But unfortunately a number of Senators on both sides of the aisle have already shown that they have no shame when it comes to advancing the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, Iran and Al Qaeda against those of the United States.
Turkey‘s head of intelligence has traveled to Washington to meet with US lawmakers and intelligence officials, sources said, in an apparent bid to improve ties with the Americans after a breakdown in the NATO allies’ relationship last summer.
Hakan Fidan, a close confidant of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has met with senators to discuss NATO issues and was expected to meet with US intelligence officials later on Friday, according to five sources familiar with the matter, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Fidan was expected to discuss the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in his meeting with US intelligence officials, sources said. It was not immediately clear if Fidan was to meet with Gina Haspel, director of the CIA.
Erdogan’s regime is Islamist and anti-American. Fidan was accused of passing classified US intel to Iran. And that means he shouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near our classified information. And he shouldn’t be briefing anyone in our government.
But like the old saw says, “Why does treason never prosper, because when the Washington Post prints it, it can’t be treason.”
The tension was aggravated in 2010 when the CIA began to suspect the MIT under Mr. Fidan of passing intelligence to Iran.
At the time, Mr. Erdogan was trying to improve ties with Tehran, a central plank of Ankara’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy. U.S. officials believe the MIT under Mr. Fidan passed several pieces of intelligence to Iran, including classified U.S. assessments about the Iranian government, say current and former senior U.S. and Middle Eastern officials.
Then there was the time that Fidan was caught on tape discussing staging an incident to justify an invasion of Syria.
When the discussion turns to the need to justify such an operation, the voice purportedly of Fidan says: “Now look, my commander, if there is to be justification, the justification is, I send four men to the other side. I get them to fire eight missiles into empty land. That’s not a problem. Justification can be created.”
And then there was the usual arming terrorists stuff.
Mr. Fidan later started directing a secret effort to bolster rebel capabilities by allowing arms, money and logistical support to funnel into northern Syria—including arms from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf allies—current and former U.S. officials say.
Not to mention Al Qaeda being in the mix.
Turkish border guards repeatedly let groups of radical fighters cross into Syria to fight Kurdish brigades, says Salih Muslim, co-chairman of the Democratic Union of Syria, Turkey’s most powerful Kurdish party. He says Turkish ambulances near the border picked up wounded fighters from Jabhat al Nusra, an anti-Assad group linked to al Qaeda. Turkish officials deny those claims.
And helping Iran fight Israel.
Turkey deliberately blew the cover of an Israeli spy ring working inside Iran in early 2012 and dealt a significant blow to Israeli intelligence gathering, according to a report in the Washington Post on Thursday
However, it said that in early 2012 Erdogan disclosed to Tehran the identities of 10 Iranians who had travelled to Turkey to meet Israeli spies.
Presumably costing their lives, but unlike Jamal Khashoggi, an old friend of Osama bin Laden and the Washington Post, their lives don’t matter.
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