Then and now. Domestic Spying, Atta & 9/11 vs. NSA & activist groups!

Then:

Mohamed Atta moves to Brooklyn, New York and sets off alarms with "Able Danger."

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger

"Able Danger" is shut down by defense department attorneys for violating posse comitatus and for spying on the American Public.

9/11 - America Attacked.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack

http://911digitalarchive.org

The President tells Americans that we are in a War against Terror.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html#

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113000667.html

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/retal.section.html

U.S. commences strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011007-8.html

Department of Homeland Security is formed

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec02/homeland.html

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/index.jsp

Congress passes joint resolution for "Authorization of Use of Military Force" against against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.

http://www.house.gov/ryan/press_releases/2001pressreleases/useofforce91401.html

President declares war on Iraq: Operation Iraqi Freedom

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html

***

Why did the military stop Abel Danger in 2000 & not stop the NSA in 2005?

***

According to the above links, Atta had a green card and thus could not be monitored, despite compelling national security interests dictating that he was a potential danger to this nation.

How come nobody brought it to FISA?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sup_01_50_10_36.html

"TITLE 50 > CHAPTER 36 > SUBCHAPTER I > § 1802

§ 1802. Electronic surveillance authorization without court order; certification by Attorney General; reports to Congressional committees; transmittal under seal; duties and compensation of communication common carrier; applications; jurisdiction of court Release date: 2005-03-17

(a)

(1) Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year if the Attorney General certifies in writing under oath that—

(A) the electronic surveillance is solely directed at—

(i) the acquisition of the contents of communications transmitted by means of communications used exclusively between or among foreign powers, as defined in section 1801 (a)(1), (2), or (3) of this title; or

(ii) the acquisition of technical intelligence, other than the spoken communications of individuals, from property or premises under the open and exclusive control of a foreign power, as defined in section 1801 (a)(1), (2), or (3) of this title;

(B) there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party; and

(C) the proposed minimization procedures with respect to such surveillance meet the definition of minimization procedures under section 1801 (h) of this title; and

if the Attorney General reports such minimization procedures and any changes thereto to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at least thirty days prior to their effective date, unless the Attorney General determines immediate action is required and notifies the committees immediately of such minimization procedures and the reason for their becoming effective immediately.

..."

***

Now:

In December 2005, the New York Times reveals ongoing domestic spying that the President has been authorizing since 2002, every 45 days.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051220-2.html

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/20/cheney.wiretaps

Worse yet, the New York Times held back disclosure on this domestic spying for more than a year, at the Presidents request, and then disclosed it despite the Presidents's objections, because a pending book release contains this information: "The State Of War: The Secret History Of The CIA and The Bush Administration," by James Risen.

http://www.vermontguardian.com/dailies/122005/1221.shtml

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?cds2Pid=1268&isbn=0743270665

The President ADMITS he ordered domestic spying.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/13434782.htm

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/12/18bush.html (Great headline - registration required)

Then we learn that activist groups (e.g. animal rights and anti-poverty groups) are among those that the President has authorized the NSA to conduct domestic spying on!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/politics/20fbi.html?incamp=article_popular_5

http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20630

Today, to make matters worse, we learned that the NSA is data-mining domestic telephone calls and e-mails and that the telecom industry is complicit in this affair.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24spy.html

http://www.betanews.com/article/NSA_Monitoring_Net_Communications/1135406234

Of course, we don't know if strictly domestic calls were snared by this NSA data-mining.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/12/21NSA.html

This despite today's revelation by Tom Daschle that the President sought domestic War powers in 2001 and was NOT given such by Congress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201101.html

Consistent in his "true believer" mentality, the President remains adamant in staying the course on domestic spying.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/18/MNGQTG9V7Q1.DTL

***

It seems clear to me that prior to the Patriot Act, the President had the power to stop the 9/11 attack and DID NOT USE THAT POWER.

In response to the 9/11 attack the President chose to ask Congress for more powers and Congress passed the Patriot Act in 2001 and then afforded the President even more powers in a 2003 upgrade to the Patriot Act.

http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.pdf (Patriot Act, pdf format)

http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=94&sid=200 (Patriot Act II)

The President then chose to create additional powers that are not based in the Constitution or afforded him by acts of Congress.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/politics/20cnd-cheney.html?hp&ex=1135141200&en=223fd4492082b73d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Since 2002, the President has used his suspiciously created powers to spy on Americans and political activists in this country, leading this nation in a slow march toward Totalitarianism.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/111205totalitariandanger.htm

***

Finally, the President chose just last week to say to the world that the intelligence used to justify launching the Iraq War was wrong, but that the war was right.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/13413167.htm

What else would you expect from a man whose actions mistakingly demonstrate that he believes the end justifies the means, and that he is above the law.

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/12/21/local/doc43a9ca5a569aa635906430.txt

Even before the NSA scandal broke, it seemed clear to me that prior to the Patriot Act, the President had the power to stop the 9/11 attack and DID NOT USE THAT POWER. But good work, and good resource.

Merry Christmas, Merry Fitzmas, and Seasons Greetings.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

K&R

Thanks for doing this analysis. This will go to the DU research forum I assume.

The President allegedly used creative intelligence from a Cheney endorsed back-room cabal in order to establish to Congress and the American Public that Iraq was linked to al Qaeda and 9/11.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24wilkerson.html

It was this alleged lie that served as the basis for the President to initiate war on Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) using the joint resolution for "Authorization of Use of Military Force" against against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept.html

"The report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush administration that their pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated."

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY THE PRESIDENT COULD INVADE IRAQ GIVEN THE LANGUAGE OF THE RESOLUTION!

No matter how bad Saddam was, if he didn't have links to al Qaeda, the above resolution passed by Congress was not applicable to him or Iraq.

In retrospect, we know KNOW that the basis for this war was false and that the link between Saadam and Iraq and al Qaeda was purely a creation of the President and his administration, even though the President and his cabal are devoutly casting HIS decision to invade Iraq as a good Feith reaction to "bad intelligence."

http://www.localnewsleader.com/brocktown/stories/news-00115595.html

The President's choice, just last week, to say to the world that the intelligence used to justify launching the Iraq War was wrong, but that the war was right does not give him immunity from prosecution, if implicated in the conspiracy to invade Iraq alleged against Cheney and his cabal.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article03/24.html

Lastly, the President's insistence on categorizing his efforts to defend this nation against terrorism do not amount to a "war on terrorism."

The Congress and the President are not on the same page, and this is no accident.

The President is trying to describe his actions since 2002 as based on such a war, but, in fact, the President is acutely aware of the limitations presented to him in the joint resolution for "Authorization of Use of Military Force" against against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.

So, once again, the President is relying on a creation of his administration, in this case, to SAY that he declares America to be in a "war on terrorism" and then to act as though that statement is in and of itself justification for invoking domestic war powers.

http://www.constitutionproject.org/warpowers/article.cfm?messageID=69&categoryId=1

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20020607.html

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/The_necessary_dichotomy_1223.html

info without having to separately re-copy each truncated link. Thanks!

You wrote:

"Why did the military stop Abel Danger in 2000 & not stop the NSA in 2005?

According to the above links, Atta had a green card and thus could not be monitored, despite compelling national security interests dictating that he was a potential danger to this nation.

How come nobody brought it to FISA?"

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See below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x65356

"But the “terrible lapses” cited by Weldon do not stem from the nonsensical assertion that Atta had a green card (he did not) which rendered him immune from military investigation but were the result of an officially-protected heroin trafficking operation being conducted on planes like those of Wally Hilliard, whose Lear jet flew "milk runs" down and back to Venezuela every week for 39 weeks in a row before finally running afoul of local DEA agents not been clued-in on the 'joke.'"

P.S. Read through the entire thread.

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