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Bush, ATT, Verizon and others must be crying in their crib because the U.S. House didn't give them ( telecoms ) amnesty for all of the illegal spying that they did under orders from Bush. FISA got no extra time for debate because Bush and his Republican assholes wouldn't allow the extension (21 days ) to go forward, so it is Bush who is helping those mean ole terrorist out. I'm not sure about you, but I think that I was not killed after the FISA bill expired last Saturday. I feel pretty much alive still, don't you?
Back to point.
On Friday, Silvestre Reyes ( House Intelligence Committee Chairman ) received a letter ( PDF ) from two of our favorite terrorist fear-mongers, Mike McConnell and Michael Mukasey stating that since the temporary Protect America Act expired last week that some of their partners ( telecoms ) in intelligence operations have become less cooperative. We all know that that is a bunch of crap but I guess that we have to let the children amuse themselves once in a while.
Both McConnell and Mukasey say that after the PAA stopped being in effect, partners ( telecoms ) "have delayed or refused compliance with our requests to initiate new surveillances of terrorist and other foreign intelligence targets under existing directives issued pursuant to the Protect America Act."
We all know this is crap since the telecoms have no choice when requested by the government to help as long as the request and the help is a legal request. It would appear that only Qwest's lawyers understood that the Bush Crime Syndicate was doing something illegal so Quest did the right thing and told the government to come back with the proper warrants.
More of this letter from the two hoods:
"Although most partners intend to cooperate for the time being, they have expressed deep misgivings about doing so in light of the uncertainty and have indicated that they may well cease to cooperate if the uncertainty persists."
Mukasey and McConnell say that they are currently "working to mitigate these problems and are hopeful that our efforts will be successful." But they add that unless Congress passes a version of a new electronic surveillance bill, approved by the Senate, which includes the controversial retroactive lawsuit immunity for telecom companies, "the broader uncertainty caused" by the temporary spy law's expiration "will persist." The letter adds that: "This uncertainty may well continue to cause us to miss information that we otherwise would be collecting." Newsweek
Keep in mind that...
The claim that telecoms will cease to cooperate without retroactive immunity is deeply dishonest on multiple levels, but the dishonesty is most easily understood when one realizes that, under the law, telecoms are required to cooperate with legal requests from the government. They don’t have the option to “refuse.” Without amnesty, telecoms will be reluctant in the future to break the law again, which we should want. But there is no risk that they will refuse requests to cooperate with legal surveillance, particularly since they are legally obligated to cooperate in those circumstances.
Remember what the main issue is with the Protect America Act
Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, told Renee Montagne the main issue is liability protection for the private sector. ( emphasis mine ) Source
Silvestre Reyes, Jay Rockefeller, who voted yes on the Senate Version of FISA, and others had something to say about this letter from the two clowns in the hood.
"Further politicizing the debate, the administration today announced that they believe there have been gaps in security since the Protect America Act expired. They cannot have it both ways; if it is true that the expiration of the PAA has caused gaps in intelligence, then it was irresponsible for the President and congressional Republicans to openly oppose an extension of the law. Accordingly, they should join Democrats in extending it until we can resolve our differences." Source
As noted once before, this wouldn't be an issue had Senator Harry Reid and the others passed the House version in the first place instead of bringing forth their own " junk " bill.
Bush's arrogance, and the Senates need for telecom cash is the only reason that we are having this discussion. If a few of the Senate Democrats had had some balls ( Rockefeller is one ) and actually believed in protecting your rights as an American, this would all be on just Bush's lap for what would have put aside ( veto ) by Bush.
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