For all the Teabaggers out there who are now worried about the US government taking away Constitutional rights, you're about 8 years late, and should have been waving your Nazi and Fascist signs on Pennsylvania Avenue when GWB was in office. The Washington Post has now broken the story that indeed the FBI issued fake terrorist warnings and strong armed telephone companies to obtain personal records in direct violation of the law. They later covered their tracks by getting permissions after the fact. These violations go all the way back to 2002, when many were raising concerns about possible illegality of the FBI's actions. Turns out that those ringing the alarm bells were correct.
The Inspector General is expected to issue a report detailing the violations of the law committed by FBI operatives and subsequently covered up. FBI general counsel, Valerie Caproni, called the illegal actions "a self inflicted wound". The Post is reporting that there were around 2,000 violations between 2002 and 2006, about 50% of total records obtained. Translation: The FBI improperly snooped into personal phone records half the time. Yes, I said half the time. In 2007, the FBI reluctantly admitted around 22 "improper" requests, but senior officials knew that violations were much more blatant than previously admitted.
GWB apologists will surely say that the violations were okey dokey since they were "listening in on terrorists," and, after all, a Republican was in the White House. Everyone knows that the rules are different when a Republican is President, since they are more "trustworthy" than Democrats. Maybe not, since the terrorist list also included 3 reporters from the Washington Post and New York Times since their phone records were also obtained. The FBI has already privately apologized to editors of the papers for those breaches.
This latest report is yet another piece of the story in this drip, drip, drip of reports confirming the worst fears of those concerned about privacy and individual civil liberties as well as the outright lawlessness of the Bush administration. Where's the outrage from the Tea Party about those violations?
You can never find a Teabagger when you really need one.
The Inspector General is expected to issue a report detailing the violations of the law committed by FBI operatives and subsequently covered up. FBI general counsel, Valerie Caproni, called the illegal actions "a self inflicted wound". The Post is reporting that there were around 2,000 violations between 2002 and 2006, about 50% of total records obtained. Translation: The FBI improperly snooped into personal phone records half the time. Yes, I said half the time. In 2007, the FBI reluctantly admitted around 22 "improper" requests, but senior officials knew that violations were much more blatant than previously admitted.
GWB apologists will surely say that the violations were okey dokey since they were "listening in on terrorists," and, after all, a Republican was in the White House. Everyone knows that the rules are different when a Republican is President, since they are more "trustworthy" than Democrats. Maybe not, since the terrorist list also included 3 reporters from the Washington Post and New York Times since their phone records were also obtained. The FBI has already privately apologized to editors of the papers for those breaches.
This latest report is yet another piece of the story in this drip, drip, drip of reports confirming the worst fears of those concerned about privacy and individual civil liberties as well as the outright lawlessness of the Bush administration. Where's the outrage from the Tea Party about those violations?
You can never find a Teabagger when you really need one.
"As long as the people are ones of ours..." Pathetic!
Artemus,
I would have disagreed with you 6 months ago. Now, I'm inclined to think that people really aren't smart to recognize the truth when it's not slapping them on the head. I say the hell with the political future...take those b*stards down!
"Republicans are more trustworthy...."
ROFL.
Which side was in charge when the biggest crooks in government (at least the ones that got caught) were in charge - ie, Watergate?
Oh yeah.
REPUBLICANS.
I think Richard Nixon was the first First Thug, who appointed a lot of thugger friends to be in charge (*cough Dick Cheney cough*) and we're still reeling from the after affects of those thugs.
Maybe if Ford had made Nixon face the music, the rest of the GOP thugs would have had second thoughts about their activities.
But noooo.....Bush's whackjob buddies ran amok for eight years.
(Can we finally send Cheney back to his undisclosed location? He seems to keep his mouth shut while there!)
"Where's the outrage from the Tea Party about those violations?"
Bob, your missing the point. GWB was not born in Kenya, He was not trying to get your gun, or kill grandma, or indoctrinate your kids, or confiscate your 401K. He was just trying to protect us from Islamic Nutjobs. That makes every thing "Okey Dokey".
Besides if you were not doing anything wrong what do you have to worry about?
Lynn Cheney, no doubt speaking for her husband and the Bush / Cheney administration, called it "the terrorist surveillance program". Of course they thought they were justified. Bush is famously reported to have said of our constitution, "it's just a piece of paper".
I still think our nation would have been far better off had Barack Obama been less interested in bipartisanship and healing and instead focused on sending some Bush administration officials - maybe Bush and Cheney themselves - to federal prison.