HUGE: NYT LEAD STORY-ILLEGAL WIRETAPS MAY THREATEN TERROR CASES!!

[kpete]

HUGE: Illegal wiretaps may threaten terror cases!!
by EZ writer
Tue Dec 27, 2005 at 07:27:50 PM PDT

THIS WILL BE LEAD STORY IN NYT TOMORROW!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/politics/28legal.html?hp&ex=1135746000&en=8778e8e441c81c90&ei=5094&partner=homepage

"WASHINGTON -- Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to al-Qaida."

"The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were targeted for investigation."


So the illegal wiretaps may unravel terrorism cases, including that against Jose Padilla!!! This is remeniscent of how charges were dropped against anti Vietnam War activist John Sinclair of Detroit because the Justice Dept. didnt want to reveal its illegal COINTELPRO efforts!!!
This IS big!!


"The expected legal challenges, in cases from Ohio and Virginia to Florida and Oregon, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say."


Defense lawyers in a number of other high-profile terrorism prosecutions, including the so-called Portland Seven and Lackawanna Six cases, said they were also planning to file legal challenges or were reviewing their options.


Looks like the illegal wiretapping was a gift to those defending alleged terrorists. Talk about blowback!
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/12/27/212750/02


(Kpete also, looks like Raw Story is developing the same story:http://www.rawstory.com/)

[msongs]

1. its those damned liberal attorneys and judges trying to make bush look

bad and free the terrorists in the name of the democratic party :-)

uh huh.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[kpete]

2. lead story.

The Times is running this one column on the right, at the top of page one -- lead story.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/politics/28legal.html?hp&ex=1135746000&en=8778e8e441c81c90&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[SPKrazy]

30. I'm Sure * Will Say That It Was the NYT that endangered us

by releasing the info.

Sorry Georgie, I predict you to be the big loser on this one!

Hey NSA guys, I don't like *!

I think he should be impeached along with Cheney!

I don't care if Dennis Hastert were the one to take office, he will go down in Abramhoff's scandal.

I am concerned about Senate Pro Tem from Alaska taking the office though. He seems demented.

NSA guys, can you at least put someone in office that can save this country??

[leveymg]

35. The NSA and DIA guys don't like * either.

Don't forget that the neocons destroyed a lot of good people inside military intelligence, along with the CIA, in pushing the Pentagon into invading Iraq. The professional military and intelligence community aren't going to forgive or forget that disasterous misuse of power.

The prosecution of the OSP-AIPAC spy ring and the Plame outing cabal is just the beginning. Attention is finally being paid to the White House's criminal negligence in allowing warrantless domestic surveillance of al-Qaeda groups known to be inside the US, and how that contributed to the "catastrophic success" of the 9/11 attack group. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/03/01_crimes.html

Furthermore, the Administration's management of the war on terror has been a series of catastrophic failures. Those who were most responsible for the failures before 9/11 were rewarded with command positions, which they also screwed up. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/10/145513/501 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/11/131635/786

What an irony that revelations of the misuse of warrantless NSA intercepts may turn out to be the vehicle that finally reveals Bush's international house of spooks to the public.

What do we actually know about Ted Stevens, anyway?

[SPKrazy]

39. Ted Stevens

has a hard on for drilling in ANWR

[cantstandbush]

29. I said this the first day after the story. "Bush endangered the entire

nation and the war on terrorism with his illegal wiretaps." Had there been no "illegal wiretaps" there never would have been the need to blow the whistle. Thus, no story. It was the Bush administration's brazen arrogance that has led him to this point which supports one of my earlier contentions that Rove is not "brilliant" just bold and bouyed by the arrogance and power that comes from being in the pact of wealthy evildoers. Otherwise, he is just as stupid as the people he serves. The only thing that makes it seem that Rove is so "brilliant" is the stupidy of a lot of American.

[central scrutinizer]

3. Thanks for making us safer, Bushco!

The incompetence and malfeasance and treason of this maladministration knows no bounds.

[journalist3072]

4. Hopefully the story will be up on their website at around midnight

Can't wait to read it in its entirety.

[aquart]

5. Do they have a real terrorism case anywhere in there?

And am I insanely altruistic to believe that even if they are, that coming out on top in a fair justice system that really does follow just laws will have a positive effect on their outlook? Doesn't it affect you when somebody fights for you?

[Kansas Wyatt]

6. This gives an advantage to BushCo. in their Spy Scandal.

BushCo. will jump on this as evidence to the American people, of how Bush skirted the law only to capture terrorists and now the law is preventing them from prosecuting terrorist enemies of the United States.

They are going to spin it as a reason to change the law, by scaring America into thinking Bush has been hindered by laws protecting Americans.

[bear425]

11. And the law will assert...

that if the wiretaps were not illegal, the cases would not be in jeopardy. That is the truth. No spin will unravel the truth. Let's not start falling into the right wing talking points already (ever).

[Coloradan4Truth]

13. I agree -

just the same, I hope that the Dems are ready for whatever bullshit spin the neocons can come up with to justify domestic spying. They need to be loud and Clear: Bushco has broken the law and again put America in jeopardy. Bushco has been a failure in its role to protect the country.

[bear425]

17. Yes, the truth is Bush* and Co. clearly broke the law.

They will spin themselves into oblivion on this one. No matter. The train has left the station and they cannot change the next stop.

[kpete]

7. RAW STORY

Lawyers for terror defendants plan to challenge NSA wiretaps
RAW STORY


Defense lawyers for terror suspects plan to legally challenge the National Security Agency program of warrantless wiretaps authorized by the Bush Administration, according to a report in Wednesday's New York Times, RAW STORY has learned.


The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were targeted for investigation.

The expected legal challenges, in cases from Ohio and Virginia to Florida and Oregon, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say.



Some Justice Department prosecutors, speaking on condition of anonymity because the NSA program remains classified, said they were concerned that the agency's warrantless wiretaps could create problems for the department in terrorism prosecutions both past and future.

"If I'm a defense attorney," one Justice Department prosecutor said, "the first thing I'm going to say in court is, 'This was an illegal wiretap."'

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Terror_defendants_plan_to_challenge_NSA_1227.html

[Rose Siding]

8. Knight Rider went into this some last Friday-

but not as it applies to individual cases:

Some fear eavesdropping could undermine work of spy agency
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13476243.htm

[aquart]

9. Do they have a real terrorism case anywhere in there?

And am I insanely altruistic to believe that even if they are, that coming out on top in a fair justice system that really does follow just laws will have a positive effect on their outlook? Doesn't it affect you when somebody fights for you?

[ddeclue]

10. The implications are tremendous...

Given the overly broad manner in which the NSA simply tapped everybody in the whole world's phone without a warrant, any defense attorney worth his salt is going to claim "fruit of a poison search" because apparently the NSA convinced the phone companies to let them listen in on the entire country through their main switching gear.

The gov't will have to prove a negative, i.e. that they DIDN'T hear someone discussing an illegal drug deal while listening for "terrorists".

Doug D.

[Peace Patriot]

12. The Bush junta has botched up all kinds of terrorist investigations.

There's a long list. They clearly don't want to catch terrorists and bring them to justice--probably because they are a terrorist orgnaization themselves. I think what they're doing with spying and torture is preventing their own dirty deeds from being revealed. It has nothing to do with "national security" or the safety of the American people. And it wouldn't surprise me if Bush's admission of illegal spying, and stated intention to continue breaking the law, was also intended to corrupt and destroy our justice system, which might one day catch up with the criminal Cartel for which he is the insulting, egocentric, dim-witted, bullying little front man .

[eppur_se_muova]

14. Talk about unintended consequences...

That's what happens when you charge ahead without thinking through the consequences of what you're doing. Any competent lawyer could have warned that this would bite them in the ass down the road.

[ddeclue]

23. The operative word is "competent"..

:yoiks:

[eppur_se_muova]

26. "Yer doin' a heckuva job Gonzo!" nt

[ddeclue]

27. What can "Brown" do for you???

I'm sure that the execs at UPS have totally lost their minds over the money they spent on that ad campaign only to have Dubya screw it up for them this summer..


Doug D.

[Sydnie]

15. The cream in our coffee will have to be

when blivet** appointed judges will have to find against him, keeping the info out of court because it was not obtained legally.

That will be the truth enema we all will be waiting for!

[kpete]

16. dupe

[usregimechange]

18. I proudly put this on the greatest with my 5th vote, historical, I know

[usregimechange]

19. kick!

[bear425]

20. Thanks for posting kpete. Here's the last two P's

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/politics/28legal.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=8778e8e441c81c90&hp&ex=1135746000&partner=homepage

-snip-

But some Justice Department prosecutors, speaking on condition of anonymity because the program remains classified, said they were concerned that the agency's warrantless wiretaps could create problems for the department in terrorism prosecutions both past and future.

"If I'm a defense attorney," one Justice Department prosecutor said, "the first thing I'm going to say in court is, 'This was an illegal wiretap.' "

[usregimechange]

21. I am pissed! I want my country back!

[Straight Shooter]

22. I've been asserting this from the moment the news came out.

No court of law will legitimately grant the introduction of evidence when that evidence is illegally obtained. That's the way it must be, for justice to work. For one thing, the incentive to plant evidence is too tempting.

Makes me wonder: was bush illegally wiretapping because he was looking for an opportunity to plant evidence? After all, his record on capturing terrorists is pitiful when it comes right down to the bare facts. Aside from Gitmo, there is squat accomplished by the bush administration. And Gitmo is illegal, too, AFAIC.

[BikeWriter]

24. Headlines tomorrow? "Bush Miserable Failure at Anti-Terrorism!"

[rateyes]

25. Yeah, wonder what the freepers...

will have to say when we have to let the terrorists go because * believes he's bigger than the law? What an asshat he is!

[Mr_Spock]

28. HEADLINE: "BUSH HELPS TERRORISTS - BIN LADEN BEST FRIEND"

I swear Bush is working in cahoots with Bin Laden.

[NewJeffCT]

37. A while back...

Paul Krugman wrote a fictional column about Bush called "The Arabian Candidate", sort of a take-off on the then recently released remake of "The Manchurian Candidate" and basically summarizes how everything Bush has done has been good for the Saudi royal family & bin Laden.

[no_hypocrisy]

31. Not that pesky ole "fruit of the poisonous tree" motion to suppress the

evidence.

That's it! No more defense criminal lawyers allowed in the courtroom.

What did * expect these attorneys would do when they found out?

[BamaBecky]

32. Excellent

[kpete]

33. Firedoglake adds this:

The government is required to prove its case -- but it must do so without cheating. That the President went on national television and admitted to these wiretaps and said he'd continue doing them the same way -- without the FISA approval required by the laws of this nation for this sort of domestic spying -- has now called every, single terrorism case into question.

This is what happens when you fail to think things through. This is why we have the rules and laws in the first place. Someone should have explained that to King George and his merry band of cronies.

Consequences are a bitch. And they are about the hit the fan.

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/

[Marleyb]

34. Bush is interfering in the war on terror!

He is supporting the terrorists.

Who side is this guy on?

Impeachment March on State of the Union Jan 31
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5701703

[HR_Pufnstuf]

36. Oh yeah, THAT's why you follow the law.

So you can enforce it.



Idjits.

[gulliver]

38. Bush is a steer in a china shop.

If it's possible for an ass to be a steer.

[StefanX]

40. Of course

If evidence was obtained illegally, the first thing any lawyer will do is ask for it to be ruled inadmissible.

Of course, Bush and his cronies don't even seem to know the most basic stuff that anyone who watches TV knows.