Gold9472
02-25-2008, 06:31 PM
Government whistleblowers speak out
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/whisblow-25Feb08.html
2/25/2008
BEACON – Two former federal employees, one who was fired and the other resigned, told of their concerns about the way the government is being run to an overflow group at the Howland Center in Beacon, Sunday.
Both women told the nearly 200 people their stories of how they openly spoke out against the Iraqi War, and claim they paid a price for it.
Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent, was forced to leave her post last year after she wrote a memo to the director of the FBI, noting 16 security issues she found within the department. One of those was that several tape recordings obtained from wiretapping efforts in Iraq in the year before the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were never translated; she claimed that left open the possibility of an attack.
“The FBI was not telling the whole truth,” Rowley said. “They were going to fire me if the memo became public.”
Rowley was let go, for what she said was “fear of possibly leaking the memo”. She said she did no such thing. The next day, the report was available on the Internet in an attempt to make the finding public.
“If you don’t have accountability and know what the mistakes were, how can you possibly fix them?”
Retired Army Colonel Anne Wright no longer holds the position she once had in government, but that was her decision.
Wright left the State Department one day before the Iraqi War began in 2003 in protest of the war. She felt it was unjustified, and unnecessary.
“We are a country that tortures, creates off-shore judiciary systems, and eavesdrops. Military force is used more often than diplomacy,” she said.
“How about Saudi Arabia? That is where all the 9/11 guys supposedly came from. Did we invade Saudi Arabia? No. We invaded a little country called Afghanistan that happened to have some bases that Al Qaeda happened to be using at times.”
Wright said other whistleblowers should be encouraged to “stand up to authority” to expose corruption in the government. She also encouraged all levels of government, all the way down to city councils, like Beacon has, to write to Congress and the White House denouncing the “illegal war and invasion of Iraq” to gain support for the pulling out of troops.
The event was coordinated by the Whistleblowers for Justice and Peace, a non-profit organization advocating for world peace and non-military involvement in international affairs.
Supporters of U.S. troops stood outside holding American flags and “Support Our Troops” signs.
While no altercations occurred, there were several hecklers yelling at the supporters, “Your idealism is unrealistic. You are a dying breed!”
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/whisblow-25Feb08.html
2/25/2008
BEACON – Two former federal employees, one who was fired and the other resigned, told of their concerns about the way the government is being run to an overflow group at the Howland Center in Beacon, Sunday.
Both women told the nearly 200 people their stories of how they openly spoke out against the Iraqi War, and claim they paid a price for it.
Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent, was forced to leave her post last year after she wrote a memo to the director of the FBI, noting 16 security issues she found within the department. One of those was that several tape recordings obtained from wiretapping efforts in Iraq in the year before the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were never translated; she claimed that left open the possibility of an attack.
“The FBI was not telling the whole truth,” Rowley said. “They were going to fire me if the memo became public.”
Rowley was let go, for what she said was “fear of possibly leaking the memo”. She said she did no such thing. The next day, the report was available on the Internet in an attempt to make the finding public.
“If you don’t have accountability and know what the mistakes were, how can you possibly fix them?”
Retired Army Colonel Anne Wright no longer holds the position she once had in government, but that was her decision.
Wright left the State Department one day before the Iraqi War began in 2003 in protest of the war. She felt it was unjustified, and unnecessary.
“We are a country that tortures, creates off-shore judiciary systems, and eavesdrops. Military force is used more often than diplomacy,” she said.
“How about Saudi Arabia? That is where all the 9/11 guys supposedly came from. Did we invade Saudi Arabia? No. We invaded a little country called Afghanistan that happened to have some bases that Al Qaeda happened to be using at times.”
Wright said other whistleblowers should be encouraged to “stand up to authority” to expose corruption in the government. She also encouraged all levels of government, all the way down to city councils, like Beacon has, to write to Congress and the White House denouncing the “illegal war and invasion of Iraq” to gain support for the pulling out of troops.
The event was coordinated by the Whistleblowers for Justice and Peace, a non-profit organization advocating for world peace and non-military involvement in international affairs.
Supporters of U.S. troops stood outside holding American flags and “Support Our Troops” signs.
While no altercations occurred, there were several hecklers yelling at the supporters, “Your idealism is unrealistic. You are a dying breed!”