Cheney says Sept 11 attacks could have been averted with wiretaps

[sabra]

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/12/18/afx2400383.html

RPT Cheney says Sept 11 attacks could have been averted with wiretaps

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Vice President Richard Cheney said the September 11 attacks on the United States could have been averted, if the government had the power to monitor electronic communications inside the country.

'It's the kind of capability if we'd had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11,' Cheney said in an interview with ABC's 'Nightline' program.

...

But Cheney reminded that two of the Sept 11 terrorists were in San Diego, California before the attacks and communicating with Al-Qaeda sources outside the United States.

'We didn't know it,' he said. 'The 9/11 Commission talks about it. If we'd had this capability, then we might well have been able to stop it.'

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

1. Sept. 11th attacks could have been averted if bush read his 8/6 PDB!

fucking asshat :grr:

[KittyWampus]

35. Bin Laden Determined.... My Head Just Exploded... Is There An Emoticon

for that.

This is more proof of how much contempt these criminals have for American citizens.

[Wind Dancer]

62. My head always explodes when Cheney speaks.

He doesn't give a rat's ass about the law or the citizens of this country.

This administration takes sadistic pleasure while showing no regard for Americans - Cheney certainly didn't seem concerned when thousands were left to die during Katrina.

[TOhioLiberal]

64. Here's one...

[cantstandbush]

143. Shameful!!! It's the same President. Did he even care about Al-qaeda

before 9/11. He still had the same alleged power he now puports to have. Cheney ought to be ashamed of himself to now try to pass off blame for 9/11 on the ability to wiretap. They have always had the power, they just had to do it legally.

[leveymg]

91. He read it - he just decided not to do anything about it.

Why is the $640 billion question.

[indepat]

113. Or if the administration had acted on any number of other intelligence

communiques? :grr:

[texanshatingbush]

116. Ditto !!!!!

You took the words right outta my mouth!

[democrat in Tallahassee]

2. They weren't US citizens, asshole.

[leesa]

13. I beg to differ. If someone had been taping Cheney's phones and

monitoring all his communications, we could have stopped Cheney's act of terrorism on 9-11.

[musette_sf]

57. touche n/t

[Al-CIAda]

63. Very clever.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

73. What utter bullshit.

The moron-in-chief and his fat pig sidekick didn't even bother to use the legal tools at their disposal before 9/11. I hardly believe that unchecked wiretapping capability was even necessary in this case. They very well could have had legal wiretaps in place if they wanted to. I find it hard to believe that al Qaeda is somehow so much more sophistocated than the Mafia, who were brought to justice using the existing tools.

[leveymg]

93. Somewhere at Ft. Meade, there's a reel of tape.

I wonder how many copies have been made, and what the price of silence is? Or, did the Generals decide to finally break the seals last summer on the tape vault (after the OSP-AIPAC spy case arrests and Abu Ghraibh was disclosed), at which point the JCS threw in with the CIA, allowing Fitz's Grand Jury to proceed with the White House prosecutions?

[Barkley]

124. Bush should put domestic spying to use and find out who outted V. Plame

It hypocritical to justify spying on American citizens to protect us but at the same time have someone in the WH commit a felony by outting a CIA agent in time of war.

And we all know that Bush will pardon Libby, Rove, Cheney etc if/ When convicted of a felony in this regards.

[Journeyman]

3. And they could have been averted had you idiots simply paid attention. . .

to the info you had obtained legitmately. But then, that would be expecting competence. . .

[grytpype]

4. They didn't stop 9/11 because they didn't try!

There was NO counterterrorism effort above the level of Clarke and Tennet. Everyone from Rice on up thought Al Qaeda was some stupid Clinton obsession and they could ignore it.

I am sick of these assholes trying to rewrite history.

[leveymg]

95. The myth of incompetence covers a host of crimes.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm

[NanceGreggs]

5. And if your Chimp-in-Chief could READ ...

... the August 6th briefing -- "I believe it was entitled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US," THAT might have prevented the attacks of 9/11, too, Crashcart!

Will no one rid me of this meddlesome VP?

[Applan]

6. Riiiiggghhhhttt, DICK!

That is not a nice man.

[rooboy]

7. I agree with him.

If the authorities had the ability to wiretap Cheney's phone, we could have averted both 9/11 AND Iraq.

[savemefromdumbya]

56. yes

there must be logs.....

[pberq]

136. Yes - Cheney is the culprit

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Give it a rest, Dick.

Maybe we would have won the Vietnam War if you had not dodged enlisting.

Maybe we would not be at war in Iraq if you and dubya had not ascended to the throne.

Maybe if you had been born with a brain and a heart, we wouldn't hate you.

[liberalnurse]

9. Well, too bad, this 911 distraction won't fly.

Wiretaps were illegal then and they are NOW! How many warrants did they ask for leading up to the pre-911 attack? Did they even try?????? NO...hell no. This is a scam distraction.

[leveymg]

97. How many warrant applications? That detail was omitted in the

9/11 Commission report. But, there is information out there. The answer is, the number of FISA warrant applications fell after Bush took office. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm

[LiberalFighter]

105. FBI agents tried...

Even the Washington Times 25 May 2002 posted a story

Minneapolis FBI agents who unsuccessfully sought an August 2001 warrant to search flight school student Zacarias Moussaoui's computer did so after learning that Phoenix FBI agents outlined similar concerns about other suspected terrorists in Arizona three weeks earlier.

Despite information that suspected al Qaeda terrorists were involved in flight training in two states, the warrant request — coming a month before the September 11 attacks on America — was rejected by FBI officials in Washington for a lack of probable cause.

That decision, according to government sources, so infuriated the Minneapolis agents that they joked among themselves that Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network has been named in the September 11 attacks, must have successfully planted a mole inside the FBI.

[leveymg]

112. Or, why bug an operation another agency is conducting?

Even if it's supposed to be illegal for the CIA and/or DIA to be conducting domestic counter-terrorism surveillance (with or without warrants), the Bureau brass knew they weren't supposed to step on the toes of another agency. So, they blocked warrant applications submitted by unwitting Special Agents in the field.

[leftchick]

10. they could have been averted

if you had cared to read the Clinton terror threat assesment rather than shelving it.
Rat bastard. :puke:

[Pachamama]

11. Oh, okay, so go ahead and spy on everyone Big Bro style everywhere and

prevent any and all crimes!


Hey, why don't they try and develop something that foretells the future and even "intended" crimes or "likely chances" of committing crimes based on profiling and these measures (think of the movie Minority Report)

What Bullshit! :grr:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Stationing tanks,

police officers, and troops at every corner would also be beneficial in this regard. Citizens would need papers to travel from one prefecture to another, and then, only with the approval of authorities. Bu$h and Cheney should chat up Kim Jong Il to see how this works in practice.

Great idea!

[Lorien]

14. Someone in the MSM needs to call him on this (not holding my breath)

we had AMPLE warnings, but it took someone at the top to ensure that no one took action.

[tinrobot]

15. Could have been averted if they PAID ATTENTION

The intelligence was all there. You ignored it.

Go back to your undisclosed location, Cheney.

[johncoby2]

16. Yea right and Saddam has reconstituted his nuclear weapons program

Fool me once shame on you.
Fool me twice....
The Fooled. Cant be fooled again.

[jimshoes]

17. If we could have seen those

energy meeting minutes, we might have been able to send you to jail years ago.

[SammyBlue]

18. On sale at the White House gift shop:

Constitution Toilet Paper: Cheap.

You thought the Administration was the only one who could wipe their ass with the consitution. You were wrong! Now you can follow in the footsteps of the most corrupt Administration in American History by wiping your ass on the US Constitution.

Feel the ink on your ass cheeks! Feel the parchment texture as you prevent skidmarks on your underwear.

Testimonial: "Now I can be like Antonin Scalia, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales and George Bush all in the privacy of my own trailer" J. Robinson; Fresno, CA

Testimonial: "With constitution toilet paper I bought at the White House, I can feel even more powerful. The shit that comes out of my mouth is protected by it, the shit that comes out of my ass is cleaned up by it." J. Arpaio; Phoenix, AZ

Testimonial: "Constitution Toilet Paper reminds me that I can do whatever I want, because the Constitution is really just a 227 year old peace of toilet paper." Police Chiefs of America.

Testimonial: "Thanks to Constitution Toilet Paper, I can spy on Americans." G. Bush; Stamford, Connecticut or Crawford, Texas (which ever one will make me more popular).

Yes, you too can be like Modern Republicans and use the Constitution as Toilet Paper. All with Constitution Toilet Paper!

On sale for a individually for Pioneer sized donation, or in bulk for a Ranger sized donation!

[MnFats]

19. So this is the spin/talking points course they've chosen.

We are above the law, and if we had been able to act like we were above the law leading up to 9-11, we never would have suffered 9/1.
These soulless, craven bastards.

[Straight Shooter]

20. With probable cause for suspicion, wiretaps would have been allowed.

OBL and his followers planned the attacks for years, not over the course of a couple days, which is the other defense they're using, that it was such an emergent situation that the wiretapping needed to be done ASAP, not even time for a warrant.

No, the fault is that bush did not want to "work hard" enough to gather his intelligence agencies' heads together in one room and say, "Tell me what you've got," after the infamous PDB.

That 9/11 flag won't fly in this instance.

[MichiganVote]

21. Reading daily briefing reports also helps jerkoff

[daleo]

22. 911! 911! terror - all civil rights can be suspended to prevent 911

Paraphrasing Cheney - They hate us for our freedom, so we just won't bother having any.

[Daphne08]

23. And we could have peace, no crime, etc., with a dictator in a

police state, but that is NOT what the Founding Fathers wanted for the United States.

[Cha]

24. 9/11 Attacks could have been

prevented if chimpy read his August 6th, 2001 MEMO and acted on it!

Bullshit, cheney..you just want TORTURE AND EAVESDROPPING!

[Mythsaje]

25. Ummm...small problem...

if they knew enough to tap the right phone, or access the right communication, they damn well should have known enough to catch the buggers anyway. Having to get a warrant and act within the constitution isn't that much of an impediment if you have a line on what you're after and where to get it. And if you don't, you're just fishing and wouldn't have the intel to prevent the attack after all.

Sheesh... we're not the idiots he thinks we are.

[LiberalFighter]

107. If they had suspicion to want a warrant to tap the phones...

they should and could had been following them around

[tulsakatz]

26. they could have averted the attacks........

....if they had listened to the Clinton administration too!!

[HawkerHurricane]

27. Shoot, Dick...

The government DOES have the power to moniter communications.
IF you had listened to the whistleblowers (people are learning to fly planes)...
IF you had listened to your own intelligence reports (Bin Laden determined to attack with aircraft)...
You COULD have gotten the warrent needed to tap the phones in order to find things out and prevent it!
You don't need expanded powers, Dick. You need to use the ones you have with some common sense.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

28. maybe he should have convened his anti-terrorism task force

instead of blowing off richard clarke's attempts to protect the country for 9 months

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

29. Big Brother greatly desires to watch YOU.

Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

--1984 by George Orwell

[sakabatou]

30. It could also be diverted

if they actually listened to their intel instead of pointing a finger at an "enemy."

[Guckert]

31. Also if we created concentration camps and stuffed all Arabs in ovens

What a complete DUMBASS DICK (5 deferments) Cheney is.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

32. The way that the Administration keeps exploiting the senseless and

horrific attacks of 9/11 for their own ends is truly sickening and despicable. The reality is that the * Administration showed lousy judgment and gross mismanagement during their first eight months in the White House (and they haven't improved but that's another issue) and if it had been a Democratic President who had committed all the missteps that * and his cronies had in the lead up to a national tragedy, he would have been impeached.

[JerseygirlCT]

33. Every time I think he couldn't possibly stoop any lower... nt

[Media_Lies_Daily]

34. 911 could have been averted if Gore had been allowed to keep....

...the Presidency he legally won.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

36. Could have been averted with legal Police work

too... if the FBI had not stopped what was going on

[shanti]

37. go fuck yourself, cheney!

crawl back into the hole you came from! :grr: :mad:

[Whoa_Nelly]

38. What was all the pre-9/11 "chatter" as reported by the CIA

If not wiretap intercept??

Cheney is so FULL OF SHIT!!

What the hell is going to take to have an across the board majority to remove these horrible people from office to begin putting a stop to the destruction of our nation??? BuchCo et al. are shredding our nation and any semblence of democracy from the inside out. :mad

[leveymg]

104. Exactly

[teryang]

39. 911 could have been prevented if he wasn't in office

He obstructed all efforts to get to the "terrorist" operatives from Saudi intelligence. He provided an exercise cover to prevent the aircraft from being intercepted. He has obstructed all efforts to get to the bottom of the 911 investigation.

[DemonFighterLives]

102. I was looking for someone to mention this

His little exercise that morning confused the radar and kept the interceptors from doing their job.
Ole GFY was more involved in the start of this misadministration with divying up the oil rather than watching for terrorists.
Another thing with all of his trips to the cia, you know he had to come across a little chatter that would stir a normal leader. How the cia and fbi could stand down to these home grown terrorist is beyond me.
:rant:

[sabra]

40. Cheney backs torture ban but warns of complacency

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18197116.htm

Cheney backs torture ban but warns of complacency


WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday he backed legislation to ban inhumane treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, but decried what he saw as a diminishing commitment by some to do "what's necessary" to defend the country.

In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" during a surprise visit to Iraq, Cheney said what constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment was, to some extent, "in the eye of the beholder."

"It's important to remember that we are in a war against a group of individuals and terrorist organizations that did, in fact, slaughter 3,000 innocent Americans on 9/11, that it's important for us to be able to have effective interrogation of these people when we capture them," Cheney said.

...

But when asked if he was troubled by reports that detainees have died of abuse in U.S. custody, Cheney responded by saying: "One of the things I'm concerned about is that as we get farther and farther away from 9/11, and there have been no further attacks against the United States, there seems to be less and less concern about doing what's necessary in order to defend the country."

[rodeodance]

41. cheney is a flipper flopper flop!

[Solly Mack]

42. That's the Ex-Lax effect

shit, shit, and more shit.

[Thom Little]

43. Time to tear up the Constitution!

[shanti]

44. ANOTHER warning!

is that all this asshole does??

[leesa]

45. Yes. If we are able to torture the terrorist Cheney, I believe we will

get a straight story about Dick's real role on 9-11. Why WERE you diverting our air defense away with mock drills on that day? Why was there no significant NORAD response to 9-11? Did you order the shoot down of the flight in PA? I agree whole heartedly....get the culprits in the White House who did 9-11 and torture away!

[daleo]

46. This seems a bit ominous, like they think another attack would be useful

"One of the things I'm concerned about is that as we get farther and farther away from 9/11, and there have been no further attacks against the United States, there seems to be less and less concern about doing what's necessary in order to defend the country."

[Wind Dancer]

61. Cheney continues to make similar ominous statements.

He baits the public with subliminal threats of another attack if we don't allow the government unlimited and unprecedented secretive powers that are unconstitutional. Every time he speaks, I'm left wondering what special treats he has in store for the country.

:scared:

[Raksha]

68. Translation: "Our days of using 9/11 as a propaganda tool

are limited."

Re >>But when asked if he was troubled by reports that detainees have died of abuse in U.S. custody, Cheney responded by saying: "One of the things I'm concerned about is that as we get farther and farther away from 9/11, and there have been no further attacks against the United States, there seems to be less and less concern about doing what's necessary in order to defend the country."<<

Sheesh, he practically SAYS so! Those words, "...and there have been no further attacks against the United States" make me nervous. Does he think it's time to "arrange" an encore of 9/11 to "catapult the propaganda"?

[Enraged_Ape]

47. You could have averted 9/11, Dick, if you'd done sweet fuck-all...

about all the warnings you were given, jackass!

[paulthompson]

48. They WERE listening in!

Cheney is full of it, as usual. Here's a couple of sample entries from my 9/11 timeline. Note that supposedly the NSA failed to share the info with other agencies, but that wasn't because of some legal wall. It's never been explained why they didn't share if indeed they didn't. Monitored calls between the plot mastermind and the head hijacker - if you couldn't stop the plot with that, then what's your problem?

Summer 2001: NSA Fails to Share Intercepted Information About Calls Between Atta and Mohammed
Around this time, the NSA intercepts telephone conversations between Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Mohamed Atta, but apparently does not share the information with any other agencies. The FBI has a $2 million reward for Mohammed at the time, while Atta is in charge of operations inside the US. (Knight Ridder, 6/6/02; Independent, 6/6/02) The NSA either fails to translate these messages in a timely fashion or fails to understand the significance of what was translated. (Knight Ridder, 6/6/02)

People and organizations involved: National Security Agency, Mohamed Atta, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

September 10, 2001: NSA Monitors Call as Mohammed Gives Final Approval to Launch Attacks
Mohamed Atta calls Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Afghanistan. Mohammed gives final approval to Atta to launch the attacks. This call is monitored and translated by the US, although it is not known how quickly the call is translated, and the specifics of the conversation haven't been released. (Independent, 9/15/02)

Note that these calls were probably intercepted with Echelon technology. This whole debate about wiretapping ignores the fact that the NSA is collecting a mountain of data using satellite technology. See this entry:

Before September 11, 2001: Echelon Intelligence Network Used on Al-Qaeda
By the 1980s, a high-tech global electronic surveillance network shared between the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is gathering intelligence all over the world. The BBC describes Echelon's power as “astounding,” and elaborates: “Every international telephone call, fax, e-mail, or radio transmission can be listened to by powerful computers capable of voice recognition. They home in on a long list of key words, or patterns of messages. They are looking for evidence of international crime, like terrorism.” (BBC, 11/3/99) One major focus for Echelon before 9/11 is al-Qaeda. A staff member of the National Security Council who regularly attends briefings on bin Laden states, “We are probably tapped into every hotel room in Pakistan. We can listen in to just about every phone call in Afghanistan.” However, he and other critics will claim one reason why US intelligence failed to stop terrorism before 9/11 was because there was too much of a focus on electronic intelligence gathering and not enough focus on human interpretation of that vast data collection. (Toronto Star, 2/2/02)

[leveymg]

99. Paul, they knew the Flt. 77 hijackers were here. CIA ordered the FBI

liason at the Counter-Terrorism Center to withhold the cable notifying O'Neill at the Bureau's National Security Office in NY when al-Midhar and Al-Hazmi entered LAX on 1/15/00. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm

[rodeodance]

49. Reuters- US defends decision on domestic eavesdropping (now Cheney)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051219/pl_nm/security_nsa_dc;_ylt=AvjgGyNs_QUqB0y.ku_LKKes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
US defends decision on domestic eavesdropping

By Jackie Frank Sun Dec 18, 7:52 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday said President George W. Bush's secret order to allow spying on people in the United States was legal and necessary to prevent terrorism, but lawmakers from both parties called for Congress to investigate.

In an interview with ABC's "Nightline," Cheney said the president acted within his constitutional authority as commander in chief and that the program was under constant legal review.

"It is a program that is, by every effort we've been able to make, consistent with the statutes and with the law. It's the kind of capability if we'd had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11," Cheney said in a transcript released on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," said disclosure of the eavesdropping could jeopardize terrorism investigations........

[stop the bleeding]

50. check this link out to from another discussion on this from dutchdemocrat

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5630237#5630498

Here is what DD said:

Something I am trying to find out... it was posted on another thread. How does this fit in to the bigger picture?

http://www.aclu.org//privacy/spying/15189prs20021118.html

In First-Ever Ruling, Secret Appeals Court Allows Expanded Government Spying on U.S. Citizens (11/18/2002)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON - Ruling for the first time in its history, the ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review today gave the green light to a Justice Department bid to broadly expand its powers to spy on U.S. citizens.

"We are deeply disappointed with the decision, which suggests that this special court exists only to rubberstamp government applications for intrusive surveillance warrants," said Ann Beeson, litigation director of the Technology and Liberty Program of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"As of today," she said, "the Attorney General can suspend the ordinary requirements of the Fourth Amendment in order to listen in on phone calls, read e-mails, and conduct secret searches of Americans' homes and offices."

At issue is whether the Constitution and the USA PATRIOT Act adopted by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks permit the government to use looser foreign intelligence standards to conduct criminal investigations in the United States.

Last May, in a historic first, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court (FISA) made public a unanimous decision rejecting the government's bid for expanded spying powers. After the Justice Department appealed, the ACLU was granted permission to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the appeals court, together with the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Center for National Security Studies, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.

The ACLU and its coalition partners are examining today's decision and considering a number of options, including requesting an appeal to the Supreme Court and asking Congress to clarify through legislation that it did not authorize the Justice Department to use FISA's looser surveillance standards in ordinary criminal cases.

"This is a major Constitutional decision that will affect every American's privacy rights, yet there is no way anyone but the government can automatically appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court," Beeson said. "Hearing a one-sided argument and doing so in secret goes against the traditions of fairness and open government that have been the hallmark of our democracy," she added.

The FISA court and the Court of Review were created under a law passed by Congress in 1978, which authorizes government wiretap requests in foreign intelligence investigations. Under these procedures, all hearings and decisions are conducted in secret.

Although the ACLU and its coalition partners were allowed to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the lower court ruling, they were not allowed to participate in the oral argument before the Review Court that resulted in today's decision, and they are not automatically entitled to submit an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Today's decision comes on the heels of a White House announcement of a new system being developed at the Pentagon that would be able to track every American's activities. The so-called "Total Information Awareness" program will create -- according to Pentagon officials -- the infrastructure for the most extensive electronic surveillance system in history. Conservative New York Times columnist William Safire has dubbed the program "a supersnoop's dream."

The FISC Review Court is a special three-judge panel appointed by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in accordance with provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The judges are: Hon. Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Hon. Edward Leavy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Hon. Ralph B. Guy, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Give Mommy a Kiss....."

[leveymg]

109. Took 3 years, but the bigger picture is finally emerging. n/t

[electron_blue]

51. They didn't want to stop 9/11

Look how they let N.O. die and abandoned the Gulf States citizens. Good gawd.

[young_at_heart]

52. "bin Laden determined to attack in US"

Dear Mr. Cheney, the PDB of August 6th, 2001 could have been read more carefully also!

[killbotfactory]

53. It could have been avoided if they did their fucking jobs

and didn't let it happen.

[Miss Chybil]

54. Reading the PDB could have averted 9/11. Listening to seasoned

counter-terrorism officials could have averted 9/11. Listening to the outgoing administration could have averted 9/11. Or, maybe, not, but, at least, you lying, thieving, murdering, asshole excuses for "leaders" wouldn't have been caught with you weenies blowing in the wind. Maybe, you could have saved a few thousand people by doing your fucking job in the first fucking place. Instead, you chose to have secret meetings with oil men so you could figure out how to make more money off the backs of your "subjects." Instead, the "president" decided it was more important to go on vacation. Instead, you people were so busy trying to figure out what you could steal you sold your own country up the river. And, this is all assuming you didn't actually know 9/11 was coming and purposely sat on your hands. I'm trying to pretend you couldn't be that fucking evil, but honestly, I'm begininning to have my doubts. Fuck you, Dick Cheney. Fuck you.

Oh, and p.s.: Just in case you didn't understand what I was trying to say... You had all the intelligence information you needed under the laws we had. You just didn't pay attention. So, again, I say, FUCK YOU!

And another thing: You know how to change the laws. If this was so important, why didn't you change this one? Because you know you weren't spying on "terrorists." You know you were spying on people you shouldn't be. There is a law that says you can eavesdrop on people, you just have to take it to the court within 72 hours. You didn't want to do this. So what are you trying to hide? What are you afraid of, you sorry piece of shit. You sorry piece of fucking shit. I'm sick to death of what you've done to this country. I'm sick to death of you and your fucking Gulag style tactics. I'm sick of you dragging our good name through the shit pile of humanity all while you get richer. Dick Cheney, I hope there is a god. I hope he's as vengeful as they say. I hope. I really hope. May he judge you fairly.

[randomelement]

118. Thanks for the catharsis!

Loved the rant - you captured my rage EXACTLY!! Ahhh .... "weenies in the wind" - priceless .....

[savemefromdumbya]

55. they may have wiretapped Cheney then

and he would have been found out. Like shooting himself in the foot?

[Lori Price CLG]

58. Only if Halliburton's and Dictator Bush's lines were tapped.

The terrorists (Cheney and Bush) would have been arrested for conspiracy, and the 9/11 attacks would never have occurred.

Cheers,
Lori Price

[MadisonProgressive]

59. fuck you douchebag

[Amonester]

60. What?? The 911 this draft dodger war criminal WANTED

to happen so it would JUSTIFY ALL THEIR UGLY CRIMES against thousands of innocent AMERICANS AND IRAQIS???

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

These criminals of the highest magnitude HOPED FOR IT would HAPPEN!!!!

And from hoping for it TO GRABING (stealing) the power in order for them to LET (or MAKE) IT HAPPEN (!!) for Helliburton&Co and ExxonMobil&Co, there's a very little effort into connecting all the dots (to their off-shore bank accounts (??)

EVERY DAY they show more of their complete corruption and EVILNESS!

Every single day THEY HAVE NO SHAME! Nor any respect for ANY LAW!

:banghead:

[wiley]

65. He saw the August Memo as well

How stupid does he think we are? If Bush weren't vacationing (and not especially clever) for weeks maybe it wouldn't have happened. Come to think of it, there are those side effects that no one talks about that heart conditions have on the mind. Tragic, but I think he's just a little OFF, ya know?

[0rganism]

66. Cheney says Civil Liberties could have been averted with wiretaps

(yet more News from a Parallel Neighboring Reality)
Cheney says civil liberties of Americans could have been averted with wiretaps

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Vice President Richard Cheney said the excessive rights of people living within the United States could have been averted, if the government had the power to monitor electronic communications inside the country.

'It's the kind of capability if we'd had before Martin Luther King's march on Selma might have led us to be able to prevent desegregation,' Cheney said in an interview with ABC's 'Nightline' program.

...

But Cheney reminded that two of the civil rights leaders were in Memphis, Tennessee before the end of Jim Crow and communicating with ACLU sources across the United States.

'We didn't know it,' he said. 'The NAACP talks about it. If we'd had this capability, then we might well have been able to stop it.'

[madmark]

67. Bullshit: a competent executive that synthesized the Phoenix memo,

the warning memo Rice got, and timely got the subpoena the Minnesota fbi field team had requested to search Moussai' computer and the brains to understand what the data meant might have prevented 9/11. The current administration is so incompetent that even if they abrogated the 4th amendment, and all the other bills of rights, and just tortured all of us 24/7, they still couldn't have stopped 9/11 or any other Al Quada plot because they can't get the job done.

[MCMetal]

69. Nothing like looking for any excuse ....

This idiot simian president , his evil gnomish-nebbishy-looking asshole VP , and the rest of this garbage administration will go to any length to look for excuses and 'outs' on accepting any responsibility/fault . What's next for them ?
Claiming the Dead Sea Scrolls have been deciphered , and that it reads : "Chimpy is infallible" ?

[Fovea]

70. yeah Dick? Well 9-11 could have been averted

if SCOTUS had let the freakin recount go forward in FLA in 2000. How about that, you worthless prick?

[dback]

71. 9/11 could've been prevented by VP Gore's plan for cockpit doors

Remember way back in the late 90's, when Vice-President Gore proposed a plan to reinforce cockpit doors as a safety measure against terrorists?

The Republicans--especially Orrin Hatch--accused and the Clinton administration of exploiting baseless fears of terrorism and trying to scare and manipulate Americans.

We are so far down the rabbit hole.

[goodboy]

72. and the 52+ other warnings didn't mean shit? FUCK YOU DICK

[zbdent]

74. Maybe the attacks could have been thwarted, or at least minimized

if they had paid attention to the whistleblower who pointed out that a bunch of the suspects were taking jet flying lessons with no interest in takeoffs or landings (and what good is knowing how to fly a commercial jetliner without knowing how to land safely????)!

Oh, it was going on in Florida, right? Jeb's state . . .

[Roland99]

75. How would wiretapping have helped if they didn't know they were here?!?!

You can't tap the phones of someone that you don't know exists!!!!



:eyes:

[0007]

76. This is so bogus I have to laugh my ass off. Who is Dick kidding

and since when has the FBI or the CIA followed the guidelines of the law when security was an issue?

[opihimoimoi]

77. Wait a fucking minute....wasn't dick supposed to be the head man to stop

terror attacks....?

They shelved the Hart/Rudman Commission Report/recommendations to supposedly let Cheny do his thing...which turned out to be ZERO.

He did not have one fucking meeting addressing this aspect of terrorists attacking us...not one. Had they followed the recommendations and heeded the Aug warning...9/11 would not have occured...these fuckers are cleaning up their sorry act.

[EFerrari]

79. Yes, you're right. And obviously 9/11 couldn have been averted

if only Dick could have spied on American citizens. :sarcasm:

[The Backlash Cometh]

78. What a dweeb. All the dickwad had to do was keep Richard Clarke

in his position and the process would have worked. Cheney has to stop looking for excuses for his own failures and lack of vision.

[area51]

80. Translation:

Tricky Dick "go fuck yourself" Cheney says: "If you give up your freedoms as Americans, I'll give you more freedom." Yeah, that's certainly what our founding fathers died for. </sarcasm>

[Guaranteed]

81. Or if we'd just locked up every single American. nt

[leveymg]

82. CIA was well aware the 9/11 hijackers were here, and what they intended

The whole operation had been monitored since the early January 2000 al-Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The CIA, NSA and DIA monitored the Flt. 77 hijackers as they travelled to that meeting -- at which the 9/11 and USS Cole attacks were discussed -- and as they arrived at LA Airport. The al-Qaeda summit was also attended by Moh. Atta's roommate. When the pair arrived in the US on 1/15/00, the head of the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center ordered the FBI liason officer to withhold a cable notifying the Bureau's national security unit. I'm not making this up.

See, http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm

[Pirate Smile]

83. WP: Violence Surges as Cheney Visits Iraq

Violence Surges as Cheney Visits Iraq
U.S. Troops Told That Nation Has 'Turned the Corner'

By Jonathan Finer and Naseer Nouri
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 19, 2005; Page A14

BAGHDAD, Dec. 18 -- Violence and civil unrest surged across Iraq on Sunday as Vice President Cheney made his first visit here in more than a decade, praising what he called the "remarkable" turnout by voters in nationwide elections Thursday and telling U.S. troops that the country had "turned the corner."

Shrouded in fortified compounds and shuttled between venues by squadrons of helicopters, Cheney came on a day that underscored the deep economic and security challenges the country faces.

The government sparked angry protests in several cities by announcing a steep increase in fuel prices, currently the lowest in the Middle East and among the lowest in the world. And insurgents ended the lull in violence during the election period by launching a string of attacks across the country that killed more than 30 people, including 20 truck drivers and crew members on a highway north of Baghdad.

Among the strongest proponents of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq -- and of current American policy here -- Cheney sat for an hour-long briefing in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and generals George W. Casey, the military commander in Iraq, and John P. Abizaid, who heads U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East region.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/18/AR2005121800474.html

Nice headline.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

84. Poke a stick into a hornet nest and see what happens.

Moran. Impeach him. NOW.

[radio4progressives]

85. Also buried in the story, at the very end

is a mention of a German archiologist held hostage was freed, no further details given..

[MidwestTransplant]

86. Must be Cheney freed him

[Up2Late]

87. That odd, maybe the Iraqi's know the real reason our military...

...invaded their country, and who was really behind that invasion?

[Lindacooks]

88. There's that elusive corner again.

How many have we turned now?

[HuffleClaw]

89. enough so that they've gone around the same block

a couple dozen times ?

[0007]

92. Ya can't turn a corner on a circle!

[mcctatas]

90. my husband on Cheney's visit....

"So they dug the evil old bastard out of his bunker, strapped him in a titanium diaper and sent him to visit the troops?! Why do republicans hate America?"

[ima_sinnic]

94. you disgusting piece of shit--you DO have wiretap capability

. . . with a court order. so what's the problem, LIAR? how would not having to get a warrant have changed anything?

to hear him tell it, they were SO unaware of who "the enemy" was and where and when they were going to launch an attack, they'd have to eavesdrop on every single phone conversation in the country to get a clue.

the only thing you greedy dumbass bloodsuckers did with the info & intelligence you already had was to dump your airline stock and replace it with insurance, just before 9/11.

even if you "had known" you wouldn't have done jack-shit about it, either before or after (we all saw your brilliant preparations for and compassionate caring response to Katrina)--in fact, after seeing how you responded to Katrina (by going out and buying a new mansion with your war profits), I find it highly suspicious that your response to 9/11 was as "quick" as it was--catch my drift mr. ghoul ?

UGGHH. thinking about that vampire makes my skin crawl. He's like something out of pulp horror movies--the gray and bitter sagging old hunched-over man who makes the scene suddenly change from bright and sunny to stormy and ominous and EVIL. I need to take a mental shower now :D

[RagingInMiami]

96. Yeah, wiretaps sure as hell beat a memo that states

"Bin Laden determined to attack the United States."

[bunkerbuster1]

98. How does he say this stuff with a straight face?

oh, wait, he doesn't.

[Punkingal]

100. Good God!

What a lying, conscienceless bastard he is. I only wish I believed in Hell, and I could find some comfort in the fact that pig will be there someday when he has his 1000th heart attack.

[erpowers]

101. Enough Information

It has been proven that this administration had enough information to stop the 9/11 attacks. They had all the information they needed. They had information that if the attacks were about terrorism they would happen in the United States. I believe they had pictures. I know the FAA was given about 56 warnings that a terrorist attack could happen. Government documents showed that the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and The White House would all be targets in a terrorist attack. This admministration was warned that he should spend time on finding Osama Bin Laden. Finally, they were warned that Bin Laden was determined to attack inside the United States. This administration was given multiple warning that could have stopped the terrorist attacks. Most of these warnings if not all of them probably came without tapping anyone's phone.

[90-percent]

106. We're the choir

Dumbfuckistan USA is going to eat up this shit Cheney's spewing and give up their constitutional rights in the name of fighting terra.

Although with an approval rating of about 19% perhaps Mr. Cheney may no longer be effective in contructing his wet dream totalitarian police state.

-85% Jimmy

[leveymg]

114. So, let me get this straight. They will tap everyone's phone inside the US

but, for some unexplained reason were unwilling or unable to place a bug inside the condo in Kuala Lumpur where they knew the Flight 77 hijackers were meeting with Mohamed Atta's roommate and a bunch of other al-Qaeda operatives in January 2000?

:eyes: B-)

[erpowers]

115. Tapped Rivals

I think they were really just tapping the phones of Democrats and others that opposed the Bush administration. Democrats should demand that the Bush Administration release the names of the people that were spied upon. They should at least make the Bush Administration give detailed information about what arrests were made as a result of the spying or what attacks were stopped by the spying. If nothing was done as a result of the spying then it has been proven that the tapping was not necessary.

[Earth_First]

103. So basically Mr. Cheney, you're telling me that...

because you were so concerned with following the law, that you were not able to utilize wiretaps to their maximum intelligence efficiency in order to curtail the plot of foreign members of the 9/11 plot...

BUT:

AFTER 9/11 you and your administration had NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER authorizing FISA/NSA wiretaps on UNITED STATES CITIZENS in order to curtail...what exactly?

SHENANIGANS!

[thecodewarrior]

108. The 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if Cheney wasn't

overseeing the attacks and making sure the jets reached there targets.

[onehandle]

110. That and a Crystal Ball. Hindsight is 20-20, you Dick. I mean, Dick. nt

[think4yourself]

111. Go Cheney yourself, you Fuck

Can we possibly make it one hour without a pitiful reference to September 11 that is designed to catapult the propaganda? This motherfucker is out of control. We should have used that 500 billion for the war and built him his Death Star. I am livid. Did I mention how much I hate these criminals?

[Dora]

117. GGGAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHh! n/t

[JAbuchan08]

119. Of course! if they'd only had wiretaps they wouldn't have had to LIHOP

[stepnw1f]

120. Shut Up Already you Thug

tick, tick, tick.... the gator comes for Captian Dick....

[Karmakaze]

121. a BLATANT lie...

First of all, the prohibition on wiretaps without a warrant is and always has been in regards to US CITIZENS. None of the hijackers were US CITIZENS and as such their communications with other countries were fair game, just like embassy communications are fair game. FISA is in regards to US CITIZENS communicating with foreign powers. In other words if a US CITIZEN is suspected of involvement in espionage or terrorism a FISA warrant is required. But if neither party in the communication is a US CITIZEN then they are fair game, no warrants required.

Secondly Atta WAS being "wiretapped" at one point - didnt stop the attack, did it? I wonder why?

Cheney once again LIES THROUGH HIS TEETH, and the press lets him.

[emald]

122. wow, this really is a moronic statement

of criminality. The United States had all the warning it needed to make the correct decisions about stopping 9/11, it did not do so because of the criminal cabal which decided to ignore the warnings (if in fact they didn't encourage this to happen) and use the hoped for incident to scare the sheeple into support for aggresion.

9/11 was intentionally and studiously ignored by * and chinney.

Fat asshole and monkey man should be in prison for dereliction of duty.

taking responsibility requires making changes, not staying the course.

When will these lying evil men be gone? Only after they have completed the destruction of the United States for their Saudi controlers.

[populistdriven]

123. ABLE DANGER!!!

We already knew about FOUR the 9-11 hijackers including the leader - Atta - TWO years before 9-11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Danger

[superconnected]

125. congress knew about it, uh but can't tell you WHO in congress knew

and in recent days (since the news broke) MORE senators have been told about it - in other words they're supposed to defend bush and say they knew to authorize it when they're not actually finding out until AFTER the news broke.

GEE I THOUGHT CONGRESS WAS ELECTED TO MAKE OUR DECISIONS PUBLICLY AND VOTE ON THEM IN FRONT OF US, not secret little deals with the president about spying on us.

THESE ARE THE FUCKING NAZIS. You don't spy on PEACE groups in your own country, you dont start spying on the people who "elected you", congress cannot over step the law and they cannot make secret decisions. They have to have public Meetings where ALL of congress is informed and the people they represent - the people of the US are informed. Secrecy should be cause for dismissal from their jobs. This is AMERICA.

These people need to be ousted. Everything is wrong with this.

The only way they can succeed is by stopping the Educated - who by the way are the ones going to the peaceful demonstrations and anti-war talks.

This is why educations has literally been anorexically funded since bush got in office.

At what point to we put our foot down. It can get "too late" very quickly.

They've way overstepped everything our constitution stands for, repeatedly and this last abberation is the tip of an ice berg of what they are doing.

What does this tell you about how they feel about our rights? They need to be ousted.

[KansDem]

126. Hey, Dick! Now that you're so hell-bent on spying on Americans...

How about you letting us look at your energy task-force papers?

[triguy46]

127. Oh sure...

If you have someone listen to every frickin phone call made in the US AND the conspirators cooperate by saying something like "On Sept. 11, lets hijack planes from Boston, then we'll fly them in the WTC. Ok? No....World Trade Center. Yes on Sept. 11... are you frickin deaf??? One more time.....

[redqueen]

128. THEY HAVE THIS CAPACITY!

What's wrong with the FISA courts, DICK? Why lie to people and act like you can't already do whatever the hell you want, then get it approved after the fact using FISA? Only ONE of those requests has ever been turned down, DICK.

Counting on the ignorance of the American public? So you can strip away our freedom so the terrorists won't have anything to hate us for?

[opihimoimoi]

129. Cheney for President already: He lies enough to qualify...

[noonwitch]

130. They had the power, they just had to go to court first to get a warrant

As if wiretapping is something new to law enforcement.

[LeftHander]

131. Cheney - "Had they tapped my phone....."

Fill the rest in yourself....

[rd_kent]

134. HAHAHA!

ROFL

[MadisonProgressive]

132. He is the most evil man on the planet!

[jean]

133. the Cheney/bush admin could have been averted with wiretaps, still could

[Orsino]

135. Cheney could have been averted with wiretaps, too...

...but in America we're supposed to use judges to get them.

[StrafingMoose]

137. Read...

"If attacking sovereing, innocent countries for geopolitical/financial purposes would be something readily accepted by the world, we wouldn't have needed to engineer 9/11 thus, prevent it."

:eyes:

[pauldp]

138. but then of course they wouldn't have been able to launch the PNAC agenda

because there would have been no "New Pearl Harbor".

911 was the PNAC's wet dream.

[JPZenger]

139. US let hijackers into the US who were on Terrorism list

At least a couple of the 9-11 hijackers were on the US terrorism watch list before they entered the US. All of them used their real names to enter the US at airports.

Did the 9-11 hijackers really call up Al Queda HQ in Afghanistan on the phone? "Yes, boss, we are going to hijack the planes from Logan and Kennedy tomorrow morning. I sure hope Dick Cheney isn't listening in on this phone call."

[drfresh]

140. Cheney just opened himself up

for a fiesty Democrat to say something like "Sept 11 could have been averted if you were doing your damn job!" *cough 08/06/01 PDB* cough*

[rpannier]

141. And 9/11 also could have been avoided if we...

had rounded up all Americans into giant sized Gulags like North Korea and forced them into doing slave labor.
Pathetic how they continue to use fear as a rationale for destroying the Constitution.

[Rocknrule]

142. "Learn how to use the Dark Side...

and you will be able to save your nation from a certain attack"

[54anickel]

144. Yea right. And I could've, should've would've been King!..eom

[stickdog]

145. Or an air force that didn't stand down. Or terrorist investigations that

weren't scuttled from the top. Or a even modicum of LEADERSHIP on that fateful day.

All of these could have prevented 9/11 with far fewer and smaller leaps of imagination.