dagger (Washington Post, 18.05.2002)
World.Content.News about Sibel Edmonds case: Find articles
Grossman is now vice chairman of the Cohen Group, a consulting firm headed by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
The American Conservative article, unlike two articles in the Sunday Times, alleges that Grossman received cash from an official of the American Turkish Council (ATC), described as a sister organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The articles also allege that Grossman intervened after 9/11 to stop the FBI's interrogation of four Turks and one Pakistani who were all considered suspects in the terror attacks against the United States. The article in the conservative magazine also reports that according to FBI wiretaps seen by Edmonds, Grossman tipped off a Turkish contact about the true identity of Valerie Plame Wilson's Brewster Jennings and Associates non-official cover firm and that its fronting for the CIA's counter-proliferation division (CPD) efforts were passed by the Turk to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the A Q Khan nuclear proliferation network, a target of Brewster Jennings and the CIA's CPD. This revelation came long before Robert Novak's outing of Plame and Brewster Jennings in July 2003. The wiretap reportedly was between August and December 2001 and is found in the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterintelligence Division, Turkish Unit File 203A-WF-210023 file.
The American Conservative article, written by Phil Giraldi, a partner of Cannistraro Associates, an international security consulting firm. Giraldi served as deputy chief of the CIA's Istanbul station from 1986 to 1989. Grossman served as US ambassador to Turkey from 1994 to 1997. Giraldi's colleague at Cannistraro Associates, Vince Cannistraro, was Chief of Operations and Analysis at the CIA's Counterterrorist Center until 1991. It is important to note that while Giraldi was the deputy CIA station chief in Istanbul in 1989, Grossman was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Ankara the same year.
Grossman was one of four experts to testify on the future design of U.S. embassies. He was joined by former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Pickering. Grossman and Pickering served on a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on the "Embassy of the Future," along with Felix Rohatyn. Bill Clinton's ambassador to France, and George Argyros, former George W. Bush ambassador to Spain.
Stopping by to engage in idle chit chat with Pickering and Grossman was Indiana Republican Representative Dan Burton. Edmonds contends that Burton was an illegal recipient of funds and possible bribes from Turkish sources. Another said to have received such funds is Republican House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri. On the eve of Grossman's testimony, Blunt's son, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, flush with a huge campaign war chest for his re-election campaign in November this year, abruptly announced he was pulling out of the race with no explanation offered. The move left his campaign staff stunned.
No member of the subcommittee took the occasion of Grossman being under oath to ask him about the allegations in the Sunday Times or American Conservative articles. Those present included Chairman John Tierney (D-MA), Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY), Burton, and Todd Platts (R-PA). Shays, Platts, and Burton made quick appearances and departed. A single member of the anti-war group "Code Pink" occasionally held up a pink sign with the words: "Talk to Sibel" (meaning, Sibel Edmonds).
Answering a question from the subcommittee about the rotation of U.S. foreign service officers in particular locations, Grossman responded with the following: "When a [U.S.] diplomat is in Turkey four or five years, it's easy to forget who you're working for." Grossman served in Turkey as ambassador and deputy chief of mission for a total of over six years.
After the hearing, this editor asked Grossman if he had any comment on the allegations that he spoke to a Turkish embassy contact about Brewster Jennings on the phone long before the Novak article was published. Grossman replied, "That's ridiculous."
Although Giraldi was deputy CIA station chief in Istanbul in 1989, the same year Grossman was deputy chief of mission in Ankara, Grossman told this editor, "I never heard of Phil Giraldi." Asked by another hearing attendee if he had read the Sunday Times article on Edmonds, Grossman said he had not seen it. When asked if he would like a copy, Grossman said he could look it up later.
publication date: January 23-24, 2008
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in The Village Voice and Wired.
Reprint from Wayne Madsen Report
Related stories:
Found in Translation (The American Conservative, 28.01.2008)
FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her "secrets"
(The New Anatolian, 24.01.2008)
Daniel Ellsberg: Pakistan's Bomb, U.S. Cover-up
(consortiumnews.com, 22.01.2008)
Sibel Edmonds Case: Nukes for sale (Pt 2) (opednews.com, 18.01.2008)
The Bomb in the Shadows: Proliferation, Corruption and the Way of the World (The Daily Scare, 09.01.2008)
On FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds (mytown.ca, 23.01.2008)
Sibel 'names names' (in pictures!)
(letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com, 06.01.2008)
Articles in the "Sunday Times":
For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets
(timesonline.co.uk, 06.01.2008)
FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft
(timesonline.co.uk, 20.01.2008)
US journalists ignore Sunday Times scoop on FBI nuclear scandal
(blogs.guardian.co.uk, 22.01.2008)
News:
Bush OKs US-Turkey Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Deal (AFP, 23.01.2008)
Turkey should participate in multilateral nuclear mechanisms
(Turkish Daily News, 23.01.2008)
Archives:
Archive Press Releases and Official Statements
Marc Grossman, Under Secretary Of State For Political Affairs Remarks After His Meeting With Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
(istanbul.usconsulate.gov, 09.12.2003)
ISI chief's parleys continue in US (Karachi News, 10.09.2001)
A Cloak But No Dagger (Washington Post, 18.05.2002)
World.Content.News about Sibel Edmonds case: Find articles
softlabhennef - 26. Jan, 14:48 Article 2374x read
