January 01, 2006
Bush Again Defends Spying on Americans
On January 1, 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush "strongly defended his domestic spying program... calling it legal as well as vital to thwarting terrorist attacks, and contended the leak making it public had caused 'great harm to the nation,'" the Associated Press (AP) and other news outlets reported today.
Mr. Bush was quoted as saying:"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America and, I repeat, limited. I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy's thinking." He made the statements "after visiting wounded troops at Brooke Army Medical Center," according to the AP.I
Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2005
Taking Risks to Preserve U.S. Civil Liberties
Apparently there are persons in the U.S. intelligence community willing to take career-ending risks to expose the Bush Administration's domestic spying operations by revealing even more of its un-American activities in the name of national security. As Diplomatic Times Review readers probably know by now, New York Times reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen reported December 24, 2005, that:The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the U.S. as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11 attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials.
I found the following especially interesting:As part of the program approved by Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the NSA has gained the cooperation of U.S. telecommunications companies to obtain back-door access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said.
It reminds of me of how easily back-doors can be inserted into our personal and institutional computers.
Note: This article is cross posted at The Opinion Gazette
Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2005
Should Discovery of Spying on U.S. Muslims Come as a Surprise?
As I read the December 23, 2005 Los Angeles Times report that said "Federal law enforcement officials said Friday [December 23, 2005] that FBI agents have secretly monitored radiation levels at Islamic mosques, businesses and homes for several years in large cities, including Los Angeles, to determine whether nuclear or chemical bombs were being assembled," I asked myself: Should people be surprised this? I think not. The FBI has spied on Muslims in the U.S. going back at least to the 1930s. Informants were common during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. They probably still are. I've met some of them over the years. Meanwhile, The Times said, "The officials said no suspicious radiation levels have been found." See "Domestic Spying on Muslims Discovered."Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2005
The Debate Over Domestic Spying in the U.S.
Linda Feldman, staff writer for Boston, USA based Christian Science Monitor, reported in a December 22, 2005 article that, "The revelation that President Bush secretly authorized a domestic spying program after 9/11 is fueling the already heated debate over presidential power."
"From the administration's treatment of suspected terrorists to its drive for secrecy in deliberations over energy policy, Mr. Bush's five years in office have been marked by efforts to expand the executive branch's unfettered reach, " Ms. Feldman wrote, adding: The tug of war among the three branches of government is as old as the Republic. But the convergence of three factors makes this struggle arguably unparalleled in the modern era: an administration that came to office determined to reclaim what it saw as the executive branch's diminished place; Republican control of the White House and Congress, raising questions about checks and balances; and the 9/11 attacks, which put America on the kind of war footing that historically opens the path to extraordinary action by the president.
The U.S. Congress bears some responsibility for the course Mr. Bush is taking. For example, they gave him extraordinary power to wage war and subvert some civil liberties in the USA Patriot Act, that was passed shortly after al-Qaeda's September 11, 2005 attacks in the United States. Many congressmen and senators did not even read the legislation. Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, USA, warned his colleagues in a February 12, 2003 Senate floor speech that they would come to regret the day they arrogated their war-making power to the Executive Branch, with virtually no debate. The speech is titled "We Stand Passively Mute."
Now a bipartisan group of senators are trying to curb the excesses they granted Mr. Bush by agreeing to renew for only six months 14 of 16 provisions of the Patriot Act. The provisions expire December 31, 2005. The House of Representatives, which approved the measure, must agree to the compromised version. On December 21, 2005, Mr. Bush has called on the Senate to back the house version. He later thanked the Senate for agreeing to extend the act by six months.
Meanwhile, as expected, Mr. Bush is vociferously defending his domestic spying, something the U.S. often criticized in the former Soviet Union. It also criticizes such spying in China, the Middle East and so-called Third World nations. For more, please see "Tug of war over presidential powers."
Note: This article is cross posted at The Opinion Gazette.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2005
Bush Again Defends Iraq War and Spying on Americans
On December 19, 2005, USA President George W. Bush, the arrogance that characterized his first term nowhere in evidence, defended his administration's conduct of the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq and said he had a right to spy on Americans without a court order.
Unfortunately, he's beginning to sound and act like the late President Richard M. Nixon. That president's arrogance and criminal intent led him into the Watergate morass and forced him to resign during his second term. Here's a transcript of Mr. Bush's December 19, 2005 White House press conference.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:57 AM | Comments (0)
