In Washington a federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds against the Justice Department before he even heard evidence in the case. The judge, who admitted his decision was draconian, ruled a trial might expose government secrets that could damage national security. In her suit Edmonds charges she was wrongly fired in March 2002 after she complained that there were major problems within the FBI translation unit. Edmonds, who speaks Turkish and Farsi, was hired after the Sept. 11 attacks to translate intelligence related to Al Qaeda gathered over the previous year. Edmonds has since told the press the FBI had evidence before 9/11 that indicated an attack using airplanes was imminent. Edmonds’ attorney Mark Zaid said, “The decision today represents another example of the Executive Branch’s abusive nature of using secrecy as a weapon against whistleblowers. It is quite disappointingly evident that accountability is no longer a word in our government’s dictionary.”