Was Blackmail used as a means to gain pro Iraq War votes?

[Postman]

Was BLACKMAIL part of the Modus Operandi of the Bush Administration in securing positive votes for the war in Iraq?

Sibel Edmonds gave an interview here--
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/horton.php?articleid=7032

..then this question is asked and Sibel answers. After which I wondered if the reason the Bush Administration didn't continue with the investigation, prosecution, etc., etc. was to Blackmail guilty parties into voting for the war in Iraq....


SH: The article quotes one unnamed official as saying, "This is the reason why Ashcroft reacted to Sibel in such an extreme fashion. It was to keep this from coming out."

SE: Uh, when you say "this," I don't know. If you go to my CBS 60 Minutes transcript of October 2002 – even though they chose to broadcast mostly the administrative problems and issues – I had one statement there that said that this involved people, officials, well-recognized names in the Department of State, Department of Defense, and certain elected officials. So I believe the source is also quoted somewhere else talking about the fact that in the late '90s they were going to have a special prosecutor to uncover these criminal activities and corruption, including the politicians – this is in the article. But later, AFTER THE ADMINISTRATION CHANGED, they decided to cool it and not do anything with it, so they stopped the investigation and they went against the initial decision of having a special prosecutor trying and indicting these criminals in the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Congress.

[tanyev]

1. I've wondered if blackmail could explain John McCain's mood swings.

[Liberty Belle]

3. Yes, I have inside knowledge on this.

An acquaintance worked on McCain's campaign and recalls a 2-hour conversation McCain had with Bush. After Bush left, McCain was heard to mutter "f**king idiot." That night, McCain dropped out and endorsed Bush.

My acquaintance is conviced McCain was blackmailed. Whatever they have hanging over his head, they no doubt trod out whenever they need to keep him in line.

[tanyev]

6. Well, that gave me goosebumps.

Thanks for sharing.

[Liberty Belle]

10. Confirmed what I'd suspected, but it's still chilling.

[Ready4Change]

2. Is anthrax blackmail?

Just asking.

[Postman]

9. Leahy was one of the recipients of an Anthrax Letter....

SE: But people and your listeners have to go further than that. I understand this administration and their anti-transparency, anti-accountability and their corrupt attitudes. But that aside, we are not made of only one branch of government. We are supposed to have a system of checks and balances. And I am saying, how about the other two branches? And putting the pressure on our representatives in the Senate and the Congress, and the court system. They should be counter-acting this corruption, but they are sitting there silent. And they are just an audience, just watching it happen. Senators Leahy and Grassley and Hatch have the obligation to do that. It's not that they can choose not to do it. They don't have that luxury. This needs to be demanded of them. People need to pick up their phones. They need to write to these people and say, "You'd better fulfill your responsibilities."


JH: And you know what Senator Leahy is going to do? He's going to forward his letter, his Senate testimony, on to us to prove how hard he is working.

SE: I saw a reporter the other day who had just spoken to Senator Leahy. And Senator Leahy said that, well...he doesn't know what the next step will be. And it came to the issue of the hearing, and investigating this case, and he basically ended the conversation. And I think that with a little more pressure from us, from you and from your listeners, we can change that.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml

[Dynasty_At_Passes]

4. Very interesting....

I'd say that would explain why Trent Lott did nothing....aside from being a neocon stooge.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Blackmail and Anthrax would explain a lot, I think.

Even if Wellstone was not suicided, given the timing, I bet a lot of people in Congress wondered....

[Postman]

7. After having completely read the article.....

and reading between the lines of Sibel Edmonds answers, I get the impression that 9/11 was allowed to happen...


SH: So let's get into some of that criminal activity then. The semi-legit organization that I think you are most often referring to is the American Turkish Council, which is headed by Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser of the United States, and is packed with the leaders of Raytheon, Motorola, Boeing, Lockheed, Martin Marietta, and some of the most powerful company names in the military-industrial complex.

SE: Correct

....The American Turkish Council is chock full of the Military-Industrial-Complex types.....Does anyone else find that extremely disturbing??

[wli]

8. anthrax, Wellstone, etc. ... they're not just getting blackmailed

They're getting threatened with assassination, too.

[bvar22]

11. Cheney directly threatened Paul Wellstone:

Before his death, Sen. Paul Wellstone met with vice president, Dick Cheney, who threatened him: "If you vote against the war in Iraq, the Bush administration will do whatever is necessary to get you. There will be severe ramifications for you..."

http://www.freedomfiles.org/archives/paulwellstone2.htm




another account:

Cheney was rounding up Senate support for the October 2002 vote on giving the administration carte blanche to invade Iraq, with or without blessing from the United Nations. Cheney strong-armed opposing politicians like the most vindictive of mafioso leaders, and opponents usually gave in.

But not Wellstone. Whatever you thought of his progressive brand of politics, he wasn't a wimp. And that's what made him more than dangerous in the eyes of people like Cheney.

At a meeting full of war veterans in Willmar, Minn., days before his death, Wellstone told attendees that Cheney told him, "If you vote against the war in Iraq, the Bush administration will do whatever is necessary to get you. There will be severe ramifications for you and the state of Minnesota."

Wellstone cast his vote for his conscience and against the Iraq measure, the lone Democrat involved in a tough 2002 election campaign to do so. And a few weeks later on Oct. 25, as he appeared to be winning his re-election bid, Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, his daughter, Marcia Markuson, three campaign staffers, and two pilots died in a plane crash in Minnesota.


http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread28207/pg1




Directly threatening someone's life is not blackmail, but would blackmail be beyond someone who is willing to threaten someone as Cheney did Wellstone.....and then the Paul's death in a mysterous light plane crash a couple of weeks after Wellstone voted AGAINST the War???!!!


I put NOTHING beyond the BFEE.