Cheney Falsely Suggests spying Could Have Prevented 9/11.

[rodeodance]

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/04/cheney-911-2/
Cheney Falsely Suggests Warrantless Domestic Surveillance Could Have Prevented 9/11

This is what Vice President Cheney said this afternoon:

Another vital step the President took in the days following 9/11 was to authorize the National Security Agency to intercept a certain category of terrorist-linked international communications…If we’d been able to do this before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon. They were in the United States, communicating with al-Qaeda associates overseas. But we didn’t know they were here plotting until it was too late.

Cheney’s claim isn’t true. Any surveillence involving known al Qaeda or affiliates could be conducted consistent with the law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits domestic surveillence involving any terrorist group. On Sunday, President Bush confirmed his warrantless domestic surveillance program only targets people speaking to known al Qaeda and affliates:

The NSA program is one that listens to a few numbers, called from the outside of the United States and of known al Qaeda or affiliate people.

The problem prior to 9/11 wasn’t the law. It was a breakdown of communication. An FBI agent failed to share critical information about Zacarias Moussaoui with the Justice Department. Here’s an excerpt from the Joint Congressional Investigation into 9/11:

[rodeodance]

1. and half the country will believe this dipstick!

[thefool_wa]

5. Lets hope

its less than half, all we need it to be is less than half.

[depakid]

11. The media will spread his lies

and repeat them over and over and over- just like they did about Hussien and 9-11.

35% - 40% of the sheeple will believe them without the slighest question and another 15% - 20% just won't care.

[elehhhhna]

2. I suggest Bush read his PDB.

[rodeodance]

3. this administration uses families grief for their own purposes--disgracefu

they have no shame.

[thefool_wa]

4. Even more so

They DID know it was going to happen and were monitoring several of those involved WITHIN THE LAW.

9/11, 9/11, 9/11, I'M TIRED OF THAT BEING THEIR EXCUSE FOR EVERYTHING!

It is especially frustrating KNOWING they knew and are lying to us about everything revolving around 9/11 and since. I hope the ghosts of 3000+ dead americans haunt them until their dying day (and that's just the 9/11 ghosts I'm wishing upon them, don't get me started on the war dead).

Can I get an AMEN?

[marmar]

8. They will ride that horse until it kicks them off...

Amen, by the way.

:)

[LiberalinNC]

6. 9/11 = could have, should have, would have, * admin.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Reading the PDB might have helped

Not the Osama is determind to strike in america should raise alarm bells or any thing

[Gary173]

9. The WaPo also proves cheney lied

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40886-2004Aug4.html

"The disclosure involved two messages that were intercepted by the National Security Agency on the eve of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but were not translated until Sept. 12. The Arabic-language messages said "The match is about to begin" and "Tomorrow is zero hour." The Washington Post, citing senior U.S. intelligence officials, reported the same messages in its June 20, 2002, editions."

Paragraph halfway down page.

[Cha]

10. cheney thinks he's ..

Svengali and all he has to do is speak lies and the country will do his bidding. Boy, is that idiot in for a rude awakening, someday!

Btw, the bush/cheney gang could have prevented 9/11 if they had paid attention to the more than 50 warnings that were given and not to mentioned the August 6, 2001 memo bush got when he was on another vacation.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/11/1081621819966.html

[cliss]

12. I think Cheney did more than lie.

I think he was the mastermind behind 9/11. I just have this feeling he planned it and executed the terrorist attack.

We'll see.

[Chemical Bill]

15. Have you read "Crossing The Rubicon"?

Mike Ruppert makes a pretty good case for that, mostly from reports dug out of the corporate media (where they were buried on page 35 and then forgotten).

Bill

[Stephen Crockett]

13. Cheney tied with Delay as Democratic Talk Radio's Villain of 2005

This example sure makes us glad we awarded him this year! Great article that I wish we had used in our press release.

http://66.39.111.188/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=1&TID=10587&SID=298

[War Pigs]

14. Dick

Cheney falsely suggests he's not an evil, fatalistic, world conquering bastard puppeteering the dumbest prick to ever almost be elected president.:nuke:

[leetrisck]

16. Clinton prevented a 9/11 without bush's

kind of spying -

[Stephen Crockett]

17. Canadian article puts Cheney's comments in a historical context

Published on Sunday, January 8, 2006 by the Toronto Sun (Canada)

The 'Fin de Regime'?
An Out-of-Touch George Bush Now Presides Over a Lost Foreign War and a
Morass of Influence Peddling

by Eric Margolis

WASHINGTON -- China's Taoists philosophers warned that you become what you
hate. We see this paradox in Washington, where the current administration
increasingly reminds one of the old Soviet Union.

The U.S.S.R. went bankrupt after spending 40% of national income on the
military. President George Bush's administration will spend a staggering $419.3
billion US on the military this fiscal year. An additional $130 billion US has
been budgeted in 2006 for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

That's $10.8 billion a month -- 40% above previous estimates -- and somewhat
more than the monthly cost of the Vietnam War at its height. Add to this
huge sum an estimated $1.5 billion in monthly secret expenditures in Iraq and
Afghanistan by CIA and Pentagon intelligence.

Astoundingly, U.S. military spending in 2006 will equal the rest of the
world's total combined military expenditures. I just saw an ad for the new,
$115-million F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, trumpeting how its radar can "intercept
communications of insurgents." Using a $115-million aircraft to listen to
cellphone calls by a bunch of jihadis in Waziristan staggers the imagination.

Meanwhile, Moscow on the Potomac is in an uproar over government spying on
citizens, torture, and what appears to be the mother of all influence-peddling
scandals. Revelations that the super-secret National Security Agency and FBI
have been monitoring domestic as well as international telecommunications
have roused even the deadheads in Congress and the lapdog media. FBI agents are
reportedly spying on such nefarious "terrorists" as vegetarians and animal
rights activists.

Bush (shades of Leonid Brezhnev) claims the right to override any laws
because the U.S. is at war. "Terrorists" ("enemies of the state" in Soviet talk)
threaten the U.S., so anything goes. What next -- cancelling next fall's
elections because of the threat of the phantom al-Qaida?

Meanwhile, a scandal bursts right out of the last days of the corrupt Soviet
Union. A sinister Republican apparatchik named Jack Abramoff has admitted
dishing out $4.4 million in bribes to senators, congressmen and political aides.
Bigwigs like Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Republican grand poobah Tom
DeLay, Bible-thumping crusader Ralph Reed, Hillary Clinton and a bevy of
venal legislators have been implicated in this culture of corruption.


Abramoff got over $30 million from various Indian tribes promoting their
casino businesses. He and cronies scalped their Indian clients, pocketing $11
million in kickbacks. Where, one wonders with awe, did those persecuted native
Americans find so much cash?

Republicans (and also some Democrats) are scared silly by the scandal. Many
legislators may be headed for the big house.

All parties that stay in power too long become deeply corrupt. Wise voters
need to kick out incumbents regularly. Longevity in office ensures bad
government. The Republicans, buoyed by faked-up war fever, became deeply corrupted
more quickly than usual.

The Achilles heel

Money is the Achilles heel of democracy. In America, winning and keeping
office demands spending huge sums on TV advertising. The Washington lobbyists
and bagmen who produce millions to fund politicians have become more powerful
than elected legislators. This is how parasites like Abramoff flourish.

A smell of "fin du regime" hangs over Washington, just as it did over the
last days of decaying Soviet oligarchy. An out-of-touch leader presides over a
lost foreign war and a morass of influence peddling and bribery, as the secret
police struggle to keep a lid on growing dissent.

© 2006 Toronto Sun