Sibel Edmonds
1/31/2011

In a public statement issued today (see below), members of the 9/11
Family Steering Committee demanded a prompt response from the former
Chairman and Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission regarding Former
FBI Language Specialist Behrooz Sarshar’s censored testimony to the
Commission. The press release was prompted by recently released
documents related to the interviews conducted by the 9/11 Commission
published at Cryptome.org, in particular the "Memorandum for the Record"
containing the Commission’s interview with Mr. Sarshar. The memorandum,
after establishing Mr. Sarshar’s credibility and vaguely referring to
his documented and witnessed testimony regarding specific tip(s)
provided to the FBI in April and June 2001 regarding planned imminent
"Kamikaze Pilots" attacks targeting major cities in the United States,
leaves out the entire testimony. This testimony was also entirely left
out of the Commission’s final report released in July 2004.

Behrooz Sarshar worked as a GS 12 language specialist with Top Secret
Clearance at the FBI Washington Field Office. After leaving the FBI in
2002, he provided his testimony on "Kamikaze Pilots" to several
Congressional offices and investigators, including staff of the Senate
Judiciary Committee and the Committee’s leading Democrat at the time,
Senator Patrick Leahy, and the Justice Department’s Inspector General
Office. The congressional sources familiar with Mr. Sarshar’s case and
briefing found him and his report credible:

A former Grassley investigator says he found Sarshar
credible, too. "We thought he was a pretty credible guy," said former
Senate Judiciary Committee investigator Kris Kolesnik.

In April and June of 2001 a long-term FBI informant told two FBI
agents from the Washington field office that his sources in Afghanistan
had provided him with information regarding a terrorist plot to attack
the US in a suicide mission involving airplanes. Mr. Sarshar acted as an
interpreter at both meetings after which the case agents filed a report
(on 302 Forms) with their squad supervisor, Thomas Frields. Here is
what Mr. Frields told the reporter when questioned about the case:

Frields, now retired from the bureau, says the case is
too "sensitive" to discuss."It involves very sensitive matters that
took place while I was an on-duty agent, and I have absolutely nothing
to say," said Frields, reached at his Washington-area consulting office.

The 9/11 Commissioners had initially refused to interview Mr. Sarshar. He was one of several witnesses
from the intelligence and law enforcement organizations with relevant
testimonies and reports who were denied access to the commission (the
ones that we know of). It was only after pressure from members of the
9/11 Family Steering Committee and memorandums from the congressional
offices that the commission reluctantly agreed to interview Mr. Sarshar.
However, his entire testimony was omitted from their final report.
According to a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter even FBI Director Mueller appeared baffled by the Commission’s lack of inquiry into this particular case:

FBI Director Robert Mueller, who expected to be asked
about the case during an appearance before the commission in April, was
surprised when the commissioners never raised the question, according to
aides.

I do not expect to see any satisfactory explanation from the
commission in response to this public statement issued by the 9/11
family members. In this case they certainly cannot hide behind their
usual lame secrecy or classification mantra.
Mr. Sarshar provided several testimonies and briefings to official
bodies where neither the facilities nor the officials were considered
secure or in possession of clearance. I was present during at least four
of those meeting where the briefings were recorded and transcribed. In
two of these meetings several members of the 9/11 Family Steering
Committee were also present. In fact, during my short tenure with the
Bureau, I was briefed about this case by not only Mr. Sarshar but other
firsthand witnesses, and I saw the actual 302 forms filed with the
unit’s squad supervisor (FBI language specialists get to keep a copy of
their reports/forms). Further, I personally briefed the 9/11 commission
investigators on the details of this particular case, which is confirmed
by the commission’s memorandum:

Members of the Family Support Group requested that the
Commission meet with Mr. Sarshar, Dan Marcus arranged for a meeting
with Mr. Sarshar. The meeting became an interview and was recorded.
Sibel Edmonds, another former FBI translator, provided information
concerning Mr. Sarshar during her interview with Chris Healey and Lance
Cole on February 11, 2004.

I believe not only the families of the September 11th attacks but
every American has the right to know about this case. They need to know
that this significant report was completely censored by a quasi
commission, that this is one of many cases
that were omitted from this staged and rehearsed show to pacify the
public’s need to know, and that there never was any real investigation
into this horrific event used in reshaping not only our country, but the
entire world. Based on my discussion with the family members who issued
the following public statement, the commission will be given two
business days to provide them (and the public) with answers to questions
raised by this bold and appalling omission. If no response is
forthcoming, on Wednesday, February 2, I will publish Mr. Sarshar’s
verbatim testimony here at Boiling Frogs Post. With that said, here is
the public statement by the 9/11 family members issued today:

For Immediate Release: January 31, 2011

January 31, 2011

The 9/11 Commission’s mandate was to provide a "full and complete
accounting" of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and recommend how to
prevent such attacks in the future.

As family members who actively fought for the establishment of the
9/11 Commission and served on The Family Steering Committee for the 9/11
Commission (FSC), we find it appalling that once again we must question
the thoroughness and credibility of the 9/11 Commission and its Final
Report.

A pattern of ignoring whistleblowers persisted throughout the
Commission’s tenure, even though Governor Kean, the Chairman, promised
the FSC that no credible witnesses would be turned away. The list of
whistleblowers that should have been interviewed by the 9/11 Commission
included former and current intelligence agents, analysts, translators
and others. It was only after repeated attempts by the FSC that former
FBI translator, Mr. Behrooz Sarshar, was finally interviewed by them.
The "Memorandum for the Record" containing this interview was just
released on January 1, 2011 (http://cryptome.org/nara/behrooz-sarshar.pdf).

According to previously published sources, in April 2001 Mr. Sarshar,
in his position as FBI interpreter/translator, attended a meeting
between a long-term, reliable FBI asset and two additional FBI agents
from the Washington Field Office. That FBI asset told the two FBI
agents that his sources in Afghanistan had information of an al-Qaeda
plot to attack America in a suicide mission involving planes. It would
appear that when Mr. Sarshar filed his reports within the Bureau, they
were titled "Kamikaze Pilots".

After leaving the FBI in 2002, Mr. Sarshar provided the same
information to various Congressional offices and investigators, such as
staffers for the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senator Patrick Leahy.
The Justice Department’s Inspector General also interviewed him.

Thus, we were shocked to find that Mr. Sarshar’s relevant information
was missing from the "System Was Blinking Red" section of the 2004
Final Report issued by the 9/11 Commission. Now, six and a half years
past the publication of the Final Report, the transcript of Mr.
Sarshar’s interview has been released with all of its substance
redacted. In light of the fact that the majority of his information
does not meet the standard for classification, which is to protect
"sources and methods", it is unclear as to why that information was
blocked. Covering up incompetence, or worse, malfeasance, is not a
valid reason for classification. So, what happened to Mr. Sarshar’s
warnings once he filed his reports? This is exactly the type of
essential information the Commission should have used in order to write
its final report and issue recommendations. How does the Commission
justify omitting information from a credible source within one of our
own intelligence agencies?

By their own admission, a large portion of the 9/11 story was based
on the tortured, third party interrogations of Khalid Sheik Mohammad,
the alleged "Mastermind" of the 9/11 plot. Does this make any
investigative sense? What criteria did the Commission use to determine
whom they would interview and whom they would ignore? One must wonder
how many others were similarly omitted. It also seems that the nation’s
intelligence agency(ies) had information that included kamikaze pilots
and planes being used as weapons. So how does the Commission reach its
absurd conclusion that 9/11 was a "failure of imagination"?

Based on just these facts alone, one could surmise that the
Commission was more intent on conforming to a predetermined storyline
rather than a truthful compilation of the facts revealed through an
objective, thorough and effective investigation, that left no stone
unturned.

As the public has a right to know this information, we request that
the transcript of Mr. Sarshar’s interview be immediately declassified.
Furthermore, we respectfully request that the former Chairman, Governor
Thomas Kean, Vice-Chairman, Mr. Lee Hamilton and the Executive Director
of the 9/11 Commission, Mr. Philip Zelikow, promptly answer the
questions herein.

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Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken