VULGAR BETRAYAL
A BRIEF SUMMARY
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YASSIN AL-KADI
FBI Agent Robert Wright was the case agent of Operation
Vulgar Betrayal (VB),
the FBI's only major act of terrorism criminal investigation which
was tracking, and seizing Middle
Eastern terrorist funds during the 1990's.
VB was also identifying, locating, and apprehending
trained Middle Eastern terrorists operating and residing within the United
States.
VB was extremely successful. In fact, VB was the first ever
FBI investigation, to utilize U.S. Civil Forfeiture laws to seize US-based Middle Eastern terrorist
funds. Terrorist funds linked to actual terrorist attacks prior to the 9/11 attacks.
During June 1998,
three
years before the 9/11 attacks, VB
seizure $1.4 million in terrorist funds in Chicago.
These terrorism funds
originated from Yassin Al-Kadi, a wealthy Saudi businessman.
The FBIHQ International Terrorism
Unit refused request by Agent Wright to help further identify
Yassin Al-Kadi and any of his known associates, with overseas
government, following the $1.4 million seizure.
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AGENT ROBERT WRIGHT
On August 4, 1999,
Chicago SAC Kathleen McChesney,
abruptly removes Agent Wright from the FBI's Joint Terrorism
Task Force.
His removal will lead to the closing of the Vulgar Betrayal investigation.
FBI Chicago
SAC Kathleen McChesney decides not to pursue the many known U.S.-based
Middle Eastern terrorists, and their financial supporters identified
and being pursued through the Vulgar Betrayal investigation.
After killing VB, FBI Chicago SAC
Kathleen McChesney refuses to assist the U.S. Attorneys Office,
in order to prevent the return of the $1.4 million in seized in 1998,
from being returned to the Middle Eastern
terrorists. SAC McChesney wants the the $1.4 million to be returned to
the terrorists, Mohammad Salah and Yassin Kadi.
Why would SAC
McChesney want the $1.4 million returned to terrorist Salah &
Kadi? Because,
this would give the appearance Agent Wright had done something
wrong during the VB investigation, which ultimately forced the
U.S. government to return the $1.4 million to the terrorists.
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Fatal
Betrayals of
the Intelligence
Mission Manuscript
(Original Cover)
August 7, 1999, three days after being removed from the FBI's Terrorism
Program, in an effort to warn members of the
U.S. Congress about the FBI's terrorism failures, prior to a U.S.-based
Middle Eastern terrorist attack, Agent Wright began writing this manuscript.
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ATTORNEY DAVID SCHIPPERS
On
August 11, 1999, Agent Wright hired Chicago Attorney
David Schippers,
the Chief Investigative Counsel for the U.S. House Judiciary
Committee, which investigated whether or not President William Clinton
should be impeached. Mr. Shippers had many contacts in
Washington, D.C., and could assist Agent Wright in locating the
appropriate politicians to warn about the FBIHQ Terrorism
Unit's intentional and negligent refusal to pursue known, and
suspected Middle Eastern terrorists, residing and
operating on U.S. soil.
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MISSION STATEMENT
OF
AGENT WRIGHT
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On June 8, 2001, a Chicago Assistant United
States Attorney (AUSA) inquired as to why Agent Wright was
seeking to publicly expose the FBI's terrorism problems. Agent Wright explained
his motivation was to save lives because, he knew people were going to
die because of the FBI's Intentional Terrorism Units continued
negligent failures to prevent future Middle Eastern terrorist attacks.
After hearing
Agent Wright's
reason, the AUSA told Wright he was relieved. The AUSA said he feared Agent
Wright was seeking revenge, or may be disgruntled, over being removed from
the FBI terrorism program and the ultimate closure of his Vulgar Betrayal
investigation.
Following the conversation with the
AUSA, Agent Wright realized others would eventually question
Attorney David Schippers regarding Wright's motives.
The following day, June 9, 2001, Agent Wright drafted a "Mission
Statement" to provide
his attorney. The "Mission Statement" details Agent Wright's concerns
and goal of having the jurisdictional responsibilities for investigating
international terrorism matters, removed from the FBI. On
Monday, June 11, Agent Wright gave a copy of his Mission Statement to Attorney Schippers.
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CAROL MARIN
60 MINUTES REPORTER
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On July 10, 2001, Attorney Schippers arranged for a meeting between
Agent Wright and Carol Marin, Reporter,
60 Minutes
in his Chicago office on July 11. Realizing the seriousness of Agent
Wright's allegations regarding the FBI's anti-terrorism efforts
and future media interest, Attorney Schippers wanted to
introduce Agent Wright to the serious and well respected
reporter. The goal of the meeting is for Mrs. Marin and Agent
Wright to become acquainted with one another, prior to a
U.S.-based Middle Eastern terrorist attack &/or Agent Wright's future public
comments about the FBI's lack of anti-terrorism efforts.
Agent Wright
sent an e-mail to Chicago FBI management advising of the
meeting on July 10. The email was titled: "Subject:
Lunch Meeting with a member of the media."
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JUDICIAL WATCH
During July 2001, realizing Agent Wright was close to
completing the
FBI Mission
manuscript, and anticipating the fallout from exposing the FBI's
many terrorism problems, Attorney Schippers realized he needed addition
legal assistance to protect Agent Wright.
Specifically, legal assistance from within Washington, D.C., to
better protect Agent Wright from the FBI once Agent Wright
begins
speaking publicly about the FBI's intentional & negligent ignoring
of the Middle Eastern terrorist networks operating on U.S. soil.
On August 1, 2001, Agent Wright met with several
representatives from Judicial Watch in Attorney Schippers Chicago law office.
Following a one hour discussion between the attorneys and Agent Wright, Judicial
Watch agreed to assist Attorney Schippers in representing Agent Wright in his future
battle against the FBIHQ. Agent Wright signed the "Legal
Representation Agreement" with Judicial Watch on
August 1, 2001.
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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
2:30 AM |
Fatal
Betrayal
of the Intelligence
Mission
At approximately 2:30
AM on September 11, 2001, Agent Wright completed the
FBI Mission
manuscript, to
include more than 20 detailed colored charts. The manuscript was
finished less than6 hours before the 9/11 terrorist attacks begin.
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CCAROL MARIN
AT WORLD
TRADE CENTER ON 9-11
On September 11, 2001, Carol Marin, the
60 Minutes
reporter Agent Wright met
with July 11, 2001, was at the World Trade Center at the time of
the terrorist attacks. Following her
live interview with Dan Rather on the morning of 9/11,
Mrs. Marin called Attorney Schippers to request an interview
with Agent Wright and access to
Wright's
FBI Mission
manuscript he showed
her on July 11, 2001.
Mrs. Marin's
request and similar calls from others on 9/11, such as Judy
Miller, The New York Times,
encouraging Agent Wright to speak publicly were
dismissed by Agent Wright. Wright explained he must abide by
the FBI's prepublication review process prior to releasing
any documents &/or making any public statements. Agent
Wright explained, failing to abide by the FBI's rules and
regulations, would allow the FBI to fire him, and later claim,
he was simply a former disgruntled employee who could not be
believed.
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CTOM FITTON
AT REAGAN
INTERNATIOINAL AIRPORT ON 9-11
On September 11, 2001, Tom Fitton, President, Judicial Watch was
on onboard a flight at Reagan International Airport
destined to California. Mr. Shippers was traveling to California
to appear on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. At 8:20 AM
another flight to California, American Airlines Flight 77,
departed Washington Dulles International Airport. Aboard this
flight was Barbara Olson, who was scheduled to appear with Mr.
Fitton on Politically Incorrect. Barbara Olson was killed when
American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the West side of The
Pentagon.
Mr. Fitton saw the smoke coming from The
Pentagon while his plane was on the tarmac.
Mr. Fitton attended the meeting in
Mr. Shippers Office with Agent Wright on August 1, 2001. On
September 12, Mr. Fitton told Agent Wright, "While
still on the plane, we heard there had been a terrorist attack.
I immediately began thinking about what you told us in Chicago.
It was surreal.”
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Fatal
Betrayals
of the Intelligence
Mission
On October 1, 2001, in order to comply with the FBI's
rules and regulations regarding the publishing of
FBI
Mission,
Agent Wright
submitted the manuscript to the FBI for review. During January
2002, the FBI approved 82% of
FBI
Mission
for publication. Agent Wright was pleased and agreed with the issues the FBI had
with the remaining unapproved 18%. Agent Wright addressed the remaining
18%, which required name changes and some re-wording of paragraphs but, the
changes left the entire manuscript intact.
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YASSIN AL-KADI
DESIGNATED A GOLOBAL INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST
(IDENTIFIED AS A MAJOR FINANCIER
of OSAMA Bin LADEN)
Following the 9/11 attacks, Agent Wright learned negotiations were
almost complete to allow for the return of the $1.4 million in terrorist
funds seized in 1998, back to the terrorists sometime during October 2001.
Fortunately, on
October 12, 2001, the administration of President George W. Bush,
designated
the source of the $1.4 million,
Yassine Al-Kadi, as a chief financier of Osama Bin Laden, and officially
named Al-Kadi as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist;’ because, of
his financial support of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.
This
is the same Yassin Al-Kadi, FBIHQ refused to further identify
following Vulgar Betrayal's June 1998 seizure of Al-Kadi's money;
money
which was utilized to finance HAMAS' international terrorism actives in
the United States and overseas.
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AGENT ROBERT WRIGHT
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During March 2002,
FBIHQ learned the
New York Times
intended to run a three day, front page story, concerning Agent
Wright's publication. In exchange for postponing the
story, FBIHQ offered the
New York Times
reporter, Judy Miller, unprecedented access to FBIHQ and
to terrorism supervisors to discuss Operation Vulgar Betrayal
and Agent Wright.
Following the meeting,
FBIHQ revoked the 82% approval of
FBI
Mission,
falsely claiming it was so intertwined with classified and grand
jury material. Agent Wright was not only told his
manuscript could not be released to the public but, that he
could not release any of portion of his manuscript, to any members of the U.S. House of
Representatives and/or the U.S. Senate.
The FBI never wanted this true story, as told by Agent Wright
to anyone, particularly the American public. In fact, in order to
prevent this story from being told by the New York Times, Agent Wright's
attorneys believe FBI managers provided "false
and misleading information to the New York Times regarding Agent Wright
and his Vulgar Betrayal investigation."
Misled members of congress and refused to provide a copy of the
FBI
Mission
manuscript to the 9/11 Commission,
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, and
U.S. Senator Arlen Specter,
each of whom requested a copy of Wright's manuscript from the FBI by letter following the
9/11 attacks.
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JUDICIAL WATCH
On May 9, 2002, Judicial Watch filed a “Complaint
for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief,” against the FBI on behalf of
Agent Wright, seeking to allow the publishing of
FBI
Mission.
The Complaint was filed in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia.
The FBI was worried
about Agent Wright's detailed knowledge of the FBI's terrorism failures,
and his ability to tell the American public the truth. The truth about
what had actually been going on within the FBI's terrorism program prior
to the 9/11 attacks, via
FBI
Mission.
In fact, while in U.S. District Court, Peter Bloomberg, the U.S.
Attorney representing the FBI, unsuccessfully argued to Federal Judge
Gladys Kessler, that Agent Wright should
not be allowed to publish his FBI
Mission
manuscript, claiming:
"Because of where Special Agent Wright is situated, he can
put the story together in a way because of what he
knows, because of what he does, that it is really not
the same as an independent researcher, [such as Judy
Miller or Bob Woodward,] coming in and gathering up
material and telling a story."
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Attorney
LARRY KLAYMAN
Part 1
Part 2
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Attorney
DAVID SCHIPPERS
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Agent
ROBERT WRIGHT
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JW President
TOM FITTON
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Agent Wright and his
attorney's were annoyed by the FBI's
unlawful refusal to allow the release of
FBI
Mission,
coupled with
the FBI's refusal to allow Agent's Vincent
and Wright to respond to the lies told to
the New York Times by
FBIHQ.
Agent Wright had
seen enough and agreed to make his first
public comments following the 9/11 attacks,
regarding the FBI's terrorism failures. The
venue for the press conference would be the
Washington Press Club on May 30, 2002, and
covered live by C-Span.
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AGENT JOHN VINCENT & AGENT ROBERT WRIGHT
Appear On
PRIMETIME LIVE
On
December 19, 2002, Agent's John Vincent & Wright appear on
Primetime Live with Brian Ross. The
agents discuss a few of their many concerns regarding the FBI's handling
of terrorism matters.
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JOHN
ROBERTS
FBIHQ
UNIT CHIEF
FBI INTERNAL AFFAIRS UNIT (OPR)
John Roberts, the FBIHQ Unit
Chief, FBI OPR Unit (Internal Affairs), sent a 63 page document to the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee. This 63 page document reported, among other serious matters, the intentional
efforts of FBI Assistant Director (AD)Robert Jordan and Deputy Assistant
Director (DAD) Jody Weis, to illegally fire Agent Wright for making negative
statements regarding the FBI's anti-terrorism efforts before the 9-11 attacks.
According to
Mr. Roberts letter to the U.S. Senate, DAD Weis had
"instructed Mr. Roberts to open the [internal affairs]
investigation against Agent Wright in such a way, that the
Justice Department of Inspector General, which has the
right of first refusal on all FBI allegations, would not
initiate its own investigation, thus leaving the matter within
the FBI. Mr. Weis also said that (FBI Assistant Director) Jordan
had already decided 'to propose SA Wright for
dismissal.'...without even conducting an [internal affairs]
investigation." Mr. Roberts had "determined 'there was no
predication to [even] open a case' [against Agent Wright] by FBI
OPR headquarters."
Simultaneously, while AD Jordan and DAD Weis
were plotting to illegally fire Agent Wright, a Chicago Assistant Special
Agent-in-Charge (ASAC) called and left a message for DAD Weis. According to
sources, the Chicago ASAC sought
permission from DAD Jody Weis to conduct a media smear campaign against Agent Wright. The message
[from the Chicago ASAC] allegedly stated that several FBI agents, 'WANTED PERMISSION (from
FBIHQ OPR) TO SPEAK WITH A REPORTER FROM CHICAGO IN ORDER TO DISCREDIT WRIGHT."
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ROBERT JORDAN
FBI ASSITANT DIRECTOR
FBI INTERNAL AFFAIRS UNIT (OPR) |
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JODY WEIS
DEPUTY ASSITANT DIRECTOR
FBI INTERNAL AFFAIRS UNIT
(OPR) |
On June 2, 2003, Agent Wright participated in what he
decided would be his last press conference and interviews with
NBC and ABC News. The subject matter concerned the FBI's
anti-terrorism failures prior to the 9/11 attacks.
The following day, FBI Assistant Director Robert Jordan and
Deputy Assistant Director Jody Weis, conspired to "take
him (Agent Wright) out"
after learning about Agent Wright's most recent public comments.
In
a letter from U.S. Senator's Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley, to Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Mueller, dated 7/14/2004, the U.S. Senator's
informed the men that John Roberts, Unit Chief, FBIHQ Internal Affairs (OPR), had
notified the Senator's of AD Jordan and DAD Weis' detailed plans to "take
him (Agent Wright) out."
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JOHN RAUCCI
CHICAGO FBI ASSITANT SPECIAL
AGENT IN CHARGE |
TO |
JODY WEIS
DEPUTY ASSITANT DIRECTOR
FBI INTERNAL AFFAIRS UNIT
(OPR) |
During an OPR interview, one of the OPR
interviewers accidently handed a copy of the message from Chicago ASAC John Raucci
to Deputy Assistant Director Jody Weis. Agent Wright read the message
from ASAC John Raucci to Weis, dated June 17, 2003, requesting
permission for several Chicago FBI Agents, each agent identified by first
and last name, to smear Agent Wright to a Chicago Tribune reporter.
After reading the message, Agent Wright
handed the message to Attorney Schippers and said, "This really
happened. Dave, you have to read this message." After Schippers read the
message and handed it back to Agent Wright. The OPR interviewer realized
she had mistakenly given the message from Raucci to Weis, to Agent
Wright. The OPR interviewer quickly grabbed the message away from Agent
Wright saying, "You were not supposed to see this document." Mr.
Schippers asked, "Bob, do you know any these agents who wanted to
discredit you to the Chicago Tribune?" Agent Wright replied, "I know
everyone of them. There is only one who I am surprised about. I hardly
ever talked to him, and he had nothing to do with Vulgar Betrayal. All
the others interfered with Vulgar Betrayal in one way or another, and
are all FBI management suck-ups."
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U.S. SENATOR
CHARLES GRASSLEY |
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U.S. SENATOR
PATRICK LEAHY |
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U.S. SENATOR
RICHARD SHELBY |
Since March 2002, U.S.
Senator's Charles Grassley, Patrick Leahy and others have repeatedly come to
Agent Wright's defense. The Senator's repeatedly questioned the FBI Director and
Attorney General regarding the FBI's continuous retaliation of Agent Wright.
The Senator's would again come to Agent Wright's defense on April 21, 2005. This
was the day FBIHQ officially suspended Agent Wright, pending official
termination from the FBI scheduled for May 21, 2005, as a result of a June 2,
2003, press conference.
After
learning the FBI intended to fire Agent Wright, Senator's Grassley and Leahy
immediately addressed the FBI's retaliatory action with
letters to the U.S. Attorney General. In
addition, Senator Grassley met with the FBI Director. Following Senator
Grassley's meeting with the FBI Director, a DOJ Deputy Attorney General reviewed
the FBI's pending termination of Agent Wright. The Deputy Attorney General
concluded, Agent Wright was to be reinstated as a Special Agent of the FBI.
Agent Wright credits Senators Grassley and Leahy for saving his FBI career.
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Judge Gladys Kessler
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
On May 7, 2009, Judge Gladys Kessler, U.S. District
Court for the District of Columbia, issued a 41 page "Memorandum
Opinion,"
in favor of Agent Wright's
publishing of
FBI
Mission.
This was the first official sign, the court agreed Agent
Wright was telling the truth about
FBI
Mission
containing no classified or grand jury information, as
claimed by the FBI, to stall/prevent the publishing of
FBI
Mission
following the 9/11 attacks.
The first paragraph of Judge Kessler's Memorandum
Opinion reads as follows:
"This is a sad and discouraging tale about the
determined efforts of the FBI to censor various
portions of a 500-page manuscript [VULGAR BETRAYAL], written by a long-time
FBI agent [prior to 9/11 attacks], severely
criticizing the FBI's conduct of the investigation
of a money laundering scheme in which U.S.-based
members of the Hamas terrorist organization were
using non-profit organizations in this country to
recruit and train terrorist and fund terrorist
activities both here and abroad. The FBI also sought
to censor answers given to a series of questions
presented by a New York Times reporter [Judy Miller]
concerning Wright's allegations. In its efforts to
suppress this information, the FBI repeatedly
changed its position, presented formalistic
objections to release of various portions of the
documents in question, admitted finally that much of
the material it sought to suppress was in fact in
the public domain and had been all along, and now
concedes that several of the reasons it originally
offered for censorship no longer have any validity.
Unfortunately, the issues of terrorism and of
alleged FBI incompetence remain as timely as ever." |
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