True military secrets have ready international buyers. Conspiracy theorists have only their stories; none really pays for knowing whether the US really landed on the moon or just stage-managed the whole event. Now, Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish FBI translator has accused top US officials for selling State secrets to paying-countries.
As is to be expected, the accused have all ridiculed her and termed her accusations as financially motivated. She had approached The Sunday Times for selling her tell-it-all story. The fact that this paper is willing to pay her for the story is a sufficient reason for us to hear Edmonds out. Times Online reports that the paper’s journalists have found evidence corroborating her claims.
John Le Carre, in his famous novels about the drab spy ‘Smiley’, tells how it is inevitable that if there are really important secrets around, then someone will surely sell them for a price. It seems that the US has a lot of really important secrets in its closet. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are among those countries which bought US secrets. Her list of accused officials includes such known spies like Lawrence Franklin. Franklin is in prison for selling US military information to Israel. Edmonds’ accuses PhD students working in Los Alamos in New Mexico. She says that those students sold classified information, which ultimately reached people like the notorious Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. The latter was close to ISI chief, General Mahmoud Ahmad. Ahmad seems to have been an avid buyer of state secrets. And he seems to have sent money to the 9/11 terrorist Mohammad Atta before the attack on the Twin Towers.
What does this report mean for the international community?
This report is crucial for our understanding of global terrorism and also Indo-Pakistan relationships. India has always maintained that Pakistan is a rogue state harbouring terrorists. This expose proves that the ISI has strong links with terrorists world-wide. If the international community fails to act on this information, then it does so at its own peril.
I had previously mentioned how Pakistan is being run by terrorists. This report validates that contention. Also the complicity of the Americans in aiding global terrorism is obvious in Sibel Edmonds’ report. The only chinks in the whistle-blower’s story are two. She says that some bureaucrat sold his secrets for $15,000. This seems to be a paltry sum for a state secret — too little money, if the risks of betraying one’s nation are considered. And whistle-blowers are betraying someone or the other. Who can guarantee that she is not betraying the public now?
Image: Eldib
Via: Times Online
