On Cusp of Senate Telecom Immunity Passage, White House Admits Phone Companies Spied

[BadgerKid]

Source: Wired Blog Network

Just hours before the Senate is about to pass a bill giving amnesty to spying telecoms and legalizing the government's warrantless wiretapping program, the White House finally came clean and admitted what everyone already knows: the phone companies helped the government datamine your phone records and wiretap Americans.

At today's press briefing, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino responded in a non-sequitor to a question about whether telecoms were asked to spy on Americans months before 9/11 by saying:

"The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives," Perino said.

It's unclear why Perino felt obliged to use the word alleged, though it may be just out of sheer force of habits.



Read more: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/on-cusp-of-sena.html

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Edited to add original source material:

Q They don't have to have warrants to wiretap?

MS. PERINO: That's not what this is about, Helen. Anyone in America who would require a wiretap that -- you have to go through the process of getting a warrant. This was about dealing through the FISA court to make sure that our intelligence gaps remain closed when dealing with phone calls overseas.

Q But were the telephone companies told that it was legal to wiretap six months before 9/11?

MS. PERINO: The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080212-2.html

[MadMaddie]

1. She is as dumb as a rock. Okay they just admitted they broke the law.

What now?

[DCKit]

8. You said it. I thought Helen was off limits.

WTF was she thinking taking a question from Helen Thomas? "DUH" doesn't begin to cover that faux pas.

I wonder if Dana's going to be out sick tomorrow - the next month even, or if she's going to decide she needs to spend more time with her family in the very near future.

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

[ck4829]

2. Patriotic Companies... That sounds like something out of COINTELPRO

[Supersedeas]

15. the Brownshirts were patriotic too....allegedly

[fascisthunter]

23. Fascism

[TomInTib]

3. And, of course, the services were provided pro bono.

"The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives," Perino said.

If you can come up with a more outrageous statement than this, I will buy the next round.

Tom

[mikeytherat]

16. Was Dana furiously waving American flags when she said this?

Because I can picture that.

mikey_the_rat

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Starting Feb 1, 2009...

We need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, one with powers to bring charges.

[kelligesq]

5. Question is are they still doing wholesale wiretapping, internet tapping, fax tapping?

[Sam Ervin jret]

10. yes, why wouldn't they be, they call it "impersonal surveillance." As in they just look through all

the data en mass. Then filter it out. Make connection (with the software from Las Vegas) between "target" words or phrases or names and then "predict and protect"

I like that "predict and protect" do you think the homeland security will pay me for that? or just steal it from my Internet carrier?

[catnhatnh]

6. Hey Dana.....

...were these the same patriotic, life-saving telecoms that cut off the wiretaps to the FBI over unpaid bills like a single mom cutting off visiting priveleges to a deadbeat dad???

[Roland99]

7. Like totally stop asking such like hard questions and stuff. I mean like our President is like great

:banghead:

[tanyev]

14. And don't ask me about the Cuban missile crisis.

[minnesota_liberal]

9. Patriotic, my ass!

The spying telecoms saw either an economic opportunity in spying and a potential downside to operating within the law.

[Mnemosyne]

11. I feel vindicated. Mail also, just wait. n/t

[PearliePoo2]

12. Ok, I've got two questions...

1. What the fuck is Harry Reid thinking???
2. Is there a list of what Telecoms went along with selling us out and which ones balked and did not?
I'm on Nextel now, but I sure as hell will switch to whatever company told the criminals to fuck off and I will tell them why.
I don't have a lot of cash to throw around but I'll let my pocketbook do the loudest talking since that's what the corporations understand.
Rat bastards.

[Kool Kitty]

13. Didn't this wiretapping start BEFORE September 11, 2001?

Did they bother to ask Dana No-braina that question?

[nilram]

17. Oh, yeah,

From the OP,

Q But were the telephone companies told that it was legal to wiretap six months before 9/11?

MS. PERINO: The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives.

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To which Perino gives a total non-answer.

[Kool Kitty]

18. Oh, duh.

Thanks. I should've read a little more carefully. Guess I have no room to call her dumb. (But I do know the difference between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs operation.)

[DCKit]

19. Isn't that the one where the Cuba terra-ists stuffed a bunch of pigs with bombs...

then floated them to Washington, causing the simultaneous assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK and Abraham Lincoln (everybody forgets Lincoln 'cause he doesn't have a 'K'"?

[Kool Kitty]

22. Yep, that's the one!

We are smarter than Dana. ;)

[donkeyotay]

20. Ms. Perino, are you saying that in this whole secret squirrel operation

involving the military, MZM and the patriotic phone companies, you can assure the public that no one at any time abused this power to spy on, oh say, a Senator?

That's correct. You are safe with us. We would never, never, never abuse power. You have our word.

[Uncle Joe]

21. Perino should have been called on her non-answer.

On edit, too late to recommend.

Thanks for the thread, BadgerKid.