From The Independent, 4/2/04:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=507514

'I saw papers that show US knew al-Qa'ida would attack cities with
aeroplanes'

Whistleblower the White House wants to silence speaks to The
Independent

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
02 April 2004


A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance
says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11
September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's
plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes
happened.

She said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice,
that there was no such information was "an outrageous lie".

Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three hours in a closed session
with the commission's investigators providing information that was
circulating within the FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting
that an attack using aircraft was just months away and the terrorists
were in place.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, has sought to silence her and has
obtained a gagging order from a court by citing the rarely used "state
secrets privilege".

She told The Independent yesterday:

"I gave [the commission] details of specific investigation files, the
specific dates, specific target information, specific managers in
charge of the investigation. I gave them everything so that they could
go back and follow up. This is not hearsay. These are things that are
documented. These things can be established very easily."

She added:

"There was general information about the time-frame, about methods to
be used ­ but not specifically about how they would be used ­ and
about people being in place and who was ordering these sorts of terror
attacks. There were other cities that were mentioned. Major cities ­
with skyscrapers."

The accusations from Mrs Edmonds, 33, a Turkish-American who speaks
Azerbaijani, Farsi, Turkish and English, will reignite the controversy
over whether the administration ignored warnings about al-Qa'ida.

That controversy was sparked most recently by Richard Clarke, a former
counter-terrorism official, who has accused the administration of
ignoring his warnings.

The issue ­ what the administration knew and when ­ is central to the
investigation by the 9/11 Commission, which has been hearing testimony
in public and private from government officials, intelligence
officials and secret sources.

Earlier this week, the White House made a U-turn when it said that Ms
Rice would appear in public before the commission to answer questions.

Mr Bush and his deputy, ***** Cheney, will also be questioned in a
closed-door session.

Mrs Edmonds, 33, says she gave her evidence to the commission in a
specially constructed "secure" room at its offices in Washington on 11
February.

She was hired as a translator for the FBI's Washington field office on
13 September 2001, just two days after the al-Qa'ida attacks.

Her job was to translate documents and recordings from FBI wire-taps.

She said said it was clear there was sufficient information during the
spring and summer of 2001 to indicate terrorists were planning an
attack.

"Most of what I told the commission ­ 90 per cent of it ­ related to
the investigations that I was involved in or just from working in the
department. Two hundred translators side by side, you get to see and
hear a lot of other things as well."

"President Bush said they had no specific information about 11
September and that is accurate but only because he said 11 September,"
she said.

There was, however, general information about the use of airplanes and
that an attack was just months away.

To try to refute Mr Clarke's accusations, Ms Rice said the
administration did take steps to counter al-Qa'ida.

But in an opinion piece in The Washington Post on 22 March, Ms Rice
wrote:

"Despite what some have suggested, we received no intelligence that
terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as
missiles, though some analysts speculated that terrorists might hijack
planes to try and free US-held terrorists."

Mrs Edmonds said that by using the word "we", Ms Rice told an
"outrageous lie".

She said:

"Rice says 'we' not 'I'. That would include all people from the FBI,
the CIA and DIA [Defence Intelligence Agency]. I am saying that is
impossible."

It is impossible at this stage to verify Mrs Edmonds' claims.

However, some senior US senators testified to her credibility in 2002
when she went public with separate allegations relating to alleged
incompetence and corruption within the FBI's translation department.

__________________________________________________________

I would hafta say that this individual needs protection.

Harry