drational on Kos: The Cheney NSA Program

[mod mom]

PLS READ THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE-I WAS LIMITED TO 4 PARAGRAPHS WHICH DOESN'T REALLY DO IT JUSTICE:

The Cheney NSA Program
by drational

Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 08:27:08 AM PDT

"A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies."- Dick Cheney

It is now clear to anyone paying attention, that Alberto Gonzales talks around the truth with almost every sentence he utters. Although one might become frustrated with this obstruction, it is very useful to consider his words and the intricate web they weave. I submit that the web of Gonzales statements forms a sculpter’s mold ready for casting.

Below the fold is continuing story of reasoned speculation regarding the NSA surveillance Program and the roles played by officials within the Bush administration in the program and cover-up. I submit that the Domestic Warrantless Wiretapping was a "Dark Side" program originated and directed by Dick Cheney.



-snip

To me, the most important point of this response is the choice of the word “president”. By selectively identifying the president as uninvolved in NSA programs, Gonzales opens the door as to who was authorizing the NSA programs he clearly knows about.



-snip

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/30/10595/4790

[mod mom]

1. Also of interest: Feb 6, 2006 Newsweek "Palace Revolt":

They had no idea. Goldsmith was actually the opposite of what his detractors imagined. For nine months, from October 2003 to June 2004, he had been the central figure in a secret but intense rebellion of a small coterie of Bush administration lawyers. Their insurrection, described to NEWSWEEK by current and former administration officials who did not wish to be identified discussing confidential deliberations, is one of the most significant and intriguing untold stories of the war on terror.

These Justice Department lawyers, backed by their intrepid boss Comey, had stood up to the hard-liners, centered in the office of the vice president, who wanted to give the president virtually unlimited powers in the war on terror. Demanding that the White House stop using what they saw as farfetched rationales for riding rough-shod over the law and the Constitution, Goldsmith and the others fought to bring government spying and interrogation methods within the law. They did so at their peril; ostracized, some were denied promotions, while others left for more comfortable climes in private law firms and academia. Some went so far as to line up private lawyers in 2004, anticipating that the president's eavesdropping program would draw scrutiny from Congress, if not prosecutors. These government attorneys did not always succeed, but their efforts went a long way toward vindicating the principle of a nation of laws and not men.

The rebels were not whistle-blowers in the traditional sense. They did not want—indeed avoided—publicity. (Goldsmith confirmed public facts about himself but otherwise declined to comment. Comey also declined to comment.) They were not downtrodden career civil servants. Rather, they were conservative political appointees who had been friends and close colleagues of some of the true believers they were fighting against. They did not see the struggle in terms of black and white but in shades of gray—as painfully close calls with unavoidable pitfalls. They worried deeply about whether their principles might put Americans at home and abroad at risk. Their story has been obscured behind legalisms and the veil of secrecy over the White House. But it is a quietly dramatic profile in courage. (For its part the White House denies any internal strife. "The proposition of internal division in our fight against terrorism isn't based in fact," says Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Vice President Dick Cheney. "This administration is united in its commitment to protect Americans, defeat terrorism and grow democracy.")

The chief opponent of the rebels, though by no means the only one, was an equally obscure, but immensely powerful, lawyer-bureaucrat. Intense, workaholic (even by insane White House standards), David Addington, formerly counsel, now chief of staff to the vice president, is a righteous, ascetic public servant. According to those who know him, he does not care about fame, riches or the trappings of power. He takes the Metro to work, rather than use his White House parking pass, and refuses to even have his picture taken by the press. His habitual lunch is a bowl of gazpacho, eaten in the White House Mess. He is hardly anonymous inside the government, however. Presidential appointees quail before his volcanic temper, backed by assiduous preparation and acid sarcasm.

-snip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547/site/newsweek/

THINK: THE NYT ARTICLE SUGGESTING CHENEY SENT GONZO/CARD TO ASHCROFT'S BEDSIDE .

[mod mom]

2. "TSP" was not used until 2005 (Gonzo semantics game)

Sticking to His Story





Gonzales's account of the briefing and his reasons for going to the hospital set off a firestorm. Democratic senators charged that aspects of Gonzales's testimony were false and demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor; even the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter, questioned if Gonzales's testimony was "actionable." The key point of contention: the A.G.'s long insistence that "there has not been any serious disagreement" within the administration about the Terrorist Surveillance Program. His claim came under scrutiny a few months ago when Comey testified how he, Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were ready to resign in March '04 over a classified-intelligence program. Senators familiar with the matter, such as John D. Rockefeller IV and Russ Feingold, say Comey was referring to the same program now called the TSP. Yet Gonzales insisted the subject of the briefing and the dispute with Comey was "not about the TSP" but about "other intelligence activities" he couldn't discuss.

Apparent evidence to the contrary is strong: a letter written last year by then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte described the March '04 briefing as being about the "Terrorist Surveillance Program"; and Mueller himself testified last week the dispute was about the "much discussed" NSA program.

The new dispute is, in part, a semantic game. The name "Terrorist Surveillance Program" wasn't used by the White House until December 2005. By that time, the program had been scaled back because of protests from Comey and others at the Justice Department. Justice officials insisted last week Gonzales has always been careful to limit his statements to the publicly disclosed TSP, implying that his comments do not refer to the program as it existed before late '05. The A.G.'s testimony "was and remains accurate," a spokesman says.

Whether the verbal parsing will be enough to permit Gonzales to survive broad calls for his resignation is unclear. Congressional Democrats plan to step up the heat in coming weeks, pressing for Justice memos and other documents. They also plan to call a potentially crucial witness: Jack L. Goldsmith, the former chief of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. It was Goldsmith who wrote a key opinion concluding the eavesdropping program was illegal. A conservative lawyer now at Harvard, Goldsmith, who declined to comment, will have every incentive to talk. He is due to publish a new book this fall called "The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration." According to its Amazon.com listing, the book will chronicle how the president's "apparent indifference to human rights has damaged his presidency." On the cover are pictures of Bush, Cheney—and Gonzales.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010707/site/newsweek/page/2/