Cheney said 9/11might have been prevented if they had power to eavesdrop

[dajoki]

WP
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10716363

Cheney cites justifications for eavesdropping
Secret monitoring may have averted 9/11, he says

By Jim VandeHei and Dan Eggen

Updated: 5:45 a.m. ET Jan. 5, 2006
WASHINGTON - Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have been prevented if the Bush administration had had the power to secretly monitor conversations involving two of the hijackers without court orders.

As part of an effort to sell Americans on the administration's recently disclosed program to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant, Cheney told a small group of conservatives at the Heritage Foundation that instead of being able to "pick up" on the terrorist plot "we didn't know they were here plotting until it was too late."

But Cheney did not mention that the government had compiled significant information on the two suspects before the attacks and that bureaucratic problems -- not a lack of information -- were primary reasons for the security breakdown, according to congressional investigators and the Sept. 11 commission. Moreover, the administration had the power to eavesdrop on their calls and e-mails, as long as it sought permission from a secret court that oversees clandestine surveillance in the United States.

The bigger problem was that the FBI and other agencies did not know where the two suspects -- Cheney's office confirmed that he was referring to Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar -- were living in the United States and had missed numerous opportunities to track them down in the 20 months before the attacks, according to the Sept. 11 commission and other sources.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
maybe if they read their daily breifings and listened to the warnings it could have been averted.

[Christa]

1. 9/11 again

broken record.

[Loonman]

2. Specious, unecessary, claim

How Dick, how, you Nazi piece of shit?

[fooj]

3. perhaps if the President of the United States READ his daily briefs...

Fucking moron!

Peace.

[yellowcanine]

10. And done his job instead of taking a month off to chop brush on the pig

farm in Crawford.

[JaneQPublic]

20. Maybe * needed to wiretap someone reading the daily brief out loud.

Particularly the one that said Osama determined to strike in the U.S.

[FloridaPat]

4. 9-11 might have been prevented if WE (you & me) had eavesdrop power.

I bet we could have connected quite a few dots before 9-11. Unlike these idiots who wined and dined the Taliban

[wisteria]

5. Bullsh*t!! The 9/11 excuse again. If they would have heeded

the warnings and reports by Clark and advise from Clinton, that would have done more in preventing 9/11.

[dajoki]

exactly n/t

[jobycom]

6. So Cheney is saying they aren't good enough to protect us AND

follow the law at the same time? It may be the first time he has spoken the truth. Let's get Dumbass and his Bloody Puppet Stooge off the stage and put someone in office that has a fucking clue.

[thereismore]

7. Yeah, and maybe Gore presidency would prevent 9/11 also. nt

[dajoki]

14. well, at least...

we wouldn't be so hated.

[Wickster]

8. They couldn't read so why

should we suppose they could hear! They had a briefing memo stating that Bin Laden was planning to use aircraft for a terrorist attack and Condi said that it wasn't specific enough for them to act. (I'm paraphrasing of course). So, now we are supposed to swallow that "hearing" a phone conversation or two (most likely in a language other than English)would have prevented the attack! Puh-lease! Obviously Cheney's pacemaker is not pumping enough oxygen to his brain.

[dajoki]

30. *'s level...

of reading: "My Pet Goat".

[DaveJ]

9. What a blatant lie

It's telling when the MSM starts reporting their lies. (hope they keep it up)

[Straight Shooter]

11. Bullshit.

Phoenix memo. August 2001 PDB. Hart-Rudman report.

Cheney is becoming a caricature of himself. How long until Americans hear "9/11" and tune out completely?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

27. Answer: About 4 years ago.

[Straight Shooter]

31. Maybe I should have said "turn off" instead of "tune out."

It's almost like a hypnotic suggestion, isn't it?

[SCDem]

12. Vietnam and Iraq War could have been prevented

if the American people could eavesdrop on the President.

and why stop there
If a president lies repeatedly and breaks the law he should be removed from power
If lawmakers (Cheney) are using my tax dollars on creating an 'energy task force' I should have the right to review those records

[feelthebreeze]

13. As usual, crap of the purest water...

Either through their planned or unplanned incompentence to protect this country, they are now saying the only way to protect us is to undermine this country's basic rights for it's citizens. I grow so weary of the justification for dictatorship. Under our very real Constitution, there is no excuse for what has happened and continues to happen. There is not enough rhetoric nor fear to make me believe this utter bullshit. I am an American whose ancestors died to protect these rights as proscribed under our Constitution, and I will not dishonor them nor my children and allow them to be taken away under the auspices of protection and ultimate control. They broke the law, the administration is corrupt, and we as a Nation had better stop letting them tell us what rules Democracy does and does not have to follow.
Replacement and justice are now becomming long past due.

[dajoki]

17. very well said, thank you n/t

[wishlist]

15. Richard Ben-Veniste of 9/11 panel debunked Cheney on this last night

Ben-Veniste strongly disagreed with Cheney's allegation calling it 'bunk' on MSNBC Hardball last night. He said that FBI and CIA knew the whereabouts of a couple of the hijackers before 9/11 and could have picked them up (legally for questioning or deportation or done more surveillance)

[Double T]

16. When the USA spends $44 Billion each year for 'intelligence'.........

and doesn't pay attention to the 'intelligence' that is staring them in the face, wiretapping is NOT going to increase the probability of overcoming bureaucratic incompetence. Sorry dick, we are not buying your feeble excuse bullshit!!!!

[DBoon]

18. and this disaster would have been prevented as well...

[DaveJ]

22. OMG

Wow, good point. I read an article on the Reichstag Fire and the similarity to 9/11 is astounding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire

[SkiGuy]

19. How can he eavesdrop on one's own conversations?

[AZBlue]

21. But they can eavesdrop on non-US citizens w/o warrants.

This is BULLSHIT at its highest level!

[soothsayer]

23. bush and cheney might have been prevented if we'd had the

power to eavesdrop

[dajoki]

26. Bingo!!

[IggleDoer]

24. Had they not mis-interpreted the August PDB

... titled "Bin-Laden Determined to Strike the US" as a "historical document", 9-11 would have been prevented!

[dajoki]

25. i think it was...

ignored.

[cindyw]

28. Cheney you dumba**, you did have that power. It's called FISA

[G Edward Cook]

29. That's SPY not Eavesdrop

Wasn't it Cheney that was in charge of America's security and didn't do anything before 9-11? He should have been spying on terrorist, not Americans!

[leesa]

32. Cheney did 9-11...with a little help from friends.