Rep. Harman: White House Never Sought Approval For ‘Other Intelligence Activities’
Rep. Harman: White House Never Sought Approval For ‘Other Intelligence Activities’
In his testimony yesterday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed that when James Comey raised objections to the administration’s spying program, he was referring to “other intelligence activities,” not the warrantless wiretapping program that Bush has confirmed.
Yesterday, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), who was ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, said he was never told of “other intelligence activities.” “As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one” intelligence program, Rockefeller said.
Today, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), a former member of the so-called “Gang of Eight” who was briefed by the White House on the program, announced she too was unaware of other intelligence activities:
Two Members of Congress who were part of the Gang of Eight said if Gonzales approached Ashcroft about something that had been part of their discussions, it could only have been the terrorist surveillance program, whose existence the president confirmed in December.
“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) said of Gonzales’ testimony. She said the TSP was “the only program we were ever briefed about.”
Harman was ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee at the time, and confirmed that she attended the March 10 meeting referenced by Gonzales.
Similarly, Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said there was only one program that the Gang of Eight was briefed on, and it was the program the president already has confirmed. Plus, both Harman and Rockefeller said the Congressional briefings were limited in scope.
“We were briefed on the operational details — period — not the legal underpinnings,” Harman said.
Harman and Rockefeller claim that the only program they were told about was the NSA domestic surveillance program. But yet, in his testimony before Congress yesterday, Gonzales claimed that when he rushed to John Ashcroft’s bedside in 2004, he was seeking authorization for a separate intelligence activity — a program for which Gonzales claims he received “consensus” approval from the bi-partisan “Gang of Eight” on the same day he visited Ashcroft.
Harman and Rockefeller are reporting that they never consented to “other intelligence activities.” Responding to a question about whether he believed Gonzales perjured himself Tuesday, Rockefeller responded, “Based upon what I know about it, I’d have to say yes.”
UPDATE: Harman also spoke to the New York Times about the meeting:
“The program had different parts, but there was only one program,” Ms. Harman said, adding that Mr. Gonzales was “selectively declassifying information to defend his own conduct,” which she called improper.
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Seems to me he committed a crime one way or another. Time to load some of that ‘dry” powder and fire at will.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:09 amGonzo can’t escape this one. Unless, of course, congress remains spineless.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:11 ammake Gonzo testify every damn day.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:12 amCongress had their spines with them yesterday.
He was spewing out “I don’t recalls” left and right.
Of course, we didn’t see much of it on the news because Lindsey Lohan has a drug problem and the world has to stop for that one.
Jack Jett
July 25th, 2007 at 10:14 amhttp://www.jackejett.com
he lied… arrest his ass…
on second thought… wait a little longer…
ilike ace’s idea…
imagine what we’ll find out… or get confirmed…
July 25th, 2007 at 10:15 am…
I’m in DC and can report the deafening whushing sound of a giant integrity vacuum coming from the Department of Justice.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:17 amAll roads lead through Addington to Cheney - who in turn STILL works for George HW Bush, Shrub’s father. We’re still dealing with the aftermath of Iran/Contra - because we didn’t imprison the guilty parties, and allowed them to consolidate power while destroying evidence:
http://www.newyorker.com/ online/ content/ articles/ 060703on_onlineonly01
JANE MAYER: Addington has been the single most influential legal thinker, according to other Administration lawyers, in shaping the Bush Administration’s legal response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He has left almost no paper trail, and has avoided all public scrutiny—as far as I know, he’s granted no interviews to reporters, and he even avoids having his photo taken by the press. It seemed important to me to hold the creator of these policies accountable, so that the public could understand better who is behind them and how he thinks.
How did David Addington get to know Vice-President Cheney, and how long have they worked together?
They met on Capitol Hill in the mid-eighties, when Cheney was a Republican congressman from Wyoming and Addington was a young staff lawyer working for the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees. So they have worked together for about two decades. Their partnership was cemented when they worked together on the Minority Report on the Iran-Contra affair. Both Addington and Cheney took the idiosyncratic position that it was Congress, not President Reagan, that was in the wrong. This view reflected the opinion, held by both men, that the executive branch should run foreign policy, to a great extent unimpeded by Congress. It’s a recurring theme—pushing the limits of executive power and sidestepping Congress—in their partnership. One example is their position that the President, as Commander-in-Chief in times of war, had the inherent authority to ignore the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Congress passed in an effort to make sure that Presidents don’t violate citizens’ right to privacy by spying on them without warrants.
After meeting and working together in Congress, Cheney and Addington continued their partnership at the Pentagon, where, during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, Cheney was Secretary of Defense and Addington was his special assistant and, later, general counsel. There, Addington was known as a powerhouse, a stickler who controlled access to Cheney and marked up others’ memos in red felt-tipped pen, returning the memos for rewrites that would make them sharper—and more protective of executive power.
Some constitutional scholars have questioned whether Addington, in his eagerness to expand the powers of the Presidency, which he and Cheney see as having been unduly diminished since Watergate, gives enough weight to the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. Some have suggested that he has aggrandized the powers of the President in such a way that the executive branch ignores the system of checks and balances set up by the Founding Fathers, so that its actions are unchecked and unaccountable. Bruce Fein, a Republican legal activist, told me that he regards Addington as an adequate lawyer but an inadequate student of American history, because he believes that Addington has failed to understand that the Founders designed the U.S. government specifically to insure that the executive would not have unlimited power. Fein suggests that the Founders, unlike Addington, understood the perils of concentrated power. They had seen in George III, among others, what tyranny meant.
What is the New Paradigm?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:19 amLet’s find out a lot more about the “other” programs…
July 25th, 2007 at 10:20 amHe didn’t he had enough rope to hang himself yet. One of the sad things about liars is that they can’t remember what lie was said to cover up what other lie so after awhile…………
How can a president have his faith in this guy? A more likely scenario is that Gonzo knows too much to be let go.
He’ll have to be removed. Hopefully the republicans who see what damage this administration has done to their party will break ranks and fight for this country and it’s future.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:20 amhttp://www.crooksandliars.com/ 2007/ 07/ 25/ gonzales-actionable-mendacity/ #comments
Gonzo finished off his tenure and that of the Bush Administration by his testimony yesterday. He’s over - done - cooked. Either way he’s lying his ass off and now everyone knows it. In fact, now he’s opened an even larger can of worms for this administration.
Is that what this has distilled down to? In attempting to deflect an immediate charge of perjury and ouster from office, he brings into focus more “criminal activities” that, evidently, no one in congress was aware of….so…either way, Gonzocchio is “hoist on his own pitard” and, this time (finally) he’s indicted George Bush along with himself.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:21 amhellinabucket: This guy (Gonzo) has gotten Chimpy out of so many illegal scrapes over the years that the Chimp “owes him”, that’s why it appears that he has faith. It’s called blackmail, pure and simple.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:22 amThis is why the White House needs to provide the documents and e-mails requested by Congressional committees. Gonzales says, when he visited Ashcroft in the hospital, he had a copy of a reauthorization. For what? What became of the copy? Gonzales says the White House possesses it.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:23 amWhat does all of this mean? We have a president who has lied repeatedly to us, a Veep who has done so as well (lied us into an illegal occupation), has acknowledged participating in an illegal spying program on american citizens, and now a DOJ head who has admitted to lying to Congress. Hell - out with all of them! Why is Congress dragging their feet. They deserved to be out of office in January! It’s only getting worse as the muck they’re stuck in is being outed daily.
Enough of the intentional damage to the GOP now, Dems! Let’s get on with the show!
July 25th, 2007 at 10:24 amHi Ace!
July 25th, 2007 at 10:25 amGood to see you today! As always, great information!
Whatever happened to all of the RNC missing emails? That’s illegal, too.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:25 amAs the HJC prepares for contempt charges, have you noticed that the news shows are full of terrorist threat stories at an airport near you. Not to make to much fun of the coincidence of this, the underlying facts are a couple of blocks of cheese.
Anyway, be prepared for 24/7 Terrorism and You stories all day in order to hide the Nixon, oops, Bush criminal activity.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:25 amAce: What is your take on Gonzo? Going, going, gone??
July 25th, 2007 at 10:26 amGonzo knows where the bodies are buried. He is the only buffer for chimpy and shooter. Without Gonzo, they go down.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:26 amScrewBush: That’s why I no longer listen to the Bushwiping media whores on the MSM.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:26 amI’m not holding my breath. I want to see what congress actually DOES about this. Hopefully, they won’t just write a letter.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:27 amWe all know that the behind-the-scenes “puppet master” is Bush 41. He’s had his sticky fingers in everything from the JFK coverup to 911. Now we get the facts on his father, Prescott Bush, and his father in law, Herbert Walker. Did you know that the Bush family was nothing more than pedestrian outsiders who used people to gain power? Prescott Bush was a “tire salesman”….can you believe that? In the case of Dumbya, the grandson, he couldn’t sell a glass of water to a lost nomad in the desert! Guess he didn’t inherit the “salesman gene”.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:29 amChris L: Call the office of John Conyers and demand that they take action. (202) 225-5126
July 25th, 2007 at 10:30 amwonder if it was also Gonzo who expunged Laura’s vehicular homicide from the records?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:30 amOne can only imagine the “dirt” that Gonzo has on the Shrub. We know the dirt that he has amassed in 6 years but just imagine decades of dirt?? It boggles the mind.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:31 amAlberto, lead law enforcement in the United States lies at will.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:35 amIsn’t there a process to try this man? Or is the Law of the United States meaningless?
If law enforcement does not abide by the rule of law, just why should anyone else? Is Anarchy upon us?
It’s high time to utilize some “enhanced interrogation techniques”. According to Gonzo himself, that would be just fine.
Live by the waterboard, die by the waterboard.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:36 amThere is no “other program”.
I’m hearing lots of blogs and news sites saying that, in his testimony yesterday, Gonzales may have revealed the existence of another secret program. He kept saying that the DSP the President approved was not the same program that he and Card went to Ashcroft about. Many are taking this to mean that he’s referring to a another secret program.
I don’t agree, I think he’s parsing carefully, saying that the program he and Card brought to Ashcroft’s bedside, wasn’t the plan Bush eventually had to approve, because the final plan was a changed version, since Ashcroft and Comey shot down the earlier version.
He’ll use that phony discrepancy to wiggle out when they haul him back to the committee, and/or charge him with contempt.
Just another day in a country led but lying sleazeballs.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:36 amRep. Harman is basically a Bush butt kisser most of the time, so she should resign and be replaced by a real Democrat.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:36 amCNN doesn’t have the time to cover this story. It’s more important that we realize that alligator wrasslin’ is a dying art down in Florida. That and they found some cheese back in September. Oh, and that poor Lohan girl. Bless her heart.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:39 am27. There is no “other programâ€.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:39 am* * *
I agree with Diogenes. If Gonzo were a night-crawler, he’d be so wiggly you’d never get him on the hook.
So when do we get to hear from the Republican members of the Gang of Eight?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:40 amposts are being deleted and blocked again.
your (shadow) government at work.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:41 amNext time he shows his lying face in the Senate have the Sargent at Arms arrest him.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:41 amWhat were the 4 republican members of the gang of 8 told?
Where is their outrage to the Dept of Justice and the country being torn apart? At what point does it go beyond party and the survival of the country at large?
July 25th, 2007 at 10:42 amWas it Cheney who ordered Chertoff to kill the Ptech Investigation??? And Remember “Operation Greenquest?†That investigation was killed too!
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/ 2005/ 01/ michael-chertoff-and-sabotage-of-ptech.html
A tipster was Indira Singh, who has said she recognizes the separate command and control communications system Mike Ruppert describes Dick Cheney to have been running on September 11th as having “the exact same functionality I was looking for (Ptech).”
The Ptech case turned into an ugly dispute last year when company whistleblowers told Greenquest agents about their own suspicions about the firm’s owners. Sources close to the case say those same whistleblowers had first approached FBI agents, but the bureau apparently did little or nothing in response. With backing from the National Security Council, Greenquest agents then mounted a full-scale investigation that culminated in a raid on the company’s office last December. After getting wind of the Greenquest probe, the FBI stepped in and unsuccessfully tried to take control of the case.
Whatever the truth, there is no dispute that the case has so far produced no charges and indictments against Al-Qadi or anyone else connected with Ptech.
What role did Dick Cheney play in killing the investigation into Al-Qadi?
Now, how does Chertoff figure in the Ptech story? It goes back to the turf war of two years ago over Operation Greenquest, “the high-profile federal task force set up to target the financiers of Al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups.”
*
July 25th, 2007 at 10:43 amClearly ptech represent some nexus between the government and terrorism that must not be revealed, and Chertoff is just the man to cover it up.
#
CNN doesn’t have the time to cover this story. It’s more important that we realize that alligator wrasslin’ is a dying art down in Florida. That and they found some cheese back in September. Oh, and that poor Lohan girl. Bless her heart.
Comment by Menehune — July 25, 2007 @ 10:39 am
#
The sad thing is that news services, like CNN, promote what sells and what gets the most ratings. The average American can’t tell you who Alberto Gonzales is, but they can tell you how long Paris Hilton stayed in jail. I had a conversation with a 25 year old girl the other day, who thought congress was appointed by the president. CNN and the rest of the MSM will continue to promote these same type stories, because that is what so many Americans find as “news”.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:43 am“Seems to me he committed a crime one way or another. Time to load some of that ‘dry†powder and fire at will.”
Comment by Menehune — July 25, 2007 @ 10:09 am
I think Gonzo’s strategy is now — “OK. I committed a crime. But you’ll never figure out what it was!” He will just keep lying, changing his story, and trying to deflect attention to fictional scenarios so that trying to nail him down with something will be like chasing a greased pig.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:45 amAre we sure all of the Gang of Eight were briefed on everything? I wouldn’t put it past them to tell just Frist & DeLay (forget Hastert) and believe that they’d done their duty to keep Congress informed. And then Kitty Kevorkian and the BugMan “forgot” to pass on the briefing.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:47 amIt’s the “extreme audacity” page from the Karl Rove playbook. Stun the other side, keep your own side quiet, and then claim it’s all just politics.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:48 amI think Gonzo’s strategy is now — “OK. I committed a crime. But you’ll never figure out what it was!†He will just keep lying, changing his story, and trying to deflect attention to fictional scenarios so that trying to nail him down with something will be like chasing a greased pig.
Comment by missmolly — July 25, 2007 @ 10:45 am
#
I agree. I think the strategy for Gonzo is the same as Bush’s strategy on Iraq - Keep stalling till the clock runs out.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:49 amSENATOR GRAHAM CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST AMERICANS WHO DISAGREE WITH BUSH
Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a new target for the administration’s domestic operations — Fifth Columnists, supposedly disloyal Americans who sympathize and collaborate with the enemy.
“The administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements,” Graham, R-S.C., told Gonzales during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Feb. 6.
“I stand by this President’s ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that,” Graham added, volunteering to work with the administration to draft guidelines for how best to neutralize this alleged threat. “Senator,” a smiling Gonzales responded, “the President already said we’d be happy to listen to your ideas.”
http://uncapitalist.com/blog/?itemid=1329
CHERTOFF SETTING THE STAGE FOR ARRESTING BLOGGERS:
http://www.rawstory.com/ showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fnm%2F20061017%2Fwr_nm%2Fsecurity_chertoff_dc%3B_ylt%3DAq31AQx4TKjh9chd4l0E4ZQjtBAF%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
.
“PROBABLE CAUSE”
These are the two words that represent the threshold required to obtain a warrant under FISA.
“REASONABLE SUSPICION”
These are the two words that separate Bush’s existing program from falling within the law of the land.
Bush and Gonzales have attempted to reinterpret the Constitution, claiming that spying on US Persons is justified when there exists a “REASONABLE SUSPICION” of wrong doing.
The threshold is “PROBABLE CAUSE” - a HIGHER THRESHOLD than Reasonable Suspicion.
They will avoid using these two words at all cost.
Regardless, a warrant under the supervision of FISA is ALWAYS a requirement for spying on US persons…period.
The ONLY reason not to seek a warrant under FISA is if the target of the spying is a US person for whom there is no “PROBABLE CAUSE” of a direct connection to terrorism.
Logic dictates that those who have been the subject of NSA surveillance without benefit of FISA have been US Persons not likely to be involved with terrorists.
Spying on US Persons for political purposes (or revenge) is the stuff impeachments are made of.
IMPEACH
July 25th, 2007 at 10:49 amveritas-
Well, at least there’s comfort in knowing that this Bush has done the entire Bush cabal in for good - that’s why daddy was cryin’ - no more public office fer yer boys. So sad, too bad, I could give a rats patootie.
Gonzales was a mess yesterday, no? He perjured himself and he divulged a classified domestic spying program that nobody knew about. Holy Mother Teresa, he’s in hot water now!
July 25th, 2007 at 10:49 amSLOWDAY
July 25th, 2007 at 10:50 amThe devil is not in the fact that there’s information gathering on citizens going on without warrants, but what they’re doing with the information in the end. How they’re organizing it, the scope of the spying and most importantly, how they are using the information for political gain under the cover of security is the elephant in the room.
We’re talking about authoritarian (fascist) partisans who have abused every government institution for political profit so far. I have yet to see an instance where when entrusted with power and information which could be abused, they have resisted such abuse.
I am willing to bet 5 large that politicians, citizens and journalists have been blackmailed, threatened and coerced using the leverage of this information. Every time you see some Republican congressman, staffer or operative who inexplicably won’t sing when caught up in a scandal, ask yourself if they don’t have some goods on that person.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:00 am#42 Gonzales was a mess yesterday, no? He perjured himself and he divulged a classified domestic spying program that nobody knew about. Holy Mother Teresa, he’s in hot water now!
Comment by RagingGurrl
And All this time he was holding on so he could get that appointment from Dubya to be Magistrate of Crawford to handle all the DUI and Domestic Violence cases. Guess even that is down the crapper now!
July 25th, 2007 at 11:01 amOn Thursday, February 14, 2002, John Poindexter was appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the Information Assurance Office at the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Despite Mr. Poindexter’s criminal record of lying to Congress, the President thinks he is “an outstanding American and an outstanding citizen who has done a very good job in what he has done for our country, serving in the military”. It is at the IAO that Mr. Poindexter began work on Total Information Awareness, a plan to watch Americans like the Stasi watched East Germans — but using technology this time, instead of people. Mr. Poindexter’s friend Edward Aldridge told FOXNews that “John had a real passion for [Total Information Awareness].”
Shortly after news reports about Total Information Awareness began surfacing, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York urged Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to find a replacement. “If we need a big brother, John Poindexter is the last guy on the list that I would choose,” Schumer told ABC’s This Week program.
According to a “Compendium of DARPA Programs” available at DARPA, a component of the Total Information Awareness project is “Genoa II”, a system that “will apply automation to team processes so that more can be accomplished sooner . more information will be exploited, more hypotheses created and examined, more models built and populated with evidence, and, in the larger sense, more crises situations dealt with simultaneously”. As noted earlier, Mr. Poindexter worked on Genoa, the predecessor to Genoa II, while Vice President of Syntek Technologies.
http://www.warblogging.com/tia/poindexter.php
July 25th, 2007 at 11:04 am“The average American can’t tell you who Alberto Gonzales is, but they can tell you how long Paris Hilton stayed in jail.”
Comment by Chris L — July 25, 2007 @ 10:43 am
I took a poll of my co-workers last week — 10 of them (mostly political moderates and conservatives). Not one knew anything about the U.S. Attorney firings — or cared. Seven had heard of Scooter Libby and the commutation of his sentence (although two of those thought he had been pardoned completely). Only three of the seven knew why Libby had been convicted in the first place.
Six of them knew that Apolo Ohno won the last Dancing With the Stars competition.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:05 amQuis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
July 25th, 2007 at 11:07 amveritas, - what did I miss? “puppet master†is Bush 41. He’s had his sticky fingers in everything from the JFK coverup to 911. Now we get the facts on his father, Prescott Bush, and his father in law, Herbert Walker”.
Isn’t 41 George Herbert Walker Bush? How can he be named after his father-in-law?
July 25th, 2007 at 11:09 am“He didn’t he had enough rope to hang himself yet. One of the sad things about liars is that they can’t remember what lie was said to cover up what other lie so after awhile…………”
My grandmother used to tell me that telling the truth is so much easier than lying, since when you lie, you need to remember your lie. If you are telling the truth, there is no need to remember what you said before.
I was waiting for the “gang of eight” to speak up. The one thing that was missing from their comments, though, was whether or not they actually asked Gonzo to go see Ashcroft. Also, I’m waiting to hear from the Republicans who were in the gang of eight.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:11 amhttp://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
March 25, 2006 — The Pentagon’s role as a source of media disinformation. First it was the Office of Northern Gulf Affairs, which morphed into the Office of Special Plans. Both served as conduits for neo-con propaganda spewed forth by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Heritage Foundation, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), the Hudson Institute, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), among others prior to the invasion of Iraq.
Now the Pentagon has issued an “unclassified report” stating that in the lead up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Russia obtained war plans and planned U.S. troop movements from “inside the American Central Command.†The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) denied the charge, stating that “similar, baseless accusations concerning Russia’s intelligence have been made more than once.”
The Pentagon cited as its source two captured Iraqi documents that describe Russian penetration of the US Central Command in Qatar. However, the Pentagon’s story later changed. The revised story stated the Russian obtained the war plans from signals intelligence intercepts of pre-war U.S. military communications. In either case, the citing of “captured” Iraqi documents has been used in the past to falsely implicate various anti-war international politicians with being in league with Saddam’s “Oil for Food” program. Many of these “captured” documents were forgeries emanating from notorious Iraqi con man Ahmad Chalabi. Bogus Niger government documents were forged by a neo-con cabal based in Rome, Washington, and Jerusalem to justify an attack on Iraq based on non-existent weapons of mass destruction. The information contained in the two “secret” Iraqi documents could have been obtained from any number of open sources, including Jane’s Defence Weekly. The “sic” appearing next to “special forces unit ‘Papa’” in the purported Iraqi documents is a clue to a forgery. The standard NATO/DoD phonetic code for the letter “P” is “Papa.” Why the authors would indicate a possible misspelling of Papa in the document is curious unless its because the real authors include some of our most noted neo-con draft dodgers who are unfamiliar with U.S. and NATO military nomenclatures. The two secret Iraqi documents are handwritten and contain no official government seal or stamps, another clear indication of a forgery. Update: The memo dated March 25, 2003 is also a likely forgery because of the use of the Western calendar and not the lunar Muslim Hijri calendar used in many Arab and other predominantly Muslim countries. The Muslim date would have been 16 Muharram 1424.
The neo-con stranglehold on the Pentagon continues to permit this cabal of provocateurs and dual loyalists to pump out false charges in an attempt to damage relations with Russia and President Vladimir Putin as Russia continues to push for negotiations with Iran and lay the possible groundwork for Russian casualties at Iranian nuclear facilities in the event of war with Iran. Neo-cons would argue that such casualties were legitimate considering previous Russian support for Saddam against the United States.
In fact, the Pentagon neo-cons now have more power than ever considering the current presence of anti-Russian neo-con-influenced governments in Poland, Ukraine, and Georgia. Polish Defense Minister Radek Sikorski, an AEI alum and colleague of Richard Perle and Michael Ledeen, is married to the Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum. All four are virulently anti-Putin, especially since Putin began cracking down on the Russian oligarchs who looted the USSR’s treasury and resources and made themselves instant billionaires, at the expense of the peoples of the former Soviet Union.
Over 70 percent of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs carry Israeli passports. Ukraine President Viktor Yuschenko’s wife, Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, is an American citizen and held positions in the Reagan White House that were directed against “the evil empire.” She was, and remains, close to the leading neo-con war hawks of the Reagan years, including Perle, Ledeen, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, and Ken Adelman. Georgia’s President, Mikhail Saakashvili, in an anti-Putin U.S.-trained lawyer who ousted his predecessor in a U.S.-financed and supported coup backed by oil companies like Halliburton and Exxon Mobil. In addition to the offices of AEI, AIPAC, Hudson, WINEP, and Heritage, in addition to the Pentagon, the embassies of Poland, Ukraine, and Georgia in Washington have become virtual neo-con nesting places, working overtime to formulate all sorts of anti-Russian propaganda aimed at destabilizing Russia and toppling Putin. They are assisted in these efforts by the US Mission to the United Nations, which under arch neo-con John Bolton, has become a favorite off-site meeting place for Washington-based neo-cons right in the middle of Manhattan.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:12 amAIPAC SPY SCANDAL:
CONSPIRACY TO COMMUNICATE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION TO AGENT OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENT
1. Defendant LAWRENCE ANTHONY FRANKLIN was employed by the United States government at the Department of Defense (DoD) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), International Security Affairs (ISA), Office of Near East and South Asia, Office of Northern Gulf Affairs, Iran desk, and held a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). FRANKLIN’S office was located within the Pentagon, in the Eastern District of Virginia. FRANKLIN was also a Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve (USAFR).
2. Throughout his employment with the United States government, FRANKLIN repeatedly signed written agreements acknowledging his duty to safeguard classified information
3. At no time was FRANKLIN authorized to release classified information to ROSEN and WEISMANN except with respect to Overt Acts 43 and 44 in count one.
4. Defendant STEVEN J. ROSEN was employed as the Director of Foreign Policy Issues for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington, D.C. ROSEN was hired by AIPAC in or about July 1982. AIPAC, according to its website, is ” America’s ProIsrael Lobby.” AIPAC lobbies the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch agencies on various issues related to Israel and U.S. Foreign policy in the Middle East. As the Director of Foreign Policy Issues, ROSEN lobbied on behalf of AIPAC, primarily with officials within the Executive Branch of the U.S. government. During the time period of this indictment, ROSEN did not have a U.S. government security clearance and was not authorized to receive or possess U.S. government classified information.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/ intell/ library/ reports/ 2005/ franklin_indictment_04aug2005.htm
WAYS, MANNER AND MEANS OF THE CONSPIRACY
A. It was part of the conspiracy that, in an effort to influence persons within and outside the United States government, ROSEN and WEISSMAN would cultivate relationships with FRANKLIN and others and would use their contacts within the U.S. government and elsewhere to gather sensitive U.S. government information, including classified information relating to the national defense, for subsequent unlawful communication, delivery and transmission to persons not entitled to receive it.
B. It was further part of the conspiracy that FRANKLIN would use his position as a desk officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense to gather information relating to the national defense, for subsequent unlawful communication, delivery and transmission to ROSEN and WEISSMAN and others not entitled to receive it.
C. It was further part of the conspiracy that FRANKLIN, ROSEN and WEISSMAN would meet at locations in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, to exchange information, including classified information relating to the national defense.
D. It was further part of the conspiracy that FRANKLIN would unlawfully deliver, communicate and transmit classified national defense information in an effort to advance his own personal foreign policy agenda and influence persons within and outside the United States government.
E. It was further part of the conspiracy that ROSEN and WEISSMAN, without lawful authority, would communicate to persons not entitled to receive it, classified information relating to the national defense.
On or about June 11, 1999, WEISSMAN had a conversation with FO-1 and told FO-1 that a “Secret FBI, classified FBI report” on the Khobar Towers bombing had been prepared and that he (WEISSMAN) had gotten this information from three different sources, including United States government officials.
On or about March 13, 2003 , WEISSMAN had a separate conversation with FO-1. WEISSMAN asked FO-1, “Have you talked to Steve about Iran lately?” WEISSMAN related that “we” had heard from a “friend of ours in the Pentagon” about a national intelligence document. WEISSMAN discussed specifics about the classified draft internal policy document and the internal deliberations of United States government officials.
On or about March 18, 2003 , in a conversation with a member of the media about the classified draft internal policy document, ROSEN stated, “I’m not supposed to know this,” and that it was a “considerable story.” He encouraged the member of the media to pursue the story.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:14 amChris L
Boloney. We have a salient sex scandal going on in DC right now. Do you know about it? No. It stars a Republican Senator - why isn’t that being run on CNN 24-7? We know how much sex sells don’t we?
Or how about McCain campaign Co-chair for Fla. offering $20 for oral sex in a public bathroom? Oh and he’s a state Congressman? Salacious. Imagine the experts they could have on CNN. But alas he’s a Republican…and not a blogger for a Democratic Presidential candidate, so where’s the fun in that?
No, there’s money and ratings to be had for CNN in these never ending Republican sex scandals, and illegal activities, but that would not serve their purpose.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:15 amI think the explanation as to whether there is one program, two programs, or several parts of the same program may come from testimony a while back when the NSA program first surfaced. This was testimony with Chuck Schumer:
Schumer: Has the government searched someone’s home, an American citizen, or office without a warrant, uh, since 911, let’s say?
Gonzales: Sir to my knowledge that has not happened under the tererorist surveillance program, and I’m not going to go beyond that.
Schumer: Wait, I don’t know what that, what does that mean, under the terrorist surveillance program? The terrorist surveillance program is about wire tapping.
At this point, Gonzales starts refusing to amplify for national security reasons.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:35 amHarman and Rockefeller claim that the only program they were told about was the NSA domestic surveillance program. But … Gonzales claimed that when he rushed to John Ashcroft’s bedside in 2004, he was seeking authorization for a separate intelligence activity
Something which even average bloggers picked up on about 4 months ago.
And even when these idiots have had this pointed out to them they’ve done what you say……. ?
Harman and Rockefeller are reporting that they never consented to “other intelligence activities.†Responding to a question about whether he believed Gonzales perjured himself Tuesday, Rockefeller responded, “Based upon what I know about it, I’d have to say yes.â€
Missed the point again you say ?
Well fk me this looks promising. Should have this rapped up by 2014.
I could have taken $10000 off every reader here betting them that if Gonzales testified before the heads of senate intelligence committees about domestic surveillence that he’d be the one leaving that hearing looking the most qualified to keep his job.
Why fkn go to work, honestly. Just get your cat to dictate some questions and fax it in you retards.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:43 amGonzo should have resigned while he had the chance.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:54 amOh FFS, even this blog ran another story pointing out earlier today that he obviously has been talking about more than one intelligence program.
This is no doubt filed along side the same relevation you came to several months ago when the penny dropped for the first time.
So it’s pretty much just these heads of senate intelligence committees who are alone in not being able to figure this shit out and somehow — motherfker — somehow managed to be in a position where they could Gonzales on the stand and :
(a) assume he’s perjured himself about the one thing he hasn’t to date and pursue that, and
(b) not reveal what other domestic spying programs have been operating without oversight for years.
And you fkn applaud these people as though they are doing something useful as opposed to just floundering like fkn idiots.
Couldn’t conduct oversight on a fkn bake sale.
How could you justify letting people this stupid remain in positions where they have access to national security info ?
July 25th, 2007 at 12:52 pm“How could you justify letting people this stupid remain in positions where they have access to national security info ?
Comment by Kilo ”
Are you talking about Gonzo, Chaney and the other members of the Bush Crime Family?
July 25th, 2007 at 1:27 pmThis is great. At some point, when it appears that Bush and Gang have really broken the law and the American People are ready to hold someone accountable, these Congresspeople that likely knew what was going on are going to start jumping ship so they are not prosecuted.
What a mess…
July 25th, 2007 at 1:44 pmI can’t believe how corrupt this government is.
July 25th, 2007 at 5:13 pmThis is just sickening. Nothing revealed surprises me much anymore. They’re just using us/America, they don’t care about us. We’ve grown fat and lazy. In a different time, these guys would’ve been at the end of a rope a long time ago. This is exactly what the founding fathers were worried about when they drafted the constitution.
Are we gonna do something or just post comments on websites?
This guy lies pathetically. He’s a lawyer, for Christ’s sake: doesn’t lying come naturally to his profession?! Gonzalez inspires about as much faith in his leadership as does our superetard pResident strutting around on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a flight suit. The rest of the world must think we are fucking idiots. And you know what? As long as these jackasses remain in power, we are.
July 25th, 2007 at 5:59 pmNo matter what Gonzales has done Bush will just pardon him.
July 25th, 2007 at 7:21 pmHarmon should have kept her mouth shut. But no…. too much cat like reflex for her own good. Rockefeller and Daschle too. Shame on them.
July 25th, 2007 at 7:36 pmone reason to vote indy. vote them all out of office from congress to pres. every damn one of them and then tell them dont screw with us and lie or we will do the same next time. problem is people dont vote. and if everyone started protesting theres nothing the pres could do but of course we sit on our hands and say nothing.
July 25th, 2007 at 7:40 pmI fear for the future of our republic like never before.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:04 pmThose who can smirk and lie the way this administration can scare me to death. We are now a wholly owned corpocracy. There is no honor, no compassion nor integrity…only profits and bottom lines.
I would ask everyone to take to the streets with pitchforks and torches at the ready but it is way too late for that now.
Marshall Law coming soon to your town?
Smart money says yes.
IMPEACH. IMPEACH. IMPEACH. IMPEACH. CALL YOUR REPS UNTIL YOUR FINGERS GO NUMB. IMPEACH. IMPEACH. IMPEACH.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:38 amTHERES MORE THAN ONE PROGRAM ALRIGHT. TWO FORMER AT&T EMPLOYEES COME CLEAN ABOUT THE “MYSTERIOUS ROOM”
Some of these guys at the top, ought to start reading digg, and other internet news sites… usually we know sooner than they do.
http://www.pbs.org/ wgbh/ pages/ frontline/ homefront/ interviews/ klein.html
(also note, bush recently tried to kill a 420 million dollar funding bill for PBS)
How do you know that it wasn’t just some kind of newfangled AT&T thing that was going beyond what had already been established for its security purposes elsewhere?
First of all, they wouldn’t need the NSA for that purpose, and we would be allowed in by union contract to service the equipment as we always were. So anyway, there’s that question right off the bat: Why NSA?
Now, in October, while I was working and learning the Internet room, I came across these three documents, which were documents that the technicians had that were given to the technicians so they would know how to install things like the splitter cabinet in particular, because it tells how things are wired up. Those documents were left lying around. Some of the technicians still had them. One of them was just left lying on top of a router. I picked it up, and I looked at it, and I brought them back to my desk, and when I started looking at it, I looked at it more, and I looked at it more, and finally it dawned on me sort of all at once, and I almost fell out of my chair, because this showed, first of all, what they had done, that they had taken working circuits, which had nothing to do with a splitter cabinet, and they had taken in particular what are called peering links which connect AT&T’s network with the other networks. It’s how you get the Internet, right? One network connects with another. So they took 16 high-speed peering links which go to places like Qwest [Communications] and Palo Alto Internet Exchange [PAIX] and places like that. … These circuits were working at one point, and the documents indicated in February 2003 they had cut into these circuits so that they could insert the splitter so that they can get the data flow from these circuits to go to the secret room.
So this data flow meant that they were getting not only AT&T customers’ data flow; they were getting everybody else’s data flow, whoever else might happen to be communicating into the AT&T network from other networks. So it was turning out to be like a large chunk of the network, of the Internet.
Did you see that in the documents? Did the documents show that in the designs?
You can see that in the document. … It names the circuit IDs; it names the companies they belong to; and it shows the cut date. And they were all in February, when they were cut into the splitter.
Much later the president comes out and says, you know, we’re just monitoring Al Qaeda communications with America, and we’re following specific calls, and we’re trying to track terrorists. How do you know that it isn’t what they say it is; that the Narus or some other piece of equipment isn’t just targeted in on 50 individuals in this area, and all those billions of pieces of data are just flowing off into the ether?
… The administration’s first presentation of it is disingenuous. They present it as about phone calls. They’re just watching a few bad people who make phone calls to Al Qaeda and the Middle East, and you notice they don’t talk about the Internet hardly at all. That part of it hasn’t been revealed, because if they did, Americans would realize it’s not just a few people; it’s everybody, because the data they’re handing over is not selected out. When you run fiber optics through a splitter and you send all that data to a secret room, there’s no selecting going on there at all. …
WAKE UP, ITS NOT JUST YOUR PHONE CALLS!!
July 26th, 2007 at 3:32 amIt was never just your phone calls.
In fact the black boxes in telephone switches aint even new. You can find Madeline Albright trying to explain away a similar program more than a decade ago.
One that was called an assault on the rights of citizens in Russia when they copied the US program.
July 26th, 2007 at 4:19 amInnit interesting that the mechanism by which they’re peeping on us was called “‘peering‘ links” for other, legit reasons, before they were turned against us.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:27 pmIt’s almost like they knew, when the systems were first designed…
Either that or the Almighty has a low sense of humor.