Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish lobbies

Horizon Armenian Weekly
Montreal
Quebec, Canada
November 29, 2005

Scandalized: Neocons and the Jewish and Turkish lobbies
By David Boyajian

Washington’s widening spy investigations threaten to expose the lovers’ triangle of Neoconservatives, the Jewish lobby, and the Turkish lobby.

There are three major espionage cases: Sibel Edmonds/FBI/Turkey, Larry Franklin/AIPAC/Israel, and Valerie Plame/CIA/Libby.

The latter two (and perhaps the first) involve so-called Neoconservatives. The hallmark of Neocons is, of course, an outspoken devotion to Israel. There are dozens of them, and 90 percent are Jewish.

And, yes, ideologically cohesive ethnic or religious groupings, whether Turks, Jews, Muslims, Christian evangelicals, Armenians, Cubans, or Greeks, are fair game for discussion.

Allies: Turks and Jews

The Jewish lobby has for years befriended the Turkish lobby. No one seriously disputes this (also see http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/april_2003/politics001.html ).

Indeed, Armenian genocide resolutions in Congress, acknowledged The Jerusalem Post, “have been snuffed out by Turkey and its right-hand man on this issue, the Israel lobby.”

The lobbies’ friendship grew out of the bond between Israel and Turkey, who share an aversion to much of the Arab world and Iran.

Having worked their way into the media, academia, think tanks, and government—most notably the Bush administration—Neocons are immensely influential. Being pro-Israel hawks, they are, not surprisingly, strongly pro-Turkish.

As far back as 16 years ago, for example, two former members of the current administration, Neocons Douglas Feith and Richard Perle, founded International Advisors Inc., which registered as a foreign agent for Turkey. IAI, said journalist Jason Vest, helped to “quash a U.S. Senate resolution marking ... the Armenian genocide.”

Feith left Reagan’s National Security Council in 1982 after the FBI suspected him of passing classified information to Israel. Perle was reportedly suspected of the same thing a decade earlier.

In fairness, we must also recognize that scores of Jewish and Israeli academicians and elected officials have generally been supportive of Armenians and have acknowledged the Armenian genocide.

Gagged: Sibel Edmonds

Sibel Deniz, 35, was born an Azerbaijani Iranian. After moving to Turkey, Sibel immigrated to the United States and married an American, Matthew Edmonds.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, she put her linguistic skills to work at the FBI. Vanity Fair’s David Rose (September 2005) reported that Sibel listened to secretly recorded tapes of Turks and persons associated with the high-powered American Turkish Council (ATC) allegedly engaged in illicit drug deals, the sale of classified military technology, and bribery of American officials. Some of the FBI wiretaps dated back to 1997.

Late in 2001, the Edmondses were approached by another FBI Turkish translator, Melek Can (pronounced Jan) Dickerson, and her husband, USAF Major Douglas Dickerson. Melek had met Douglas when he was stationed in Turkey selling U.S. weapons.

The Dickersons allegedly tried to lure Sibel and Matthew into joining the ATC and ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) by promising lives of leisure. (Melek Can had apparently illegally hidden her previous employment at the ATC from the FBI.)

“Just tell them that you’re a Turkish translator for the FBI,” the Dickersons reportedly told Sibel, “and you will get in very quickly.”

When Sibel spurned the offer, Melek allegedly stopped her from listening to any more FBI tapes related to Turkey.

Sibel blew the whistle and was fired. The Dickersons fled the United States.

A Justice Department investigation, now classified, confirmed many of Sibel’s claims.

She has testified before Congress and the 9/11 Commission and is suing the FBI (JustaCitizen.com).

But the U.S. Attorney General, citing the rarely used “state secrets privilege,” got a judge to stop her lawsuit cold and slap a gag order on her. The ACLU is appealing the gag order to the Supreme Court.

Guilty: Larry Franklin

Undersecretary of Defense Larry Franklin (a Neocon, but Catholic) pled guilty this fall to passing classified information about Iran to Israeli embassy officer Nair Gilon and lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee). Gilon fled the United States, and Rosen and Weissman are due to go on trial.

Larry Franklin’s boss at the Pentagon was none other than Douglas Feith, the Neocon Turkish lobbyist and former FBI suspect.

Did Feith know Franklin was spying for Israel? Was Feith working not just for Turkey but Israel as well?

Sibel’s Bombshell

Christopher Deliso of Balkanalysis.com recently asked Sibel Edmonds whether “the Turkish and Israeli [Franklin/AIPAC] investigations had some overlap.”

Edmonds answered with this bombshell: “There is only one investigation ... a very big ... all-inclusive one ... You can start from the AIPAC angle [or] the [Valerie] Plame case ... they revolve around the same nucleus of people.”

It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that together the three spy cases could become the biggest scandal in U.S. history.

Outed: Valerie Plame

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has just indicted Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby, for perjury and obstruction of justice. Yes, Libby is a longtime Neocon.

In 2003, ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson had publicly alleged the falseness of President Bush’s pre-Iraq war claim that Saddam Hussein had sought nuclear weapons material from Africa.

Libby or other Bush officials apparently retaliated by illegally informing some journalists that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA operative. One such journalist, The New York Times’ Judith Miller, is Jewish and has become a Neocon favorite.

Fitzgerald hints at more indictments: “It’s not over.”

Action Needed

For the lid to be blown off the Neocon-Turkish-Jewish “menage a trois,” the stalled Sibel Edmonds case needs to go forward.

Armenian-Americans need to get behind those pushing to lift the case’s gag order. A special Federal prosecutor must be appointed, or Fitzgerald’s mandate broadened, to cover the Edmonds scandal.

Members of Congress’s Armenian Caucus should be urged to take the lead, though one wonders if anyone in Congress has the courage to take on Neocons and two powerful lobbies.

Armenian-Americans, meanwhile, can feel a certain satisfaction knowing that many of those who have opposed them on matters such as Genocide affirmation may be more unsavory than anyone ever suspected.

Article used with authors permission.