MyDD :: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11

Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11

by Jonathan Singer, Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 02:31:27 PM EST

When The New York Times first reported on Bush administration efforts to spy on Americans without warrants, the White House generally responded in two ways. One, blaming the press for disclosing the programs. And two, claiming that the programs were necessary to protect the country so that another 9/11 doesn't happen. But a report this weekend by Bloomberg's Andrew Harris thoroughly undercuts the President's spin.

The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.'' [emphasis added]

At this stage, it is important to note that there are only allegations that the Bush administration began spying on Americans before 9/11. But should these allegations pan out -- or even if the White House is in some way able to convince the courts to throw out this lawsuit -- it's not clear to me that the President will ever be able to win back the trust and faith of the American people. The recent revelations out of California -- that the state's Office of Homeland Security was spying on political dissenters -- only underscore this.

No matter how much Republicans try to rattle their saber on the issue of Iraq in an attempt to pummel the Democrats into submission on all issues of national security, the Democrats cannot give in whatsoever. The Dems must stand up to President Bush and the Republican Congress and voice their disapprobation with the warrantless domestic program -- particularly if it began prior to September 11, 2001 -- and hold the Republicans responsible for their dishonest and reckless surveillance of countless Americans.

Tags: Domestic Spying, George W. Bush (all tags)

Permalink :: 8 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11 (none / 0)

Well, he needs to be impeached and convicted and removed from office for this. And then after he's been removed, he needs to be tried for treason for the spying and for war crimes and violating the Geneva Convention. If found guilty of war crimes and treason, he should be executed.

McCain is defining Obama, and Obama is neither defining himself, nor McCain. This is awful.

by jgarcia on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 03:02:00 PM EST

Re: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11 (none / 0)

And he still didn't prevent 9/11.

Hmmmm...

by OtterKnowBetter on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 03:22:57 PM EST

AT&T (none / 0)

Your world. Delivered to the NSA.

by OtterKnowBetter on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 03:33:14 PM EST

Re: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11 (none / 0)

MyDD'ers -- ponder this:

But, given that the administration and the NSA had seven months prior to 9/11 to catch the hijackers and came up with nothing, zero, zippo, zilch -- doesn't that suggest that this program does not work?

To me, the backwash of right-wingers will be defending this program as necessary prior to 9/11. But this would blow the argument out of the water where people were claiming "if we had this program BEFORE 9/11, we could have stopped it." I'll try to get quotes on that.

by Matt Ortega on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 03:39:06 PM EST

Re: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11 (none / 0)

Dick Cheney in an article in the January 4, 2006 Washington Post:

Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the Bush administration had had the power to secretly monitor conversations involving two of the hijackers without court orders.
[...]
Cheney said if the administration had the power "before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon."

Current CIA director and former NSA chief, General Michael Hayden, as quoted by CNN, January 23, 2006:

"Had this program been in effect prior to 9/11, it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the United States, and we would have identified them as such," said Hayden, who now is principal deputy director of national intelligence. (emphasis mine)

Now, I am a bit fuzzy on the 9/11 Commission's findings, but did we consciously "detect" any of the 9/11 hijackers and just drop the ball? Or did these guys fly under the radar pretty much the whole time they were here? (Some of them, if I recall correctly, had been here since 1997, right?)

by Matt Ortega on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 04:01:53 PM EST

Re: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11 (none / 0)

"At this stage, it is important to note that there are only allegations that the Bush administration began spying on Americans before 9/11."

=======

AH, SCREW THAT DISCLAIMER. BUSH IS A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR. THAT CROOK IS GOING TO HAVE TO PROVE TO ME THE ALLEGATIONS ARE WRONG. NOT VICE VERSA.

by Bush Bites on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 08:55:17 PM EST

Holy Shit! (none / 0)

Holy Shit! Holy Shit! If this turns out to be true.........Holy Shit!

by Militarytracy on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 10:26:53 PM EST

Re: Bush Began Spying on Americans Before 9/11 (none / 0)

There is something else going on here. At exactly that time, I used to take an acquaintance of mine to NSA headquarters occasionally and starting about December of 2000, the Agency began building high fences and a checkpoint. By that summer, it was no longer possible to give him a ride all the way into the complex and he had to walk the last half mile. He told me that the Agency knew what was going on and they must believe something big was coming.

The real tragedy here was the line in Suskind's book where the CIA guy brings a PDB to him in Crawford saying "Bin Laden determined to attack in U.S." and Bush replied. "OK, You've covered your ass now."

by prince myshkin on Mon Jul 03, 2006 at 02:54:43 AM EST

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