AP: Bush Approved Eavesdropping, Official Says (>3 dozen times)

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051217/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_nsa_23

WASHINGTON - President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official told The Associated Press Friday night.

The disclosure follows angry demands by lawmakers earlier in the day for a congressional inquiry into whether the monitoring by the highly secretive National Security Agency violated civil liberties.

In a broad defense of the program put forward hours later, a senior intelligence official said the eavesdropping was narrowly designed to go after possible terrorist threats in the United States. The official said that, since October 2001, authorization for the program has been renewed more than three dozen times. On each occasion, the lawfulness of the program is certified by the president's legal counsel and the attorney general. It is then personally signed by Bush.

AP has added to the story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051217/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_nsa_25

At each review, government officials have provided a fresh assessment of the terrorist threat, showing that there is a catastrophic risk to the country or government, the official said.

"Only if those conditions apply do we even begin to think about this," he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence operation.

[texpatriot2004]

1. Hmm, it seems like that would be illegal in America...a violation

of those American citizens.

[Carla in Ca]

16. It is an impeachable offense

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-garbus/an-incredible-day-in-amer_b_12392.html>


snip...

Secondly, the President in authorizing surveillance without seeking a court order has committed a crime. The Federal Communications Act criminalizes surveillance without a warrant. It is an impeachable offense. This was also totally missed by the media.

[texpatriot2004]

17. Oh good another one to add to the list nm

[classysassy]

24. Where

is the congress?,do your job impeach the crook.

[adigal]

2. Alberto Gonzales and Bush - never saw

a dictatorial act they didn't love!! And the article says, "authorization for the program" has been renewed more than 3 dozen times - so how many people did they spy on each time they authorized it??

[Kagemusha]

3. Isn't this a long way of saying he authorizes once a month?

A monthly Get out of Jail Free card for the NSA on this issue?

I see nothing that says Bush authorized specific cases.

[Rose Siding]

4. Ever willing to share (the culpability) they also say Congress knew.

"The president has authorized NSA to fully use its resources _ let me underscore this now _ consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution to defend the United States and its citizens," the official said, adding that congressional leaders have also been briefed more than a dozen times.

[superconnected]

8. congressional leaders, you mean like the speaker of the house.

How would the dems know.

[notadmblnd]

5. sounds like they used the gannon process

their way of staying just inside of the law. Like giving Gannon individual day passes to the WH press gaggle because he'd never be approved for a permenent one.

Same method used here I think. Why was it re-authorized more than 3 dozen times, if it wasn't done to skirt existing laws regarding spying on US citizens? anyone know?

[fshrink]

6. It's about time lawmakers get "angry".

And ask the legitimate questions instead of beating around the bush (intended). There should be no respect and no hold bar whatsoever for people who have purposefully and systematically stripped this country of strictly everything it was supposed to stand for, inside as well as outside. Only public investigations and accountability. Eventually, and even now, the split will be this: use what happened to this country to make it better or continue on a similar path, even of a slightly different color.

[Wordie]

15. I think that Arlen Spector has said he wants an investigation of all this.

Which is significant, imo.

[0007]

7. Hmmmmmmm

Bush on Friday refused to discuss whether he had authorized such domestic spying without obtaining warrants from a court, saying that to comment would tie his hands in fighting torturing terrorists.

[twaddler01]

9. This made me laugh:

* says: "whatever I do to protect the American people — and I have an obligation to do so — that we will uphold the law, and decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people."

:rofl:

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Wouldn't it be easier to just go to a judge

to get approval like they normally do? I mean, Bush is a busy man, what with clearing brush, campaigning and fund raising, it must be hard to find him when you need his approval for anything.

[C_U_L8R]

11. So....Who are the 3 dozen?

Are they truly terrorist suspects...
or perhaps a few happen to be democrats
or rather... political enemies of the president.

Nixon's paranoia is all over this admin.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. It may not be limited to 3 dozen individuals, but may be 3 dozen broad....

...situations that they had monitored by a wide range of devices/methods.

[C_U_L8R]

13. It seems...

SOMEONE (or some indpendent body) should
have oversight of these actions... hopefully an adult.

good lord .. who knows what this half cocked
connecticut cowboy has been up to with his
"super-secret prezidential double-knought direktives"

[stubtoe]

26. He admits to 3 dozen

As good ol' Dr. Phil says, for every rat you see, there are a hundred more you don't.

[specimenfred1984]

14. Remember All The False Terror Alerts?

Turns out all those "conditions" were purely fabricated lies. That tends to discredit these people quite a bit (Not enough sarcasm possible).

[KansDem]

25. Hmmm, you made me ask myself if those "terror alerts" weren't fabricated..

...to justify these illegal spying expeditions.

"Mr. President, we have a whole shitload of domestic spying to do. Quakers, The Fresno Peace Movement, certain Democratic candidates for 2006 and 2008, to name a few."

"Well, then start spying...!"

"But, sir, it's against the Constitution and could cause problems if we're found out."

"Oh, then have Homeland Security issue an elevated terror-threat warning. We'll use that as the reason for all this domestic spying."

"Very good, sir!"

I think it would be interesting to time the 3-dozen spying authorizations and see where they fall chronologically with "terror threats."

[Peace Patriot]

18. The list of unacceptable things.

Infuriating article in what it lets them get away with...


1. An anonymous "senior intelligence official" speaking for the gov't and explaining Bush's position on breaking the law! Not Bush explaining it--he refuses refuses to discuss it! Not the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, who cooked up these illegal documents--Alberto Gonzales! Not Cheney. Not the HEAD of the agency that this "senior intelligence official" is working for. An ANONYMOUS "official" in an ANONYMOUS agency is all we get for paying our taxes and voting and being part of the SOVEREIGN people of the United States--explaining our gov't's ILLEGAL actions. Anon. That is not acceptable! And it should not be acceptable to AP!

2. And in this anonymous statement, this "senior intelligence official," who is speaking in defense of these illegal acts, says "the eavesdropping was narrowly designed to go after possible terrorist threats." Says who? How is this verified? What were the criteria? What were the parameters? What were the rules? What was the "possible" threat? And speaking of "possible" threats, WHO are the "possible" terrorists? American citizens? Foreign nationals? From where? Illegals? (And how did they get in? Homeland Security still on the job, are they?) So many questions and nada. No answers. They let them get away with WAY TOO MUCH--to the point of absurdity.

3. "On each occasion, the lawfulness of the program is certified by the president's legal counsel and the attorney general. It is then personally signed by Bush." Certified? CERTIFIED? What the hell is that? Bush and Gonzales "certified" that their actions are legal? They are making a complete joke of the law! The reporter should have challenged "certified"! What the hell are they talking about? Is that like Bush signing a check? Anything he wants to do, he just "certifies" it, and it's okay?

4. "At each review, government officials have provided a fresh assessment of the terrorist threat..." Yeah, right. Like their "fresh assessment" of Saddam Hussein from the "Office of Special Plans." Right up to the minute. Give me a break. Bureaucracies do this crap all the time. Whatever the honcho wants to do, they "freshen up" the memo with BS. And this stuff isn't even in quotes. It reads kind of like fact. It is not fact. It is not verified. It is not documented. It is PROPAGANDA.

5. "The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence operation." Yes, okay, that might be true. This official has to be anonymous. But that's WHY we have ELECTED officials and PUBLIC appointees! They don't get to put anonymous spokespeople out in the front of them. AP should have refused to put this BS out in the newsstream--refused to be used like this, as a dumping ground for anonymous propaganda--and if Bush won't speak to it and own up to it, they should REPEAT that throughout the article. "Neither our supposedly 'elected' president nor anyone in his banana republic junta would explain this suspension of the Constitution, or defend it." THAT's what AP should have said!

Granted the writers of this article do make some little effort--within the constrictions placed upon them by their war profiteering corporate news monopoly masters--to slip in just a tad of counterpoint, in the "angry demands" of lawmakers about our "civil liberties." But, really, you can see that the fault here is NOT JUST the fascism of the Bush Cartel and its toady henchmen like Gonzales. The fault is in the quiet agreement of the news service to be tyrannized, and lied to, and walked all over, with secret this and secret that, and "sensitive" this and "anonymous" that. Goddammit, is this America or is this Pinochet's Chile,or Franco's Spain, or Stalin's Russia?

And they are doing the same thing on the Bush Cartel just spiriting "prisoners" away on dark flights to secret torture chambers in middle Europe and points east. They just ACCEPT that they--and we--DON'T HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW who we are imprisoning and torturing! And that the un-people who are being imprisoned and tortured WITHOUT CHARGE don't even have a right to a name!

Lie down and roll over, Rover! Our lapdog press.

[rodeodance]

19. it is the top Yahoo story still (Sat am).

[rodeodance]

20. needs one more nomination please

[Enraged_Ape]

22. You asked for it, you got it, pard (n/t)

[rodeodance]

21. "saying that to comment would tie his hands in fighting terrorists"--so

this 'no comment' trick is becoming to be widely used by Bush (no comment about Rove--yet comment of not guilty about Delay)--the guy is slipping.



......Bush on Friday refused to discuss whether he had authorized such domestic spying without obtaining warrants from a court, saying that to comment would tie his hands in fighting terrorists.

In a broad defense of the program put forward hours later, however, a senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that the eavesdropping was narrowly designed to go after possible terrorist threats in the United States.

The official said that, since October 2001, the program has been renewed more than three dozen times. Each time, the White House counsel and the attorney general certified the lawfulness of the program, the official said. Bush then signed the authorizations.

During the reviews, government officials have also provided a fresh assessment of the terrorist threat, showing that there is a catastrophic risk to the country or government, the official said.........

[Enraged_Ape]

23. Patriot Act or no, Bush has and will spy on us

Because he's a paranoid, cowardly piece of shit.

(Edited for bad language. You never know who may be reading these posts.)

[Hyernel]

27. Did Rove/Bush use NSA evesdropping during 2004 election?

I think we should assume that he did.

I think we can be relatively certain that BushCo would use all the spy tools at their disposal, even if it would've been illegal in the extreme.

I think we should hammer the idea 24/7 that Bush used the instruments of American intelligence gathering to undermine the Kerry campaign.

Watergate times a billion!

:mad: