The Justifying Monkeys
The current regime must be getting nervous: the White House has unleashed the attack dogs, most recently Vice-Emperor in Chief, Dick "Darth" Cheney, in an attempt to combat the general feeling in the country that eavesdropping on people in the US without a warrant is a crime. The Washington Post article in today's edition describes Cheney's speech in front of a friendly audience at the Heritage Foundation.
Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the Bush administration had had the power to secretly monitor conversations involving two of the hijackers without court orders.
As part of an effort to sell Americans on the administration's recently disclosed program to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant, Cheney told a small group of conservatives at the Heritage Foundation that instead of being able to "pick up" on the terrorist plot "we didn't know they were here plotting until it was too late."
But Cheney did not mention that the government had compiled significant information on the two suspects before the attacks and that bureaucratic problems -- not a lack of information -- were primary reasons for the security breakdown, according to congressional investigators and the Sept. 11 commission. Moreover, the administration had the power to eavesdrop on their calls and e-mails, as long as it sought permission from a secret court that oversees clandestine surveillance in the United States.
...Cheney said if the administration had the power "before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon."
Even without the warrantless domestic spying program, however, the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies had important clues about the Sept. 11 plot and the hijackers before the attacks, according to media reports and findings by Congress and the commission. [Emphasis added]
Of course, the refusal to pay attention to all of the warnings about Osama bin Laden that the Clinton Administration offered during the transition to the new regime was not mentioned by Cheney. Nor was the failure of the Emperor in Chief to pay attention to a PDB by the CIA in August of 2001 which warned that bin Laden's group was intending an imminent attack mentioned.
The Vice-Emperor also failed to explain how getting a warrant from the mostly compliant secret court would have impeded any real investigation, especially since the warrant could have been sought up to 72 hours after the surveillance had commenced. If that was such an onerous drag on any such investigation, why did Emperor assure Americans before the last election that all such electronic surveillance was being done properly, with a warrant? If the Emperor's powers are as broad as Mr. Cheney seems to think, why is the Emperor so hot on getting the Patriot Act passed in toto?
Nice try, Darth, but it just doesn't wash.
Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the Bush administration had had the power to secretly monitor conversations involving two of the hijackers without court orders.
As part of an effort to sell Americans on the administration's recently disclosed program to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant, Cheney told a small group of conservatives at the Heritage Foundation that instead of being able to "pick up" on the terrorist plot "we didn't know they were here plotting until it was too late."
But Cheney did not mention that the government had compiled significant information on the two suspects before the attacks and that bureaucratic problems -- not a lack of information -- were primary reasons for the security breakdown, according to congressional investigators and the Sept. 11 commission. Moreover, the administration had the power to eavesdrop on their calls and e-mails, as long as it sought permission from a secret court that oversees clandestine surveillance in the United States.
...Cheney said if the administration had the power "before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon."
Even without the warrantless domestic spying program, however, the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies had important clues about the Sept. 11 plot and the hijackers before the attacks, according to media reports and findings by Congress and the commission. [Emphasis added]
Of course, the refusal to pay attention to all of the warnings about Osama bin Laden that the Clinton Administration offered during the transition to the new regime was not mentioned by Cheney. Nor was the failure of the Emperor in Chief to pay attention to a PDB by the CIA in August of 2001 which warned that bin Laden's group was intending an imminent attack mentioned.
The Vice-Emperor also failed to explain how getting a warrant from the mostly compliant secret court would have impeded any real investigation, especially since the warrant could have been sought up to 72 hours after the surveillance had commenced. If that was such an onerous drag on any such investigation, why did Emperor assure Americans before the last election that all such electronic surveillance was being done properly, with a warrant? If the Emperor's powers are as broad as Mr. Cheney seems to think, why is the Emperor so hot on getting the Patriot Act passed in toto?
Nice try, Darth, but it just doesn't wash.
posted by Diane at 4:30 AM
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