July 04, 2006

Oh, that Bush administration and its pre-9/11 thinking!

Ready and waiting for any excuse?. Emphasis mine.

The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

Via TPM.

And also this more thorough consideration.

Posted by binky at July 4, 2006 12:03 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Free Speech | J. Edgar Hoover | Liberty | Shame | Shine the Light on It | The Ever Shrinking Constitution


Comments

Hm.

"seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks" is Feburary of 2001, aka a couple of weeks after Bush took office.

Do you really think the Bushies -- most of whom hadn't even unpacked yet at that point, many of whom hadn't even been hired at that point -- initiated this as one of their first priorities? Isn't it possible, even likely, even EXTREMELY likely, that some careerist busybodies in the NSA had been waiting to do this for awhile and chose to slip it through during the transition when it wouldn't get close scrutiny?

Posted by: jacflash at July 4, 2006 10:09 AM | PERMALINK

Absolutely. However, if true, that doesn't change the fact that all the talk from the administration about these measures only being the necessary response to 9/11 is just a wee bit hypocritical. Not that I'm surprised, given the 'policy (or war) we want first, justification later' approach.

Posted by: binky at July 4, 2006 11:14 AM | PERMALINK

Hypocritical or misinformed. 'Bushies are hypocrites' is such a tired meme. "The NSA misled the Administration because it's a rogue agency secretly spying on America for its own ends" is much more fun, don't you think?

Posted by: jacflash at July 4, 2006 11:38 AM | PERMALINK

Ok, but spin this for me then: "and after the fact the adminstration jumped on the bandwagon and claimed it was their idea in the first place"

Posted by: binky at July 4, 2006 11:46 AM | PERMALINK

In my story, that is the spin. :-)

Posted by: jacflash at July 4, 2006 12:01 PM | PERMALINK

OK, so you're saying that the administration didn't know about the NSA, and that they didn't bandwagon afterwards. What about all those statements from the president and gonzales etc about what they were doing and why? CYA?

Posted by: binky at July 4, 2006 12:31 PM | PERMALINK

I think you overestimate the seriousness with which I'm advancing this argument.

Posted by: jacflash at July 4, 2006 12:34 PM | PERMALINK

Possibly. And possibly vice versa too.

So, any fun plans for the 4th?

Posted by: binky at July 4, 2006 12:36 PM | PERMALINK

Our town does a decent fireworks show, but there's a thunderstorm warning for tonight, so we're doing a lot of watching the weather radar in between grilling and squirtgun fights and whatnot.

Posted by: jacflash at July 4, 2006 12:59 PM | PERMALINK

Rain here too, and as everyone knows, our fireworks were two nights ago. Baltar and Armand are off watching the world cup with some irishman, but with my equipe out of the running, I wasn't that into it. We've had on and off sprinkles all day, but I would like for it to just rain, dammit, so I don't have to water the garden later. Snoozeville. No waterguns even. :)

Posted by: binky at July 4, 2006 04:57 PM | PERMALINK

The watergun fights really aren't the same without Baltar, but we manage. :-)

Posted by: jacflash at July 4, 2006 05:24 PM | PERMALINK

speaking of sports loved by western europe and therefore hated by the bushies, is our favorite least likely compendium of sports minutiae and fan-dom (armand) going to be commenting on Le Tour?

i'm really digging the chaos of the start, though of course no one wants to see someone as capable of contending as valverde go down this early (or at all).

Posted by: moon at July 4, 2006 09:54 PM | PERMALINK

Armand is very poorly informed about the Tour since pretty much all the favorites are not racing (some by choice, some not) - plus for the next week he's far more interested in the World Cup and Wimbledon.

Posted by: Armand at July 4, 2006 11:04 PM | PERMALINK
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