Eavesdropping Didn't Help Uncover Terrorist Plot

crymeph0 writes "Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell asserted that the 'Protect America Act,' which frees the intelligence community from pesky things like judicial oversight while they eavesdrop on international conversations, was used to good effect in exposing the recently foiled terrorist plot to bomb US military facilities in Germany. Not so, according to other, anonymous, intelligence community officials. McConnell was forced to admit his errors in a phone call to Sen. Joe Lieberman. Turns out the military got wise to the bad guys months before the law was passed, simply due to alert military guards noticing odd behavior by some passers-by, a.k.a. good old fashioned police work."

Comments

Re: your sig

[CodeShark]

You know, I was right with you in what you said -- until I read your signature line. If you look at his voting record Ron Paul is about as much for liberty and democracy as Kennedy is on the left, or the Gingrich types on the right.

You want liberty and democracy, you have to find a moderate.

Re: your sig

[morgan_greywolf]

Well, you know what? Looking at the other candidates, I think Ron Paul is better than anyone else one the list, including Fred Thompson, Hillary, Obama, and Giuliani. Hillary is a power-hungry sociopath, Obama is too wet-behind-the-ears to win, Fred is a Washington insider who's been in and out of the intelligence community for decades, and Giuliani is a hard right-winger.

Paul at least never voted for the war and Iraq, has been vocal about pulling troops out of Iraq, has never voted for a Congressional pay raise, and has never voted to extend the power of the executive branch. He's the closest thing to a libertarian (small 'l') that I've seen running. No, I won't vote for the Libertarian candidate, because, well, the Libertarian Party and I have parted ways on wayyyyy too many issues.

Re:Remember to do something about this

[illumin8]

This seems like as good a time as any to remind ourselves about EFF's http://stopthespying.org/ web site. McConnell did not just lie to the press. He had to call Senator Lieberman to "clarify" his testimony because he lied to Congress. It hardly needs to be restated to this audience that we can tell when these guys are lying because their lips are moving, but it is worth remembering that there's something that we can and should be doing right now, which is backing up the EFF efforts.

Mod parent up! The real news here is that McConnell commited a crime of perjury by lying to congress. He probably won't be prosecuted, because he called to "clarify" his testimony. Don't you just love that word "clarify"? These guys are so weasily they don't just say "I admit I lied and was dishonest..." They "clarify" their testimony. As in, "Mr. Attorney General, would you like to clarify your testimony?" In other, non-BS words "we think you're a lying sack of shit and are giving you the opportunity to tell the truth before we send you to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison."

Sometimes I wish congress was less civilized, and that people would actually say what they really thought.

Re:Forced to admit his error? You mean his lie...

[Chris Burke]

Unless it's a pet project, executive types rarely know the intimate details of what's happening in the trenches.

And thus they don't comment on those details. I agree that it is possible that he had no idea what actually went on in the investigation. Yet if that's the case and he didn't know, then he must surely know he didn't know, therefore when he made the statement he was pretending that he knew and making up a story that supported his political agenda, and therefore he was lying.

Re:I love considered thought...

[Doc Ruby]

I'm telling you straight up that I'm not even going to bother reading the rest of your comment. I didn't "automatically" dismiss your comment. I destroyed it with simple analysis. Helped by some true facts. Including calling you out for your support of the proven lies used to defend this illegal spying.

You reply with obnoxios insults that aren't backed up by any facts. And obviously haven't been able to digest what I carefully sent back to you, except to notice that it's "opposing" your point of view.

Until you act with some dignity, I have zero interest in reading your tortured "logic". You don't understand America, you don't understand justice, you don't understand rights, you don't even understand how to have a debate with someone. Go jerk your rightwing paranoid delusions by yourself. I'm not going to dignify them with any attention any more.

Goodbye.