and government operations but the bill is a far cry from the reality on the ground because to date obama has charged more whistleblowers under the espionage act than any prior administration combined issue that's close to home for one former f.b.i. translator who the whistle on the government back in two thousand and two after learning about serious security breaches cover ups and the intentional blocking of intelligence and ever since she's been on a crusade for justice not just for whistleblowers but also for the many civil liberties that are currently under siege in this country so here to share her story and her insight on u.s. policies in a post nine eleven world i'm joined now by the bell edmonds editor of the boiling frogs and host and founder of the national security whistleblowers coalition as well as the author of classified warman the subelements story thank you so much for coming on. thank you for having me so suppose for a lot of people who don't know your story can you tell us briefly what happened and the difficulties you encountered getting your story out. well it's hard to believe

that this story started more than ten years ago almost eleven years ago and it started when trying to do the right thing for criminal activities government fraud and abuse. allegations back and it didn't stop when that became the most gag moment in the history of the united states they invoke this is the government during the bush administration they invoked the state secrets privilege in my case they actually officially gag the congress. practive classification and stop them from holding any hearings on my case and of course the congress loved it because they had a way out and they didn't challenge it even know that gag order was simply illegal because the executive branch can't gag the congress however to comply states. what

the courts as has been the case already over it really didn't get anywhere because when the government goes to courts and says look because that everything about this person everything she says classified top secret then it doesn't matter what you have on your side in terms of facts evidence the courts they just defer to the government and state just by get out of here you're not going to hear this case and worse they're all three the executive branch congress and the whites it's been the mainstream media and what i refer to as the was i alternative media here in the united states in the case of not in my case but also many many was laura's specifically national security wasn't lauriston nine eleven of course and also your book if i recall they didn't redact the portions of it to let you release it so you just want to head and release the books of all goes over corruption at the highest levels of government it's a very explosive book really ever want to check it out over the most damning

revelation in the book. well it is i don't know what it would be considered the most damning because there are several. a lot of people they just automatically assume and again thanks to the mainstream media that it boils down the same ol same ol government ways and incompetence bureaucracy bureaucracy bureaucratic bungling split is far more than that because the government wouldn't go out of its way to jail was the lawyers or track to or invoke state secrets privilege and gag their entire i get it it is about there there are some major revelations on nine eleven and what could be new what to be didn't do how many things were done on purpose covered up it goes to some really frightening treasonous activities in criminal treasonous activities within our government agencies and that includes. state department and the white house the pentagon and

some high high level people are not talking about some low level people have been engaging in security breaches you're talking about activities that been going on for decades and it covers several administrations including the clinton administration the bush administration and even today some of those people who are still active within our government and their new administration the obama administration and when i buy my treason i don't mean just metaphorically or symbolic treason i mean real treason people who are committing treasonous acts against the united states its interests and its people security absolutely i think that's a lot of what people do for back to their so it's a big clunky bureaucracy of course you know the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing it's a lot more than that's the bill as you just said the war that outright war against whistle blowers intelligence was intentionally through worded i mean what does this

tell you and the new york times exposé that describes how much intelligence they in fact had i mean do you think that the government purposefully ignored intelligence because they wanted nine eleven to happen. absolutely i would say certain elements within our government absolutely intentionally purposefully ignore it and let it happen and they haven't been held accountable and what we have had all the shenanigans from the nine eleven commission ordered congregational inquiries not just them went into these topics in these established cases if you look at the number of high level national security was no blowers who were censured out of congress. the investigations or the so-called nine eleven hearings that includes people like the f.b.i. retired f.b.i. agent coleen rowdy you're looking at anthony shaffer you're looking at dozens of people who have. comes forward who came forward they went to congress they went to

the nine eleven commission they went to the media and they can simply ignore and there and a lot of these are reported cases have been established over the years in bits and pieces and that's exactly what this stablish meant and what the media intended in the first place not to cover all our purpose before adler to just let it get out in little bits and pieces so you won't get that needed outrage from the public to demand accountability to demand answers and of course ten ten plus years later it's just the way things are we live in a post not over the world of course that's the crux of the entire neo-con agenda of the new police state at here and abroad. so of course it stills super relevant it's absurd that no one has been held accountable of course anyone who questions this is what really irks me and especially people like you and people who worked. in these

entities and these organizations were labeled as conspiracy theorists as radicals and that's really the pejorative term of the news is to shut down the dialogue how damaging is that. fleetly done by design i would say for a beautiful design for us the people of the fortunate he's been very successful this tactic and that is i mean if you really look at it not only you know the experts and oneself morris but millions of people consider are considered conspiracy theorists today and it has been extremely a fact when the media including the so-called alternative media i know so many reporters journalists who would tell me in private that they truly believe what we have reporting they truly believe that you know there has been intentional criminal acts in these cases but they are afraid that if they were to touch these topics. to

write about that even if this cursory you're going to be labeled as a conspiracy theorist marginalized and their reputation destroying many many good journalists we can waste an oxymoron how could you be a good journalist and yet be a fact that i guess intentional design is intentional tacky and given so instead i encourage people to say preempt it because if they're calling it conspiracy theories and if your conspiracy theory challenges the government conspiracy theory just standing up and from the beginning how can say my name is about and just like in a meeting and i'm a conspiracy theorist now that you put that aside and then truly they want to have much to go on good terms of attack to give you because you are thinking well what people have been doing in the media experts and unless they are hiding they are there is remaining silent and as long as they do this this tactic just isn't

a fact it's working at of course the government's line is a conspiracy there any way you look at it it's a conspiracy either way multiple people acted together to carry out an event that is a concern as if there is just such an absurd the rhetoric is just so damaging let's talk about the tears they really quickly you talk about of the tears is essentially an element of psychological warfare of course that in conjunction with the systematic erosion of civil liberties with american citizens i mean all of this together compounded elaborate on what you meant by that. well it is it all boils down to power and boils down to the power to establish men wanting you to submit not question the system and and use you into just little you know little tiny little robots that can't order do not challenge the order do not question your wonders and t.s.a. isn't this a great example of this. you know since nine eleven if you go and look in the

airport just stand outside and watch people going to these security check lines of play and have them go through this just like sheep they are afraid to even look to the right or to the left because they don't want to raise the flag there like if i if i were to look nervous they're going to pull me aside and they're going to basically rape me they're going to fund the me everywhere and bend over before these bad guys i mean a lot of these people they don't even have a high school diploma they have been given this power to status of the highest level police all right the actual police in airports and what we do is we bend over we really bend down before these people these badges people we remove our shoes ok and this is just like how long before the killings it's not if there is really no difference and reader afraid of them we are afraid of challenging them we

don't question it and every day millions of americans are going through this they have been going through this now for over a decade and of course. i'm not here i'm so sorry to interrupt you but i want to get just one more question this whistleblower protection act or whatever that obama just signed i mean this is a smokescreen it's about as really do anything at all we have about a minute left it doesn't do anything at all and it is not different than tens of these bills these orders that have inside signed in the past few decades look at the actions look at the top and in us as always with the laws you have to look at the fine footprints there all the people from the intelligence agencies law enforcement agencies military are excluded it says it doesn't say bold on the top like the media likes to advertise this is the great presidents signing protection for whistleblowers go down oh now there's order look at the footprints and you will see that f.b.i. excluded. yeah i explained that justice department is next to that pentagon is

excluded and take a look at these whistleblowers in the past ten years the most courageous one and you see that these whistleblowers have come from these agencies so basically they're saying when it comes to war military intelligence abuses criminal conduct we don't want any was the wars those people are outside the system so we go ahead and give it to i don't know maybe department of education and they are some courageous what will or is there i am not undermining don't people's our courage or status but what i'm telling you yes it is no different than what it was ten years fifteen or twenty years ago they look good on the paper even for those of us of lawrence but then much comes to shove here there is no teeth in it and as long as you have the same course you have the same congress you have the same executive agencies like the. inspector general's office that he or p.r. you are not going to see any press is going to be the same or and same oh actually guess optimistic our state's been getting worse and it's going to get worse just

take a look at mr obama's record i don't want to call him president obama he's not my president i don't accept him as such but just take a look at his record and see what he has done when it comes to was lawyers and those actions speak far louder than some little or executive order that's fine for us or they will of course that of course the people who would challenge the military industrial complex which is really what's running this government and country than you know those who are of course excluded from this legislation that is so much subelements editor of boiling frogs post founder of the national security was a coalition of really appreciate you coming on thank you have you keep up the good work. you're likely to see so far go to our youtube channel at youtube dot coms us breaking the said subscribe to our facebook page at facebook dot com slash breaking the steps if you wanted about what i'm doing when i'm not on earth all of me on twitter and i mean martin i take a break from my preaching for now but stay tuned to hear about the solution to america's strategy in afghanistan next.

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so guys as we already mentioned today marks the one year since obama commemorated the formal and the u.s. mission in iraq but stability in the country is still a long road ahead but while we have one eye on iraq another idea is to fix on afghanistan america's longest war and which two thousand americans and countless afghans have already died but progress in the country is yet to be seen point that afghan president hamid karzai blames in part on the united states check out what he had to say just last week. for a number of years. a growing perception of kind of stuff. that

is significant part of the of in afghanistan it's called sed by the way. the united states and some of its allies. promoted to. get started by spreading corruption in afghanistan by. employing private security firms who became a no on their own there is a very strong perception that the some of that in skills to use in turn studious. so here to talk about america's strategy in afghanistan and what the solutions are going forward i'm joined now by. brown brookings fellow and author of aspiration and ambivalence strategies and realities of counterinsurgency and state building in afghanistan thank you so much for taking the time to come over here so you just heard karzai what he had to say do you agree with the perception that afghans think that the u.s. is creating instability there in the region well i do not agree with that and that

is the strand in the political system in afghanistan that believes the president karzai finds it very convenient to use that line and he is right that there is tremendous amount of. rule of law and afghanistan there's tremendous amount of corruption but the blame lies firstly and foremost on the shoulders of his government and. personally yes there have been problems with how aid has been channeled into afghanistan that have been problems of its security companies many of which consequently companies and it. include option as well as the perpetration of other crimes but more fundamentally the system is deeply caught up there is a lot of corruption surrounding the palace and president karzai has not shown much of time and i told to take the power brokers some take on corruption easier to pass the buck of course when you look at the long history of the you know the u.s.

funding both sides ninety percent of afghans hold a couple of years ago didn't even know what nine eleven was in certain regions when you were there did you get the sense that afghans believe that this war is meant to be sustained i mean when you just see recent news of blackwater sponsoring special operations troops there and also the extension of troops there until twenty twenty four potentially the strategic packed with cars ministration well it's very interesting how i perceive football for us and but the states and the international community should continue being caged off the twenty foot team and no doubt that in many afghans. tired of the foot in this presence and for many the foot in this presence has brought beilenson and stability permanent the compass that aided us between the west and the taleban and although that has been the real progress against the taliban insurgency it's not taking place uniformly the east of the country continues to be hotly contested a lot of ethnic tensions are brewing but at the same time of dance are very deeply afraid of the international community abandoning them once again they are very

deeply afraid of the united states not demanding engaged militarily enough gonna stand off the twenty fourteen and not supporting the. the afghan national security forces and they are afraid that this will lead to the taliban retaking large parts of the country and civil war breaking out elsewhere. yeah i mean going back to mentality that you said a lot of afghans have that they don't want to leave but at the same time of course they don't like the occupation i mean where do you think that the wave of recent insider killings the green on blue killings are coming from is it just. what you think the main cause of that is the that's one of the big developments of this past year is the number of. attacks by members of the afghan national security forces against nato forces i think there are multiple causes perhaps some members of the taliban or the sleepers or people who sympathize with the taleban there is probably personally this. individuals who hold some graduate feel that are being mistreated

and they have a type i support says now we have to keep in perspective that the number of times have been about fifty in this past year and that the level of international presence has still been close to one hundred thousand for most of this year now it's down. to less than bad and the number of off guard forces about three thousand three hundred fifty thousand soldiers so out of this you have fifty attacks so you know that it's very appropriate to draw the conclusion that all ballgowns of all. national security forces have turned against the west but the reality is that the inside that attacks have had a big impact they have shaken. they have. changed the way nato now engages with afghan national security forces the level of pot in the ring is now considerably. and they have had a negative impact on the cooperation and the training and support for security

forces of course you're in a war just drags on and on you know of course that's going to create more instability less morale with the troops and also the afghans i mean you talk in the book about counterterrorism. when you say that the counterterrorism operations as they exist today would you say that they've failed they need to be morphed into other things i think when a lot of people look at iraq they say the country is almost worse off now i mean the infrastructure electricity running water all of these things it's almost would have been better if we never went in at all i mean how can we make sure that that doesn't happen in this country and you know clearly from the perspective of many afghans the situation would not have been better if you had not gone in and in fact in right after two thousand and one two thousand too many many afghans will come in the national presence i also want you in the book that lots of these aspirations have not materialized and that afghans are profoundly unhappy about the decade brought continuing violence of bitches generated by its distilled it into

a bus taliban insurgency very unequal economic progress in some ways much but that they have access to schools they have access to health clinics in a way that didn't exist at all in two thousand and one. of the konami is now doing well and profound that the political system is deeply illegitimate is seen as deeply illegitimate that is a great deal of corruption and abuse in the system that of guns deeply resent shouldn't we just focus more on maybe like a marshall plan initiated where we just focus on. on education infrastructure really things that help the afghan people because i feel like just killing more people are going to create this perpetual war you know it could be war importunity we're going to galvanize the whole band and the reality is however that insecurity our security have critical impacts on economic development and schools mean today we are seeing a lot of times on schools that are built by the taliban many schools have been shut down once again even in the taleban doesn't physically blow up the schools that

have been created it often tries to assassinate teachers especially the male teachers so one cannot assume you can do security you can do konami development or social policy without having security and that has been one of the knobs of the problem that the security has been french allah has not expanded sufficiently and in fact we have seen big drops in security from two thousand and five until about the search two thousand and ten and then a stabilise ation with some improvements but they did us that do not see the improvements moreover with that that it will be a very radical departure of the international community the united states is trying to sign a status of forces agreement ended up going to stand to stay in but the numbers look very very different and they do a number of the british very different and there will be also associated with the bed a big drop in international aid coming to of coniston and some of the money that has been keeping the afghan economy afloat and so twenty fourteen which is the year of transition will be

a big security shock the applicants now being far more responsible for the security of the country than they had been and at any point in the decade bills will be a massive economic shock but inevitably a big drop in the country's g.d.p. all of which will not be offset by continuing forty eight and the big political shock because that will be presidential elections and presumably an era of president karzai will definitely a shift needs to be made and soon with the failure of policy as it stands thank you so much for coming on breaking down vonda from bob brown from the brookings institute for sheer time. erica. that's today's show but i don't want to go without a quick update on something that's been critical of our team's coverage of gaza no it's not alex cells gave that man israeli fire foreign minister avigdor lieberman affairs office bash this network even tried to justify the shelling of artie's office in gaza he's been indicted and as of today he resigned from his post in the government leaving office in disgrace then he wants a car must have a good weekend. in

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