Fresh off of lying about how everyone in Congress had access to the same intelligence about Iraq and WMDs and stuff like that there, Condi Rice is now trying the same lie in the context of the illegal NSA surveillance of U.S. citizens:
RICE: It’s been reviewed not just by the White House counsel but by the lawyers of the Justice Department and by the lawyers of the NSA, the National Security Agency, and by the Inspector General of the National Security Agency, and it has to be reauthorized every 45 days. And the Congress, the congressional leaders, including leaders of the relevant oversight intelligence committees have been briefed on this.
That last claim comes as a bit of an eye-opener to at-the-time Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and former Senator Bob Graham:
There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to…begin unwarranted, illegal — and I think unconstitutional — eavesdropping on American citizens.
I'm just waiting for Rice to mention incubators.
UPDATE: Those who pay no attention to history are pretty well condemned to repeat it, no?
3 comments:
The NSA has been filtering through all forms of electronic communications worldwide for about 50 years now, and signals coming to and from the US are fair game, as long as they are not targeting specific individuals. If the need to target a specific person arises, then they need a warrant.
Note: Tin foil hats offer little, if any, protection against the Agency's mind rays.
For example, anyone can listen in on all sorts of traffic using a shortwave or citizens band radio, but permanently tapping into hardwired phone lines leading to Mr. and Mrs. Smith's single wide trailer on Walawala Boulevard would be off limits without court approval.
You seem to be confusing the NSA with "eavesdropping" on a specific target or "wiretapping" without a warrant. That would be illegal.
I'm not sure I see your point. As I read it, you're admitting that the Bush administration's actions -- which involved eavesdropping *domestically* on U.S. citizens without a warrant -- is blatantly illegal.
So at least we agree on that part.
It's your allegation. We actually have no idea exactly what Bush authorized and when, whether or not the Attorney General sought a warrant do whatever it was he authorized, and whether or not whatever intelligence Agency you like did something "illegal" along the way.
I will say this: Law enforcement Agencies at all levels of civilian government use wiretapping to catch criminals everyday, and I support that effort 100%.
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