Letters to the Editor
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Don't blame FISA
Damning evidence highlights FBI bungles
By Jerry Markon and Timothy Dwyer in Washington
March 22, 2006
AN FBI agent who interrogated Zacarias Moussaoui before September 11, 2001, warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was a terrorist and spelled out his suspicions that the al-Qaeda operative was plotting to hijack an aircraft.
Harry Samit told jurors at Moussaoui's sentencing hearing on Monday that his efforts to secure a warrant to search Moussaoui's belongings were frustrated at every turn by FBI officials he accused of "criminal negligence"...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/damning-evidence-highlights-fbi-bungles/2006/03/21/1142703358754.html
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@ PDA re: HBIC & sharter28%
Paul, HBIC is probably some clever disparaging acronym. You know, sort of like sharter28% means
RWA lying bit of human excrement that isn't worth addressing.
That type of thing.
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Head Bitch in Chief
nt
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Demo-publicans
"For those who believe it is sinful ever to do anything to undermine or weaken any political official who has a "D" after his or her name, my response to that is here. ..." (GG)
Amen bother! As long as progressives believe that Democratic Party == progress; there will be no progress.
motto of a good blog: "The American Left may not be much, but it won't be anything at all until it ditches the Democrats."
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org/
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crooks circus
Surely the denizens and money wizards of K Street have not been idle these past weeks regarding immunity shields being put in place for inbred WashingtonDC/corporate lawbreaking.
If the first several million $$ fail to secure what is desired then surely more millions will bring what is desired about.
DC Democrats surely are not going to flip off K Street if the money is coming in and more is promised to be forthcoming if telecom immunity shields are put in place by Congress.
Not having ever been very interested in the politics and policies of the GOP they can crumble or stumble all they want and when they give us G.W.Bush and his echo John McCain it is plain to see and know they are hopeless.
As for Democratic Party I would suggest current "DC Democratic Party Leadership" tender full resignations if Obama comes to the WH in Jan. 2009. Nancy,Harry,Steny,Rahm and all the rest.
Resign. After what was given them in November 2006 they have demonstrated repeatedly shortfalls of integrity and small or no profiles in political courage.
It is well past time for this lackluster performance to be rewarded with consequences earned. They all should resign.
As for Joey Lieberman and the Running Dog Democrats if they want to be GOPers then that is where they belong. For as many of these fakes as there are in Democratic Party these days it is time for them to be purged. GG having described and explained here again why.
Oh...as for K Street...I suggest rules for it that when they bring money into play that for each dollar they put into lobby process another dollar be put into charity and social uplift activity. Just to balance K Street appetites and outcomes.
Whatever happened to idea that breaking law brings on real consequences?
More and more one may conclude a big,nasty looking prison(of the sort that we Americans have built so many of) should be constructed right in WashingtonDC somewhere near Capitol and the WH. After this prison is in place then set up American national forum(vote in/out simple rule)for DC law breakers and scofflaws. On getting voted "in" one is given 24 hours to get ready for three month prison term. In three months you then stand for another vote. If voted "in" again DOJ must take solid action to bring charges and prosecute fully. On getting voted "out" you are given probation for six months to stay clear of further in/out votes. If more or new evidence shows up then back for another vote you go.
Of course such a system would not have been pretty for recent Pentagon propaganda/media scandal or this telecom lawbreak/coverup ploy.
All such players being subject to break law/you will suffer results.
Now would this be refreshing or what?Breaking laws or trying to game system for personal gain should have consequences.
Otherwise USA is little better than third world money politics infected free for all crooks circus.
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Democrats Okay Funds for Covert Ops
http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew05022008.html
Secret Bush "Finding" Widens War on Iran
"Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope."
Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups.
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All this costs money, which in turn must be authorized by Congress, or at least a by few witting members of the intelligence committees. That has not proved a problem. An initial outlay of $300 million to finance implementation of the finding has been swiftly approved with bipartisan support, apparently regardless of the unpopularity of the current war and the perilous condition of the U.S. economy."
[...]
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The rest is chilling. Bipartisan support to murder an innocent country. To kill innocent women and children.
Will we salt the earth when we are done?
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Bungling, Shooter
By retarded Republican partisan hack bumblers like you.
The Banality of Truth
The government finally admits pre-9/11 bumbling
Jeff Taylor | September 21, 2007
On Tuesday Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told the House Judiciary Committee things that, had a government official said them in the days, weeks, or months following 9/11, would have sparked public outrage—and may have significantly blunted the push for greater police and surveillance powers like the PATRIOT Act.
McConnell told lawmakers that "9/11 should have and could have been prevented."
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"For whatever reason, we didn't connect the dots," McConnell said, not quite coming clean on the reasons.
Nevertheless, this position moved McConnell beyond previous remarks in June in which he held that "in his view" the terror attack was preventable, but that law adopted for a Cold War world prevented swift action to stop terrorists.
What happened to change the shading? For one, a widely overlooked story first published on September 10 by McClatchy Newspapers Washington reporter Greg Gordon happened.
In his dispatch, obviously timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the attacks, Gordon returns to the Moussaoui case. As the case unfolded in the spring of 2006 it became increasingly clear that top FBI officials likely missed an opportunity to stop the attack in late August 2001.
While the dogged investigation of Moussaoui by Minneapolis FBI agent Harry Samit and Samit's repeated attempts to get a warrant from FBI HQ in Washington to search Moussaoui's laptop and belongings has been well documented, Gordon's reporting uncovers new information that the FBI absolutely had information in its hands to roll up a large chunk of al Qaida's financing network in the days before 9/11 and stop the hijackings.
Moussaoui had long been regarding by his fellow jihadis as something of a loose cannon and security risk. Turns out they were right. Moussaoui's notebooks included Western Union routing numbers, routing numbers used by al Qaida operative Ramzi Binalshibh to send $14,000 to Moussaoui in August 2001.
But authorities never looked at those notebooks. Instead, FBI brass repeatedly blunted Agent Samit's attempts to search them, citing lack of information that Moussaoui was a known terrorist or foreign agent.
Gordon writes:
Instead, Moussaoui's tattered, blue spiral notebook sat in a sealed bag at an immigration office—unopened until after four hijacked jets slammed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside, killing 2,972 people...
http://www.reason.com/news/show/122604.html
Blaming FISA is just incompetent bunglers trying to shift the blame from themselves. It happened on your watch and you incompetents let it happen.