Feb 11 2006
Protect America, Not Terrorists’ Rights
The Democrats have worked themselves into a really bad position. In their mindless lust to attack George Bush they have begun to attack the powers of the Office of President. The NSA issue is a case in point. As I pointed out before, the NSA is not doing anything different in terms of monitoring the communications of our enemies overseas. They may get some new tools or access to some new pool of information, but they monitor communications of our enemies.
What changed after 9-11 is that they now share the leads they discover to terrorists here in the US with the FBI. Before 9-11 the NSA would throw these leads away. Before 9-11 the FISA court would not allow any leads garnered from the NSA (and therefore all military and intelligence sources) to be used to gain a warrant for surveillance.
So all those Able Danger leads and the NSA discovery of a Yemeni switchboard used by two 9-11 terrorists meant nothing because no court in the land would allow those warnings to mean anything. The FISA Court made 9-11 a fate we could not escape. No need to blame Clinton or Bush. We had Atta and his cohorts targeted years before 9-11. But FISA apparently would not act because no judge had given the US Government permission to get this information in the first place. In the myopic world of some Federal judges, truth and reality do not exist until they say so.
To all those judges I hold dear, please know this next comment is not a blanket statement on all judges.
Apparently, when national security grew out of the military from World War II, the decision was made to never let it interact with domestic law enforcement. Given the world in the mid 1940’s this seemed like an obvious, simple answer to the question of intelligence and war verses law enforcement. Over the decades it became the unspoken gospel – even as the world changed and shrunk through communications and travel. The last vanguard of this antiquated view are the Federal Judges and their companion ‘experts’ in Congress and Academia.
This is no different than Galileo’s time when the judges of the day deemed the earth the center of the universe and no one was going to change their comfortable world view. Back then it was heresy to say the obvious, to point to what was right in front of their faces with the advent of the telescope and Keplerian math. But the judges of the day simply deemed information they did not want to see as invalid.
So too today. The idea a judge’s decision makes information true or useful or critical is as dumb as a judge who thinks their decisions make science right or wrong. Us science based folks find this to be humorous self absorption most of the time. But in this case it is dangerous self delusion. And with the rigor of a scientific proof, we can do what Galileo and others did in his time – prove the ignorance of conventional wisdom.
Case in point: the 72 hour emergency warrant. Every FISA defender naively says there is a 72 hour provision for garnering a warrant from FISA. The administration says this process is not feasible because of all the supporting information. I say it is impossible because of the FISA rules themselves. For example, if the NSA gets a tip on person in the US communicating with, say, Zarqawi they will never get the 72 hour warrant because, if the Washington Post’s reporting is accurate, FISA will reject the tip because it is based on NSA intercepts.
Zarqawi and his US comrade could be discussing tomorrow’s attacks and the FISA rules would not allow a warrant until the FBI had developed other, NSA independent, proof of a problem. Ain’t going to happen in 24 or 72 hours.
Laws and our constitution are not a Jim Jones suicide pack. In this situation, the priests of the FISA Temple are offering us real Kool-Aid. If we follow them to FISA town we will be lining up to drink our last drink.
RNC Chairman Ken Mehlmen is questioning the democrats ability to protect America verses the rights of terrorists.
Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, declared Friday that Democrats who have condemned the Bush administration’s controversial eavesdropping program may not be suited to safeguard Americans against terror attacks.
“We do not and we never should question these Democrat leaders’ patriotism, but we do question their judgment and we do question their ability to keep the American people safe,” he said. “These are people we know love their country, the question is: Can they protect it?”
No innocent American is the target of these efforts and all innocent Americans are cleared of interest as fast as possible. The Feds do not have the time to waste on false leads. But the Democrats (and some FISA Temple loving Republicans) are asking us to go back to the pre 9-11 posture – where we would simply throw away leads like the ones we must have thrown away with some of the 9-11 terrorists.
“Do Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean really think that when NSA is listening in on terrorists planning attacks on America, they should hang up when those terrorists call their sleeper cells in the United States?” he said, referring to the House minority leader and the Democratic National Committee chairman.
If this is the position of some of our misguided leaders, I say we throw them away and get new leaders, new judges, and new teachers. We will protect America, not out-of-date visions of reality. The earth is not flat, the sun does not revolve around the earth, and FISA is not a war fighting process. But most importantly, truth and reality exists irregardless of judges’ views and opinions. I am not drinking this Kool Aid.
The NSA never bypassed FISA – that was misinformation. The NSA was trying to pass leads to the FBI who would take them to FISA if the FISA Priests would let them. Bush never ordered NSA to spy on Americans, he ordered the FISA Priests who were vanguards of ‘The Wall’ to wake up and consider threats from any legitimate source. That was also disinformation.
Why is this one story full of all the truly scary disinformation? Were we being de-sensitized with Plame so this could skate through the exhaustion? That is what I am concerned about right now. Why are we debating proven failures unearthed by 9-11?
AJ–
I am with you 100% on the need for keeping our NSA techniques secret.
I still don’t get why you wanted hearings on Able Danger, which was also sensitive.
What is the difference?
Maybe if people had shut up about Able Danger then this NSA stuff would never have come out.
The reason that some people screaming about domestic spying is that we have some domestic terrorists, and they don’t want to be spied on. Maybe some even helped with 9-11 and the anthrax attacks, but we don’t hear much about it because they are nabbed on other charges that the FBI makes. The terrorists can see this happening and know their buddies are being spied on.
There is an Intelligence Summit starting on Friday. I plan to be there even though I am not in that field. I have a long weekend, so I signed up. The focus will be Iran, so that should be very topical.
http://www.intelligencesummit.org
Hi AJ,
Maybe we’re looking in the wrong direction on this whole NSA issue. I can’t help but think that for the Dems to go to such lengths, there has to be some campaign money in it for them. Just like they pander to the far left whackos I.E. Moveon.org, maybe they also have to pander to some of their big money supporters who may not want their overseas calls monitored by the Bush administration.
This is just a first attempt to connect some dots, but it is interesting. Let’s start with Judge Robertson and the Clintons.
From Newsmax
As Accuracy in Media noted in 2000, Judge Roberston’s conscience wasn’t particularly troubled by the crimes committed by one-time Clinton Deputy Attorney General Webb Hubbell.
In two cases involving Hubbell, AIM reported, “Judge James Robertson threw out a tax charge and another for lying to federal investigators. Appellate courts overruled in both cases, and Hubbell then plead guilty to felonies in each case.”
Judge Robertson’s conscience also seemed to go AWOL when it came to the case of Archie Schaffer, an executive with Tyson Chicken – the company that had showered Mr. Clinton with campaign contributions and helped steer Mrs. Clinton to her commodities market killing.
Recently, Judge Robertson has acquired membership to the Council for Court Excellence Executive Committee where we find some of his old pals from Wilmer Cutler Pickering. Robertson was with Wilmer Cutler Pickering before Clinton appointed him.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering, now goes by the name of WilmerHale. The Law Firm is involved in everything and with everyone from Banks, VC’s, the SEC, Pharm, etc.
We are more than 1,000 lawyers strong, with offices in 13 cities in the United States, Europe and Asia. Our practice includes over 350 litigators with unmatched trial, appellate and Supreme Court experience; a regulatory practice that includes more than 100 lawyers who have held high-level government positions; an intellectual property practice enriched by the expertise of more than 120 attorneys and technology specialists who hold scientific or technical degrees; over 250 seasoned corporate transactional lawyers and business counselors; and hundreds of other lawyers who focus on bankruptcy, environmental, labor and employment, private client, real estate and tax matters.
While all of the media attention has been focused at Abronoff, little has been paid to the Congressman from New Orleans.
The Nigerian Tribune
FBI’s raid on Atiku’s home: US lawmaker’s aide opens up
A former aide to Representative Jefferson William, Bret Pfeffer, has shed light on alleged money laundering and illegal business deal between Jefferson and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, as he pleaded guilty to being the man behind the deal, during a court proceeding in US recently.
According to the report, Pfeffer had told a US court that another congressman whom he only identified as Representative “A†had lobbied high ranking officials in Nigeria and Ghana to export a technology developed by a small US based telecommunication company to their countries.
The congressman told Pfeffer, according to the court documents, that “a member of Representative A’s family should perform the legal work to further the Nigerian deal†and be put on the payroll of the newly formed investment company for $2,500 to $5,000 per month.
When the group met again at a law firm to consummate the deal, the congressman approached Pfeffer in the lobby and demanded a 5 to 7 percent share of the new company, the documents say.
In July 2005, the documents say, the group sought to pursue a similar arrangement in Ghana. That month, Pfeffer, Representative A, an unnamed member of the congressman’s family and a member of the congressional staff travelled to Ghana, a time period that coincides with Jefferson’s visit to the West African nation. Pfeffer reported back regularly to the investor in the United States about progress during the trip, according to the documents.
“Pfeffer observed Representative A meeting with various high-level Ghanaian government officials to promote the Ghana deal,†documents say. “Pfeffer was also present when Representative A met with officials of the Ex-Im Bank in Washington, D.C., to further promote the Ghana deal.â€
Later, the documents say, Representative A told Pfeffer that “a member of (his) extended family†would serve as secretary of the newly created Ghana company and would handle marketing.
Do you want to guess who the Law Firm is that is representing Jefferson and was involved in the whole deal??
Wilmer Cutler Pickering
SBD
SBD,
Very good point. Democrats would not do this on principle (they do nothing on principle). Either money is coming or money is at risk for them to be this far out on this limb.
Wonder who the puppet master is?
AJStrata
Inquiry Into NSA Leak Widens
The New York Times actually reports on an investigation regarding its own reporters.
NSA program (de)liberation?
Dhimmi Carter Hypocrit On Spying
Hat tip: Rhymes With Right
Via Washington Times
Former President Jimmy Carter, who publicly rebuked President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program this week during the funeral of Coretta Scott King and at a campaign event, used similar sur…
SBD,
Nice catch! Thanks, very interesting info.
Merry
Jimmah Carter, Hypocrite Extraordinaire!
According to the Washington Times, Jimmah Carter allowed “warrantless” electronic surveillance on two men convicted for espionage on behalf of Vietnam in 1977.
The men, Truong Dinh Hung and Ronald Louis Humphrey, challenged their espionag…
[…] The Strata-Sphere […]
Links and Minifeatures 02 13 Monday
Carnivals:
RINO Sightings. Recommended: Strata Sphere
Do you think this problem grew out of our instinctively American founders’ need to keep the military separate and that as time went on, the walls became needlessly high, just out of characterological inclination? We don’t mind our generals running things once out of uniform (Washington, Grant, Eisenhower) but we sure are allergic to helping DoD in any robust fashion…
Or am I on the wrong track here?