The Smoking Gun: Why Bush Issued His Illegal Executive Order in 2002

A lot of people who should know better are forgetting their history.

Am I the first person to draw the connection between Ashcroft/DoJ's contentious, semi-secret court battle with the FISA Court judges in the summer of 2002, which led to the first-ever appeals proceeding under the FISA statute in 24 years, and Bush's issuance of an illegal Executive Order that same year?

How can Chuck Schumer state on the floor of the U.S. Senate that the Democrats have no idea what changed Bush's mind on the Patriot Act between 2001 and 2002? If they've been following the newspapers the last five years, they already know the answer to that question.

Clink on the link above for the 2002 news story which explains everything about how the Snoopgate scandal came to be.

-- Seth

Is that your blog? Can you give us a little more right here without requiring us to go to the link? thanks!

<snip>

In the summer of 2002, Bush's then-Attorney General, John Ashcroft, was engaged in a lightly-reported tests of wills with the FISA Court. .

This test of wills led to the first-ever appeals case in the history of the FISA statute, a decision which ultimately went in favor of the Bush Administration. But in the summer of 2002 that outcome (which would not arrive until November) seemed murky at best.

Ashcroft and Bush wanted expanded discretion to seek, and enhanced control over the information necessary to secure, a FISA warrant, and the FISA Court judges were, to say the least, resistant--as, in short, the Bush Administration wanted more warrants with less justification and less documentation. Moreover, the judges were accusing the F.B.I., at the time, of providing false information to the Court in an effort to secure warrants under circumstances in which the Court would not normally have granted applications (bizarre, isn't it, attempting to hide or distort information before a secret court? What's the need? And just what sort of warrant applications was Team Bush seeking, that they had so much difficulty laying out probable cause to the FISA judges with accurate, articulable facts?).

This test of wills was likely the basis for the FISA Court denying its first federal warrant application in 2002--after 23 years of granting every single application put before it.

http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2005/12/clash-between-then-attorney-general.html

<more at link>

Damn. Surburban Ecstacies'. Damn.

http://sethabramson.blogspot.com/2005/12/clash-between-then-attorney-general.html

:hi:

If so, did the number of warrant requests decline? Or did they stop altogether. Also, under 50 USC 1802, the Attorney General must file a certificate under oath if he wishes to get around the warrant process. How many certificates were filed, if any? Or was the Bush Administration not even complying with the minimal requirements of sworn certificates?

Thanks for making the connection!

I hope your theory is proven to be true. :thumbsup:

we'll vote it up.

Article should be fixed now.

-- Seth

original story? I had to play around to load the page, and it's a very short summary. I want to know more.

Thanks for this. You're right, we need a timeline to understand better.

"we were doing it to protect you - we're your Daddies after all".

Apart from Doober not understanding that he is -not- the government

(more borrowing from Hitler - Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuehrer, Ich -Bin- Deutschland (I am my nation))

he gets no doors for any wiggling about how, well, that nasty FISA Appeals court didn't give him what he wanted, so as long as he's President, he's gonna darn well do what he needs to to protect thuh Merkin people, by golly and dad gumb it. Personally, I think they had malicious prior intent on their side, i.e. the agenda to reinstate the grandeur of the Fuehrer, I mean President, that crazy Dick Nixon lost for them, and let the people know that the socioeconomic power hierarchy actually means something is a long-held goal of theirs and this was just another notch in the log. They get no leeway for wheedling, since they're murderous scumbags who consistently act in their own perceived interests and against those of the American people.

I love your blog...read it every day!

as the head of al jazeera said quite recently

"how quickly people forget"

it depends where you got your "history" from

was it fed to you by a state media machine with an agenda of it's own .. or did you collate as much information from as many sources as possible before coming to your own conclusions?

for example. american media/history will show that around 30,000 have died in this iraq fiasco

other sources post that number far higher, a lancet report not commented upon in your media put the number at around 100,000 +

i can think of another horrible period in history where your media seems intent on INFLATING the number of sufferers?

this disparity has highlighted to the world your media's agenda

what organisation would intentionally play down the suffering of innocent civilians on one side, suppress accurate information and encourage propoganda?

some would say a state run media, others might say the media wields more power than your government at the moment, being able to filter the messages it delivers and decide in which light to show prospective presidential candidates and party's

others might say at this point in time things are happening which benefit the financial interests of the few coupled with your controlled media's real agenda, to the detriment of the masses, both financially with regard their standards of living and emotionally with regards there rights as human beings

patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, and dissent is the highest form of patriotism

if i've got this all wrong .. will someone set me straight?

for a much publicised largely christian nation, it seems america has forgotten the christ they worship rose up in the middle east and fought oppression to free his people ... would that now qualify him as a terrorist?

my minds boggling with the hypocrisy, please set me straight ...

Trust me, our minds boggle over the hypocrisy, too. Our nation is going through dark times. We are all very concerned about what has happened, what is happening.

Again, welcome. :hi:

its reassuring to know the right questions are being asked

the truth, if good, does not need hiding

surely behaviour contravening any of your constitutions should automatically lead to the suspension and arrest of any organisation carrying out such actions?

the people who put it together had foresight enough to put it in plain english enough for all to read, these things are supposed to be integral to the growth of your society ... and anyone who says otherwise has ideas above their station

if these basis for your entire philosophy are not upheld ... then what next?

maybe a good message to the rest of the world that your serious about moving forward in a peaceful coherent co existence with them would be to arrest these gangsters and have a spectacle resembling that of the nuremberg trials ... i beleive the conditions are almost identical and brought about such measures to protect against tyranny in future

:hi: No, you do not have it wrong. We have been raging against the hypocrisy and the propaganda for 5 loooong years. I hope you like our discussions and debates. :-)

always nice to hear from another in this so called "minority" group of free talkers and thinkers:pals:

Catie Corporate Lipstick Couric may be simple minded but she gets her talking points from 'other' sources.

state, media, corporate interests

can someone tell me where the lines are between these entities now?

seems to be 1 coherent team delivering the same message

where are all the TV "experts" now who rubbished claims this was an illegal and immoral action? branding people "loonie lefties" and out of touch with reality

string them up with cheney and rumsfeld, they are as complicit

mind you it's gotta be tough for a media company in america to promote anything other than the "official" version of events ... as al jazeera now fully recognises, this qualify's you as a terrorist

i took particular exception when GWB said "you are either with us or against us"

because i sure as hell wasn't with him .. but i sure as hell am not a terrorist ...

or am i?

it seems that anyone questioning the status quo nowadays can be labelled with this all encompassing term and have their reputations tarnished

i think it would be a good way to seek out the truth infact

lets look back pre-war and see who was crucified for speaking out against this, look for the mud they threw ... i bet you'll find the truth

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

i believe i am one of the newbies mentioned in your signoff sir

and your right, it meant a lot :toast:

look forward to tussling with you at some point :rant:

:party:

up with this. I've been worried that spygate is a distraction, and that the nuking (since they're out of cannon fodder) of Iran or Syria is imminent. Senator ('I've never met a Bush war I didn't like") Feinstein is said to be "leading" the call for an investigation of spygate. And with NYT involvement (disclosing the info a year late), you gotta figure something bad is coming down the road.

Not to say Bush spying should be ignored, and used however we can use it to save our democracy. And not to say there might be other bait and switch things going on. (The "aspens" and war profiteers trying to bump Bush/Cheney out, and get a War Democrat in there to more competently administer an expanded war, get a Draft (which Bush can't do), and other things?) I'm not sure how to read all this. Just to say, we shouldn't automatically buy into corporate newsstream stories, even if they SEEM favorable to the Republic. Got to look deeper.

should email, fax, call into Conyers and other good people?

But please sign Rep. Conyers' letter to begin the Impeachment Inquiry NOW!

http://www.johnconyers.com/ - Conyer's Action Items
"Join me, below, in the sending: Letter Advising President of Censure and Steps to Begin Special Committee Investigation Every movement has a starting point. I believe this next effort to bring the administration to justice will have an even bigger impact and will lead to change. But I need help from all of you. I need a huge number of people to join me in our message of censure to the President. A big response will force greater news coverage of my legislation to censure the President and Vice President and to create a Special Committee to investigate the White House. The Downing Street petition had a huge number of signatories, but the mainstream media had not yet begun asking the difficult questions of the President.

"We are at a different place as a nation now. Our message has a much wider audience and, with a big response to the censure initiative, we can have a greater impact than before. Already we have four Members of Congress who have joined me in this effort, Zoe Lofgren, Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey and Charlie Rangel and I expect plenty more to join me in the coming weeks ahead.

"Join me in this declaration that we will no longer accept an imperial presidency. Add your name and encourage as many of your friends and family to join as well. With your help and commitment we can succeed in finally bringing the Bush White House to justice.

=============================================================================
CONYERS INTRODUCES BILLS TO CENSURE BUSH AND CHENEY
Ask your Congress Member to support these efforts!

CONYERS INTRODUCES BILL TO CREATE A SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE CRIMES AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT

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Where is Fitz? Rep. Hinchey and 40 other members of the House spoke to him face to face after writing letter for Fitz to help with Impeachment Inquiry into the forged Niger documents but no one ever reported Fitz's answer.

recommend:kick:

We have to remember all the threads, because it's hard to be sure which ones are important and which ones will turn out to be smoke screens. I think the Cunningham scandal with it's strong implication that the CIA and defense contractors were round tripping payoffs - er, I mean contracts - with funding the rightwing takeover of our country as a pretty big story. And I agree that all our efforts will be for naught if we just replace the GOP crimewave with a Democratic one. I'm sure there are plenty of GOP rank and file who are very disappointed that their party turned out to have a different set of priorities than many expected.

Jesus fucken' Christ ...

...as my blog is getting an insane number of hits from the main page of the site. But I can't find the link, for some reason. Otherwise I'd post it here. If someone else finds it, please do.

S.

Reminders are necessary.

Thank you for this post.

He may or may not read it. (or he may know already.. hard to tell with these guys)