Did Speaker Hastert accept Turkish bribes to deny Armenian genocide and approve weapons sales? (19min)

Former FBI translator turned whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds, is accusing the FBI of covering up improper contacts and financial dealings between certain Turkish nationals and the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Host and executive producer Amy Goodman speaks with Edmonds and Vanity Fair journalist David Rose.

Edmonds is now appealing her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In March 2002, she was fired and she has been fighting now for nearly 3 years to blow the whistle on US government failures prior to 9-11. She has faced fierce opposition from the Bush administration, the FBI and some in Congress. This week, she grabbed headlines again after Vanity Fair published a major story about her. What is making news from that piece are allegations surrounding Illinois congressman and Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

Vanity Fair alleges that Hastert may have been the recipient of tens of thousands of dollars of secret payments from Turkish officials in exchange for political favors and information. In the article, titled "An Inconvenient Patriot," Edmonds says that she gave confidential testimony about the payments to congressional staffers, the Inspector General and members of the 9/11 Commission. Edmonds says that she heard of the payments while listening to FBI wiretaps of Turkish officials who were under surveillance by the FBI.

Edmonds speaks Farsi, Turkish and Azerbaijani. She was hired after September 11th by the FBI to translate pre-9/11 intelligence gathered by the agency. She has publicly accused the U.S of having considerable evidence that Al Qaeda was planning to strike the United States using airplanes as weapons.

Rose is an investigative journalist and author of "An Inconvenient Patriot" published in the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Democracy Now contacted Congressman Hastert's office and the Turkish Embassy for comment. They did not return our phone calls.