Category: Intelligence
Reid Files For Another Surveillance Law Extension
Reid wants the extension to have the time to properly craft a bill, and Bush is saying that he does not want an extension, because he does not want a bill to protect basic American rights.
Additionally, it looks a rush to a bill would have the effect of making it difficult to impossible for Bush’s illegal electronic surveillance, which predates 911.
The Whitehouse is Now Claiming that Waterboarding is Legal, and Mukasey Says Whatever a Political Hack in the DoJ Declares is Legal Too
Well, we now have the White House assurting that waterboarding is legal, simply because they say so, and you have our So-Called Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, saying that if the political hacks appointed by Bush and His Evil Minions™ in the Justice department said that it was OK, then there is no crime, so he will not investigate warrantless wiretapping or torture.
Seriously, these folks really hate most basic founding principal of the Republic, a nation of laws, and not men.
Well On Our Way to the Police State
What is a police state?
I would argue that it is a country in which all rights are sublimated to increasing the capabilities of the state security apparatus to conduct any business that it desires without impediment.
No bothersome warrants, no consideration of the rights of the accused, torture, no privacy, etc.
Cases in point:
- FBI intends to assemble a massive database of physical characteristics of people, including retinal and iris scans, palm prints, and tattoos.
- Of course my initial response to the idea of a database of tattoos was, “Why bother. Just tattoo numbers on people’s wrists. It worked so well the last time out.”
- And then we have some crypto-fascist at DHS who wants to require Real ID cards to track people’s cold medication purchases. I understand that pseudoephedrin can make meth, but this is insane.
- Of course, in a police state, you have to have massive prisons stuffed to the gills with people, so AG Mukasey wants congress to act because people who got disproportionate sentences under the racist crack laws might will get out earlier under the new sentencing guidelines.
- Dude, that was the whole idea of changing the guidelines. The disproportionate sentencing was deliberately racist, and demonstrably so, and this is why they want it changed. Rockefeller style drug laws have proved a failure. All it’s left the US with is the greatest proportioned of imprisoned in the world.
- Finally, we are requiring permission for USA citizens to return to the US.
Under new regulations and procedures announced to take effect over the next month, citizens of the USA will, for the first time, be required to obtain USA government permission in order to return home to their own country from abroad — from anywhere else in the world, by air or sea or land.
On no other aspect of the right to travel is international law more clear than on the right of return to the country of one’s own citizenship: “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” The new regulations are a flagrant violation of the obligations of the USA as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights treaties, as well as a violation of the Constitutional duty of the USA government to treat such treaties as the highest law of the land.
I want my country back.
The CIA Knew That There Were No WMDs in Iraq
Slam dunk my ass!!!!
Tenet goes to the Hague too.
Republicans Threaten Fiscal Stimulus and National Security Over Telco Immunity
First, George W. Bush is threatening a veto unless he gets telco immunity, and the senate Republicans are refusing to allow FISA to move forward until there is agreement on a stimulus package.
Why do Republicans hate America?
Bush Authorized Torture, and the AG Signed off On It
Well, we now know that the CIA tortured at least three suspects with waterboarding.
I looked around at some other articles, and found this on CNN:
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, who also testified at the hearing, said waterboarding remains a technique in the CIA’s arsenal, according to The Associated Press. He said it would require the president’s consent and legal approval from the attorney general, the AP reported.
I think that he just pretty much admitted that George W. Bush personally authorized torture, and that the AG signed off on it.
The Hague, bitches.
Senate FISA Vote Update
Well, according to FDL, read the live blogging there, I cannot do justice to it, nothing is going to come out of the Senate. The ‘Phants are still blocking it.
Of interest, however, is that both Arlen Specter (R-PA) and
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) will be voting with the Democrats.
Specter, of course, makes noises, and toes the line, and Rockefeller has been the champion of retroactive telco immunity.
It’s odd.
I do not know what is going on, but this is very, very odd.
FWIW, Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) voted with the Republicans to end debate and amendments on the bill.
FWIW, Landrieu is up next year in LA, but she will lose, as the ethnic cleansing of New Orleans has ensured that.
No money to the DSCC. Give directly to races, because otherwise, it will go to folks like Pryor, Lincoln, Nelson, and Landrieu.
It’s wasted money.
My Letters to My Senators on Telco Immunity
I had to send two very different letters, because Ben Cardin voted against retroactive Telco immunity, and Barbara Mikulski voted for it.
To the Honorable Barbara Mikulski:
I have no idea why you were one of the 12 Democratic Senators to vote for Telecommunications Company immunity in the recent vote on the FISA update.
However, I will tell you as a lifelong Democrat, I can find no reason for you to do so.
Given the electoral dynamics of Maryland, you are at no risk, and in any case, you are not up for election this year.
The activity that you voted to indemnify PRE-DATED THE 911 ATTACKS, and the demands of the Bush administration, and were CLEARLY illegal.
Indemnification is an attempt to cover up the clearly illegal actions of the Bush administration and the NSA to illegally spy on Americans.
Absent a convincing justification for this vote, I cannot support you, or vote for you in the future.
This is not an issue of national security. FISA as it exists already includes the necessary mechanisms to make our country secure, notwithstanding DNI Michael McConnell’s lies on this matter.
This is not a matter for politics, or for listening to lobbyists employed by the telecommunications industry.
These actions were clearly illegal, which is why Qwest refused this access, and given the intensity of the desire of the Bush administration on this issue, I can only conclude that the purpose of this immunity is to cover up systematic surveillance of political opponents.
To the Honorable Benjamin Cardin:
I appreciate your vote on to remove telecommunications immunity from the FISA update.
This is a matter beyond politics, and it strikes at core of our constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches.
Much of the illegal activity in question was taken months before the attacks on 9-11, and it was unequivocally illegal.
The desire for immunity on the part of the Bush administration is clearly driven by a desire to cover up their role in illegally spying on American citizens, which very likely involved spying political opponents.
Personally, I would consider any vote to create retroactive immunity to be unacceptable, and dangerous to our republic.
You can find a list of the Democratic Senators who betrayed their oaths of office here.
I’m Confused on the FISA Progress
First, Harriy Reid attempts to exhibit some intestinal fortitude, and demands real filibusters, and then 12 Democrats (Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Tom Carper (D-DE), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Ken Salazar (D-CO)) voted with the Republicans to keep Telco immunity.
I have to figure that this is Reid playing both ends against the middle. He says, “Real Filibuster”, and defuses efforts to remove him as leader, but then twists arms to get Dem Senators to vote to support bush’s position.
It still appears, however, that George W. Bush won’t get what he wants from the house easily, so he hasreleased White House wiretap docs to the house.
NOTE: When reading this article, there is a significant factual error, “The companies were helping the administration carry out the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program, a still classified effort that intercepted communications on U.S. soil without oversight from the FISA court from Sept. 11, 2001 to January 17, 2007.”
This is not true.
This program was initiated in February, 2001, predating the attacks by 7 months.
FISA Bill in Limbo
Harry Reidwants a one mongh extension to the disgraceful “Protect America Act”, so that they can have time to work on the bill.
Once again, the Republicans are going with an all or nothing approch, with Kit Bond and Mitch McConnell blocking the extension in an attempt to give Bush and His Evil Minions™ everything that they want.
Um….Guys, this is a clue….In 11½ months Hillary and Her Evil Minions™, or Barack and His Evil Minions™ may have the reins of the state security apparatus, and one of the things that I like about her is that, unlike Bill, she appears to have an inclination for vengeance.
You don’t want to go there.
FWIW, the case for the changes provided by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has proven to be completely fraudulent.
Who Bombed the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center (AMIA,) In 1994
It certainly does paint the picture of an incompetently run investigation, with conclusions being driven by political believs, rather than the facts, which is a characteristic of Bush and His Evil Minions™.
That being said, that the finger being pointed at Iran significantly began with the Clinton administration, and the inclination to blame Iran for anything bad happening in the world dates to the late 1970s, so there is a bureaucratic imperative at work here in both the US intelligence services, and the State Department.
Gareth Porter’s article is interesting, but it raises more questions than it answers.
Tapes destroyed over CIA’s objections my ass!
It appears that Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)is trying to hang Jose Rodriguez out to dry.
I guess you gotta have a scapegoat, and true to form, just as in the military prosecutions regarding Abu Ghraib, the goal is to find the lowest possible level person possible to assign blame.
The pertinent quote is from an anonymous Senate staffer
“If you look at the documents, you get very close to a direct order (not to destroy the tapes) without it being, ‘Jose, you’re not going to do this,'” the official said.
Sounds to me like everyone knew what was going on. Higher ups wanted plausible deniability, so they gave “strong advice” without giving an “order”, so they could have it both ways.
Hoekstra said Rodriguez must testify to the committee to determine on whose authority the tapes were destroyed, and he said the panel will consult with the Justice Department on whether granting Rodriguez immunity would undermine its own investigation.
“If there appears to be any criminal activity taking place, the last thing we would want to do is get in the way of a successful prosecution,” Hoekstra said.
Translation: let’s bury this until after the election.
Ex-MI5 Head: High Tech ID Cards Provide No Security
This really comes as no surprise. Dame Stella Rimington’s description of the idea of high tech ID cards as “useless”.
Old article, but still germane. I came across it when someone referred me to an article in Bruce Schneier’s blog post on the subject.
New CIA Tape Coverup
The Washington Post has a farily good rundown on the CIA tape destruction.
I think that it’s increasingly evident that this was intended to avoid congressional and criminal scrutiny.
I think that it’s also very likely that some tapes were missed, and they will find their way into investigators hands, where there may be criminal issues.
I understand that the torturers were being “good Germans”, but that is no defense.
I further understand that there will be no small number of people who will demagogue this issue for political gain, making any prosecution near-impossible.
This is why I support the US signing onto the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
Our politics, and judiciary, have been so poisoned that we are unable to pursue justice in such cases.
FWIW, prosecuting torture is not about our victims, though doubtless some were innocents tortured by mistake, but about who we are.
Big Brother
Lovely, Mike McConnel, the man who says that waterboarding is torture for him, but not for other folks, because he has a deviated septum, is low looking for the power to, “read all the information crossing the Internet in the United States in order to protect it from abuse”.
Sir, I am more concerned about your abuse of this nation than I am of any sick man with Marfan syndrome hiding in the tribal regions of Pakistan.
Bush Does Not Care About the Facts
Yes, Bush has has disavowed the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that said that Iran has terminated it’s nuclear weapons program, and that they respond to international pressure.
The ability to accept reality, and then change one’s plans to accomodate it, is what separates the sane from the insane.
Torture for Thee but Not For Me
This is just so Orwellian. U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell is saying that if waterboarding were used against him, it would be torture, but refuses to say if this applies to other people.
The level of corruption, immorality, and cowardice of Bush and His Evil Minions™ simply buggers the mind.
“If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can’t imagine how painful!” McConnell said in the article. “Whether it’s torture by anybody else’s definition, for me it would be torture.”
But he rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice.
I want my country back.
Finally, Some Sanity on Security Classifications
The Public Interest Declassification Board is calling for a streamlining of the declassification process.
Speaking as someone who has held a secret clearance*, the biggest problem is complacency, and this is driven by over-classification.
When everything you touch, even things that are ordinary and are actually publicly known, is classified, are classified, nothing is classified. It becomes background noise.
*Just in case you are wondering if the fact that a complete and total pratt like me got a secret clearance means that we are all doomed, the answer is yes.
Philip Agee Dead
He’s a real mixed bag. He blew the whistle on some egregious CIA abuses, but he also outed a lot of agents and caused long term damage to the US intelligence apparatus.